Category: Culture/Art

Music for the One God

The Multinational Project ”Music for the One God”Harmonious Triad of Religions

Under the direction of the Turkish composer and oud player Mehmet Yeşilçay, the multinational project “Music for the One God” unites the sounds of Islamic, Sephardic-Jewish and Christian music. Stefan Franzen reports

If one could take a time machine back to 17th and 18th century Istanbul, one would be astonished by the peaceful and fruitful coexistence and exchange of cultures in the city. This also applied to the sphere of religion and the realm of sacred music. Inspired by this epoch, a multinational project under the direction of the Turkish oud virtuoso and composer Mehmet Yeşilçay has come up with a unique concert programme.

The undertaking could also be described as a logistical tour de force. It unites a mixed Oriental-Western chamber ensemble, Baroque instrumentalists, a Byzantine choir, Jewish and Armenian cantors, and vocal soloists specializing in the classical Ottoman and Baroque repertoires to perform sacred music from the three major monotheistic world religions in a coherent concert dramaturgy. The goal is to offer praise to their one, common God, who nonetheless bears various names.

As the artistic director of the project, Mehmet Yeşilçay has set himself an ambitious agenda and he is literally bursting with anticipation and expert knowledge whenever asked about the background to the “Music for the One God” project.

The Ottoman Empire and Europe

“During the 17th and 18th centuries, there was very intense and effective contact between the Ottoman empire and Europe,” he explains, justifying his choice of the musical epoch for the concert programme and the focus on Istanbul.

Firmly anchored in both Western and Ottoman culture: Munich-based director of the Euro-Turkish Pera Ensemble Mehmet Yeşilçay “Just recall the fashion for all things Turkish at the time. Also, Turkish musicians were invited to perform for the court of Friedrich II in Berlin as well as for August the Great in Saxony. Louis XIV received an envoy who had brought a large musical ensemble along on his journey. Conversely, a Baroque chamber ensemble played before the sultan.”

The most curious example of the exchange between the Orient and Europe is the case of Wojciech Bobowski. Born in Breslau in 1607, the composer and church musician was abducted by the Tartars and carried off to the court of the sultan, where he continued to work as an organist and lute player. “After his conversion, he composed sacred Islamic music, which is still known to this day. He even translated into Turkish the Old Testament and Huguenot psalms that he had brought with him,” relates Yeşilçay.

His music will be performed in the Music for the One God project, as well as works by Itrî, the founder of Ottoman classicism, from whom we still know, thanks to an uninterrupted tradition, how music was performed in his day. On the other hand, there are works by Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, Lorenzo de Rossi, Vivaldi, Pergolesi, Schütz, and Praetorius. The religious harmony is completed by Armenian and Jewish Sephardic vocal music.

Working on equal terms

The latter, in particular, played an important role in interreligious exchange in Istanbul at the time. Historical records vouch for the fact that many Hebrew and Sephardic musicians played at the court of Selim III, including Tanburi Ishak, who even gave music lessons to the sultan, sang in the synagogue, while also being a member of the Sufi order. Christian-Armenian, Sephardic, and Muslim composers worked in the sultan’s palace on equal terms.

“We attempt to follow the spirit of those times, this interplay between the courts of Istanbul and Europe, here and today,” according to Yeşilçay. “As someone who lives in Europe, I select music from this epoch, bundle it off to Istanbul, and assemble musicians from different nations and religions.” He has managed to create smooth transitions in the dramaturgy and has combined various glorias and amens with Greek and Hebrew hallelujahs and even with a Sufi ritual.

The Munich-based composer and oud virtuoso was predestined to take on this ambitious task. Yeşilçay is the director of the Euro-Turkish Pera Ensemble, has collaborated with Jordi Savall and the Ensemble Saraband, conducted the Munich Philharmonic, and has made new arrangements of Handel arias and Satie compositions.

Coherent dramaturgy: “Music for the One God” unites a mixed Oriental-Western chamber ensemble, a Byzantine choir, Jewish and Armenian cantors, and vocal soloists specializing specializing in the classical Ottoman and Baroque repertoires He is firmly anchored in both Western and Ottoman culture. Yeşilçay was commissioned to head the project by Eyüp Mûsıkî Vakfı, Istanbul’s most renowned musical educational institution, with support for the project by the EU as well as the Turkish Ministry of Culture.

“There has been massive feedback in Turkey, in particular from Muslim and Christian religious leaders,” reports Yeşilçay. The response in Germany has been somewhat more subdued, and this is also the case for sponsoring. By targeting discussions with interreligious groups, associations, communities, and youth organizations, he is attempting to arouse a wider public awareness of the project.

