Listening, Listening, Listening

More than almost anything else, I wanted to find music on this journey across the eastern Mediterranean.  I wanted to find music on the streets.  I wanted to sit still and listen.  I wanted to feel sounds I'd never felt before.

Shoes off for Friday Prayers

Well, today, I found music.  (I've done pretty well to this point -- but today was all about the music!)  I walked from Sultanahmet through the Grand Bazaar, and from the Grand Bazaar through the Spice Bazaar.  Along the way, I stopped to listen to muezzins, calling their people to jumu'ah (Friday prayers).  From mosques on every side, their voices, their calling, their song.

Kara Gunes on Istiklal Caddesi

Crossing over the Galata Bridge, I climbed the steep streets of Beyoglu, past the Galata Tower itself and onto the broad and crowded Istiklal Caddesi.  Up and down this steamy thoroughfare, I stopped to listen in as street musicians of all ages, with all manner of instruments, shared their gifts with the casual and more intense audiences of Istanbul.  What a marvelous day!  I'm still not quite sure how to post my short videos to my blog -- but I did get some pretty cool footage.  And I'll do my best to post some stuff to Facebook.  One duo was a father/son drum team: just fantastic!  And a trio calling themselves "Kara Gunes" were so spirited; I picked up a CD of theirs and look forward to sharing their traditional Turkish sound with friends.

Little Guy was Rocking This Drum!

This evening, I sat in on a classical concert at the Galata Mevlevi Museum...a mesmerizing evening featuring one of Turkey's great "nez" and "ebru" players.  Her name is Burcu Karadag and she plays the 'nez', something along the lines of a Turkish flute/recorder.  Tonight she played with a group of four cellists who call themselves "Cellistanbul"!  They played outside in a sweet courtyard, beneath huge leafy trees and in the shadows of an old Sufi cemetery.  It was magical.  I closed my eyes for long stretches...and let the music just wash all over me.

Burcu Karadag with Cellistanbul

I finished my evening with a later supper of stuffed vine leaves, just around the corner.  And there, in that small cafe, a trio of Kurdish musicians belted a marvelous and spirited series of tunes -- as the grateful patrons clapped and sang along.

It's been that kind of day, full of rhythm and melody, and more than a few surprises!  I can get as jaded as the next guy about the human condition...but a day like this, and music like this, it puts me right again.  We are made for this!

Burcu Karadag with her Nez

On the Busy Istiklal Caddesi in Istanbul