Busy Week + Happy Nevruz

Well worn from a busy week, I'm happy to report another 4 taksim recordings (by udi Mehmet Emin Bitmez and neyi Eymen Gürtan) and 8 analyses (by the same, and by tanburi Özer Özel), and a meeting with kemençe legend İhsan Özgen, not to mention further adventures with luthiers Mustafa and Ali. Had to postpone a recording session with tanburi Murat Aydemir and neyi Salih Bilgin, but that's a-coming, as well as one with yaylı tanbur player Vasfi Akyol, inşa'Allah. Whew!

March 21 marked the coming of spring (and the Persian/Kurdish/Central Asian new year "Nawruz/Nevruz," though I didn't see it widely celebrated here), and I'm glad for the change of season, though it's been cold and rainy, and we even got another 45 minutes of snow. Perhaps I'll ease into the transition by starting to go out in shorts and sandals with two sweaters and a muffler - a look not everyone can pull off, and I make no guarantees that I will succeed where others have failed, in this regard.

Anyway, I personally celebrated spring's nominal arrival Saturday night at a party/jam session in Göztepe, where my ud and I joined ney players Eymen and Cem, duduk player Özcan, and singer/hafız Huzeyfe with our host Ali on ringed daire. We played a couple of standard classical pieces then got down to the seriously fun business of trading taksim-s (improvisations - technically a gazel, when sung). Everyone was playing in top form, my own such being something of a pleasant surprise since I barely practice at all here, am not taking lessons, etc. There's something to be said for osmosis. In a related note, I had a moment this week when it occurred to me that I was actually speaking Turkish without sounding like Tarzan. That only took five months. I still have days when I sound like a complete bozo, but I'm beginning actually to suspect that after another five months I'll be pretty well fluent in this monster tongue.

So let's leave it there, with blessings upon all our monster tongues... Happy Spring!

(P.S. I'm just guessing about the links above that are supposed to go to YouTube - it's still a forbidden site here, and I can't get at it even with filter breakers - if the links don't work, I suggest Googling the name of whatever it is and seeing what you can find.)

Adventures in Ud Land

Playing an 1894 ud by renown luthier Manol (Manolis Venios), restored
by Cengis Sarıkuş. Save up your nickels, kids - bidding starts at $30,000! (Photo: Sinan Erdemsel.)

Back in the saddle after that long month of upper respiro-purgatory - still remnant, but at this point it's probably irritation from bad air; coal and wood fires, diesel smoke from ferries and buses caught in the fog - a traditional Istanbul winter. But I've set up three appointments for making new recordings next week, and had the energy to play again with my weekly ayin group, and to meet with Necati hoca for a lâvta lesson, so things are picking right back up.

Friday I went on a little luthiery safari, that is, my friend Sinan and I visited the shops of a bunch of instrument makers. The focus was on ud-s, but we started off at the Cümbüş shop where I got to hang out with brothers Fethi and Ali Cümbüş - we hadn't seen each other since 2005 when I was doing research for my master's thesis on the instrument their great grandfather invented. They're very warm people and it was a nice reunion.

We then visited the the workshops of Ali Nişadır, Alaattin Civelik, and Cengiz Sarıkuş. Many beautiful instruments, my goodness, and in every price range - from very reasonable $700 beauties to restored historic pieces in the tens of thousands. For instrument junkies like myself it is a bit pornographic - in fact I must admit to feeling a twinge of guilt in regard to my relationship with "my luthier," Mustafa Copçuoğlu, "seeing other luthiers" like this, but the world is wide, isn't it, and I haven't even mentioned Feridun Obul, Ramazan Calay or Faruk Türünz. A boy can dream.

And that's the latest from my little world... I hope all's well in yours, too. Back soon, inşallah.

Medical Leave

Well, this will be a quickie as there's is little to report, friends. I finally started taking some antibiotics for the 'Flu That Ate February (that is, for the bronchitis it had become) and they work fine, but wear me out completely. What they gave me is Cipro, which I understand is the same remedy they offer rhinoceri with anthrax. Powerful. Anyway, my work has been reduced to maintenance - getting notes in order, reviewing older video, reading other peoples' dissertations etc., added to studying Turkish, learning some new repertoire on the lâvta, and watching re-runs of Battlestar Galactica online.

My mind is ready to get back into my work (and make up for what it takes for a wasted month and tremendous laziness) but the rest of me is not quite up to it - another three days of rhino-med left, and I hope that's it for 'flu season. I'm anticipating that the recording part of my research will slow down quite a bit during the summer months, when artists are touring or on vacation, which makes hustling through the springtime all the more important for me. I'm just beginning to worry about that. Meanwhile there's nothing for it but rest and liquids. As always, I'll keep you posted.