He has attracted a whole host of luminaries for the line-up of Music for the One God. In addition to Yeşilçay’s own internationally renowned Pera Ensemble, he has booked Ahmet Özhan, a great star of Turkish classical music, the counter tenor Valer Barna-Sabadus, and the sopranist Francesca Lobardi Mazzulli. The first phase of concert is currently being prepared in Istanbul – the premiere will take place on 24 April in the Byzantine Aya Irina Church.

Interreligious dialogue through music

A live recording will be made and a CD and DVD will be released in the fall. In July, the retinue will arrive in Germany and perform in Munich, Nuremberg, and Voelklingen near Saarbruecken. This city in Saarland has a long tradition of Turkish guest workers and a high percentage of immigrants.

In recent times, it has also been the site of numerous arson attacks on migrants. The performance here is meant to set a signal. The current mayor has offered the project a forum in the hope that it will revive flagging intercultural contact in the city.

Music for the One God, however, has a second, academic side. A symposium under the direction of the Istanbul Professor Sehvar Beşiroğlu is currently being held in which international music scholars are presenting their research results on interreligious dialogue through music.

“Within this framework, studies have been undertaken to show, for example, how Sephardic musicians took Sufi songs and set Hebrew and Ladin lyrics to them in order to sing them in the synagogue. This should in no means be regarded as theft, but rather as the highest form of respect for this fantastic music. Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and Assyrians all used the same music and then created their own lyrics.”

A common God and a shared musical framework – one could only wish that this model and the Music for the One God project inspired by it might also serve as a paradigm for the present day.

Stefan Franzen

© Qantara.de 2012

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

April 28, 2012
İstanbul to host celebration of world’s oldest love poem

The world’s oldest love poem, written on a 4,000-year-old clay tablet known as “İstanbul #2461,” currently has its home at the İstanbul Archaeological Museums.

Penned for a Sumerian king in the 21st century B.C., the poem will be the central piece of an international poetry gathering in İstanbul this week. Poets from around the world are gathering in the city for a one-night celebration to honor the poem’s delicate and spiritual words as İstanbul’s art scene continues gaining global prominence.

Entitled “The Call to Poetry,” the April 5 event is headlined by poets Fred Simpson and Dan Boylan from New Zealand and the US, respectively. They will be joined by Turkish Cypriot poets with support from members of the İstanbul-based ex-pat community theater company, The Square Peg Theatre Troupe, the event’s organizers said in a written statement this week.

A selection of verse from Cairo’s Tahrir Square will also be featured in the event, where İstanbul-based journalist David Trilling will serve as the master of ceremonies. The gathering will be held at a venue called Bar-ish, off Taksim Square, from 8 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

A figure from Los Angeles’ underground poetry scene, Boylan has been influenced by Turkish poetry for years. As a teenager, Boylan met American poet Allen Ginsberg, who told him to “follow your inner moonlight.” This led him to Sufi mystic Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi’s “Mesnevi.” Boylan, who is also a filmmaker, counts Nazım Hikmet’s poem about a walnut tree in Gülhane Park among the most impressive pieces he has read in Turkish.

Relying on archetypes and humor, Boylan has revived poetry reading in famed comedy clubs on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard.

At “The Call to Poetry,” he will premiere a work about Satan, soon to be published in a collection of verse and featured in a documentary, which he said could also feature the İstanbul event.

Simpson is also visiting to mark the release of his book of poetry, “Lucky Me!” Featured in literary journals and magazines across Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, Simpson is recognized for evoking memory as a form of catharsis and detachment. A doctor by training, Simpson says he is excited by İstanbul’s rich poetic traditions. “Celebrating the essence of life through a gathering of poetry in a city that straddles time and culture with ease and grace … you live for moments like these,” he said.

via İstanbul to host celebration of world’s oldest love poem.

April 15, 2012
Greek and Turkish Debate Over Origins of “Koulouri”/”Simit”

It all started when US President Barack Obama called the “baklava” dessert “Greek” in a ceremony which took place in the White House for the March 25th National Anniversary. His statement caused a mini cultural crisis between neighboring countries.

As a national “retaliation,” the İstanbul Simit Tradesmen Chamber launched a process to get an international patent for the number one Turkish street food, the “simit” as Turks call it, same as our “koulouri.”

İstanbul Simit Tradesmen Chamber Chairman Zeki Sami Özdemir on Tuesday, April 3, filed a petition with the İstanbul Union of Craftsmen and Artisans’ Chambers (İSTESOB) and called on the chamber to take action and the necessary steps to protect Turkey’s national food, the simit.

The petition came after US President Barack Obama said he admired the taste of “Greek baklava,” which has been regarded by the Turks and the Greeks as their traditional dessert for centuries. It is widely acknowledged that “baklava” has its origins in Central Asia. Nevertheless the Turkish ISTESOB had to respond to the “inappropriate” public mistake of Obama.

“We will hold on to our simit and won’t allow Greeks to grab our simit too,” İSTESOB Chairman Faik Yılmaz said, adding that Greeks have been presenting Turkish traditional foods as their own for centuries.

“The simit is one of the most widely consumed food products in Turkey. Foreigners now know it as the national food of Turks. It sometimes serves as breakfast and even lunch for both the rich and the poor,” added Zeki Sami Özdemir.

via Greek and Turkish Debate Over Origins of “Koulouri”/”Simit” | Greek Reporter Europe.

April 15, 2012
‘In Turkey, men write and women read. I want to see this change’

Elif Shafak: ‘In Turkey, men write and women read. I want to see this change’

The bestselling Turkish writer on her wildly mixed readership, escaping pigeonholes, and why she writes all her novels twice

Interview by William Skidelsky
The Observer

Elif Shafak: ‘Art and literature should help us to get out of our mental cocoons.’ Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Born in 1971, Elif Shafak is the author of eight novels and is Turkey’s most widely read woman writer. Her work has been translated into 30 languages and she was awarded the honorary distinction of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. She divides her time between Istanbul and London. Her latest novel is Honour.

Your new novel describes an honour killing in a half-Turkish half-Kurdish immigrant family in Britain. What drew you to this subject?

I have always been interested in families, probably because I did not grow up in one. I was raised by a single, working, feminist mother. That was a bit unusual in 1970s Turkey. Families intrigue me. In this novel, I wanted to explore how we hurt the people we love most. I focused on mother-son relationships, on how mothers raise their sons as the sultans in the house and how this ruins people’s happiness in the long run.

What was the hardest thing to get right?

In my previous novels, there have been strong-headed, colourful women, of all backgrounds – Muslim, Christian, Jewish. This time, there is a male character at the heart of the story and not a pleasant one. Iskender is neither a hero nor an antihero. He is a bully, someone who breaks hearts. It was important to put myself in his shoes, to see the world the way he sees it, without judging him from above. That was an emotional challenge.

The novel was the bestseller in Turkey for six weeks. Clearly, its subject matter struck a nerve there…

It created a lot of discussion. Turkey is a complex country. Most readers are women, of all generations, and they are passionate about books. However, the written culture is mostly patriarchal. In general, men write, women read. I would like to see this pattern changing. More women should write novels, poems, plays, and hopefully more men will read fiction.

What, given this imbalance, enabled you to break through?

Honour is my eighth novel and my 11th book in Turkey. Over the years, with every book published my readership has expanded. My readers are surprisingly mixed. I have conservative readers, for instance, women with headscarves, but also many liberal, leftist, feminist, nihilist, environmentalist and secularist readers. Next to those are mystics, agnostics, Kurds, Turks, Alevis, Sunnis, gays, housewives and businesswomen… So people who wouldn’t normally talk to one another in Turkey read the same novels. This makes me happy. Art and literature should help us to get out of our mental cocoons.

As a Turkish writer with a profile in non-Muslim countries, what pressures do you feel?

When you are a “woman writer from a Muslim background” there is an expectation that you should be writing about your identity, about women in Muslim societies. A function is attributed to fiction from the non-western world. Your work should be informative, representative. A white, male, middle-class American writer can experiment with form and choose any subject he wants, but a woman writer from Algeria or Afghanistan should produce stories that fit into a certain cultural box.

Did you write Honour in Turkish and then translate it yourself?

For the last nine years, I have been writing in both English and Turkish. I write my novels in English first, then they are translated into Turkish by professional translators. Then I take their translation and rewrite. So basically I write the same novel twice. There are things I find easier to say in Turkish and others easier in English. If I write about sorrow and longing, it is easier in Turkish. If I write about humour, irony, satire, it is easier in English.

You’ve spoken of being opposed to the injunction “write what you know”…

I always start by saying to my creative writing students: “Do not feel obliged to write what you know!” You can do that, certainly. But that’s not what literature is all about. Write what you feel in your heart.

You’ve also championed the Sufi tradition, in particular the poet Rumi. Is there much understanding or even awareness of this tradition in the west?

Sadly, many don’t know anything about this rich and peaceful tradition. People in the Middle East are not necessarily more knowledgeable either. It intrigues me to see the amazing similarities among the mystical traditions of all monotheistic religions because the quest is the same. It is universal, all-embracing. It is an inner journey based on empathy and a desire to transcend the limits of the self. In this sense, Rumi’s Sufi philosophy has lots in common with literature.

Elif Shafak will speak on identity, immigration and multiculturalism at the Bristol Festival of Ideas, in association with the Observer, on 17 May

via Elif Shafak: ‘In Turkey, men write and women read. I want to see this change’ | Books | The Observer.

April 14, 2012
Six Historic Graveyards Returned to İstanbul’s Jewish, Greek and Armenian communities

Six historic graveyards were returned to İstanbul’s Jewish, Greek and Armenian communities on Thursday, following a decision by a government board that regulates the practices of the country’s non-Muslim communities.

The decision of the Directorate General for Foundations (VGM) to restore the cemeteries to their respective minority communities is the first ruling on a February application by 19 non-Muslim foundations for the return of 57 historic properties.

In September, the government authorized the return of properties seized from non-Muslim religious communities in decades past.

Thursday’s VGM ruling saw the return of two cemeteries to the Beyoğlu Yüksek Kaldırım Ashkenazi Jewish Synagogue Foundation, as well as the repatriation of cemeteries belonging to the Beyoğlu Greek Orthodox Churches and Schools Foundation, the Balat Surp Hreştegabet Armenian Church and School Foundation, the Kadıköy Hemdat Israel Synagogue Foundation and the Kuzguncuk Beit Yaakov Ashkenazi Synagogue Foundation.

Laki Vingas, the representative of non-Muslim foundations at the VGM, told the Radikal Daily on Thursday that the decision is a sign that the minority property law passed in September is being acted upon by the government. This week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the US Congress that she was encouraged by the “concrete steps Turkey has taken over the past year to return properties to religious communities.” Turkey’s mostly Muslim population of nearly 75 million includes roughly 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 20,000 Jews, 15,000 Assyrians and about 3,500 Greek Orthodox Christians. While Armenian groups have 52 foundations and Jewish groups 17, Greeks have 75. Some of the properties that were seized from those foundations include schools and cemeteries.

(source: worldbulletin)

April 14, 2012
Latina Singer to Represent US in Turkish Language Olympiad

The young Hispanic Jaqueline Mata poses with her guitar in the garden of her home in El Paso, Texas. (EFE)

Jacqueline Mata, a 14-year-old Latino girl from El Paso, has been chosen to represent the United States in the Turkish Language Olympiad to be held May 23-June 14 in Istanbul.

The teen, who was chosen last month at the Olympiad U.S. finals in Houston, will compete against 179 students from other countries in a contest where all the songs will be sung in Turkish.

But for Mata that won’t be a problem since she has been taking Turkish classes since 2009 and believes she has developed a really respectable grasp of the language.

“I’m immensely happy because I will not only represent my city but the whole country. I hope to do a good job and make my artistic mark with a foreign audience,” the singer told Efe.

Mata attends Harmony Science Academy El Paso, a charter school.

First Blind Symphony in the World

“I’ve always been particularly fascinated by Turkey, and that’s why I wanted to learn the language. Then I learned several songs and here comes this beautiful opportunity,” Jacqueline said.

The student also said that the school board has behaved like her own family and that teachers and classmates meet with her all the time to encourage her in this new facet of her future artistic career.

The organizing body of the U.S. Finals is Raindrop Turkish House, a non-profit foundation present in eight states around the country and whose mission is to teach Turkish culture in the United States.

The organization is also sponsoring Mata and will pay all the expenses of her artistic adventure.

Jacqueline was invited to Turkey last year to attend the Turkish Language Olympiad but this is the first time she will compete.

“I already know something about Istanbul, but now I want to find out more about its culture and its people so I can make a lot of friends,” she said.

Mata has her musical repertoire ready and has included such songs as “Arkadas” (Amigos), “Soyle Buldun mu” (Que Crees que Dicen, or What Do You Think They’re Saying), and “Gurbet” (Nostalgia).

Latino Stars Grace Billboard Awards

She spends every afternoon practicing the lyrics, knowing full well that besides her intonation, the juries will be paying keen attention to her pronunciation.

One factor in Jacqueline’s favor is the wholehearted support of her mother, who has also learned to speak Turkish for the sole purpose of helping her daughter.

“I thought it was vital to learn the new language that my daughter speaks, so I’ll know what she’s talking about,” laughed Norma Longoria, who is doing all the necessary so she can accompany her Jaqueline to the land of the Turks.

via Latina Singer to Represent US in Turkish Language Olympiad | Fox News Latino.

March 23, 2012