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00:05Up next on Great Performances, I'm Scott Yu.
00:09Join me and my wife, Alice Dade, in Istanbul.
00:15It's a place we've wanted to visit for years.
00:18That's one of my favorites, actually.
00:21I love this.
00:24I wanted to find out why the city sounds like no other.
00:28I mean, this is insanely fast.
00:29It's like electricity, you know.
00:32This is such a unique place.
00:35But we would experience so much more.
00:40The art.
00:47Wow.
00:49Oh, hot.
00:50The food.
00:52You like it?
00:53It's good.
00:54I don't like it so much.
00:57The traditions.
01:02And an astonishing variety of music.
01:09To reveal a culture that has shaped Western music.
01:12It really became a fashion in Haydn and Mozart and onwards.
01:16As much as we have shaped it.
01:18Coming up on Now Hear This, The Call of Istanbul.
01:28Major funding for Great Performances is provided by
01:36And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
01:49I come to Istanbul at last for two reasons.
01:53To see my friend Fasel Sai, Turkey's most celebrated pianist and composer.
01:58And to try to figure out its music.
02:05The city spreads across both sides of the Bosphorus.
02:08Half European, half Asian.
02:11And sounds like no other.
02:14I wanted to know why.
02:37Istanbul has long been a bridge between continents.
02:40And it was a crossroads of many cultures.
02:43I suspected that shaped its music.
03:14Then, when Turkish armies invaded Europe,
03:18Istanbul shaped the music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
03:36Today, we know Turkey as a Muslim country.
03:40But that's a cultural crossroads, too.
03:42Because for centuries before that, Istanbul was Christian.
03:49My wife, Alice, and I went to the Karie Mosque,
03:52which was originally a Byzantine church,
03:54with Turkish conductor Cem Mansur.
03:58This looks very, very old.
04:01Only from the end of the 5th century, A.D.
04:05So the oldest parts of this building, the lowest layers,
04:08are 1,600 years old.
04:11Yes.
04:11Wow.
04:12That's crazy.
04:12That is crazy.
04:13That's incredible.
04:14So, before Istanbul was Istanbul,
04:16the city was known with different names.
04:18And it was founded by a Greek maritime character called Bises.
04:22And we therefore call that early part of the city's history Byzantium.
04:27But it's really the Emperor Constantine,
04:29as the Emperor of Rome,
04:31who decided to move his capital from Rome
04:33to this place, which he called Constantinople,
04:38after himself.
04:39Very modest.
04:41And the interesting thing is, with the Ottoman conquest in 1453,
04:47the city became known as Constantinie.
04:50So it was really a Turkish way of saying the city of Constantine.
04:54So 1453 is actually kind of recent history for this city.
04:59Absolutely.
04:59And like a lot of these buildings,
05:01with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453,
05:04it was converted into a mosque
05:06and remained a mosque for the next 600 years or so.
05:10And with the Republic, it became a museum.
05:11Now, it's no longer a museum.
05:13That's even more complicated.
05:15What is it now?
05:16Yes.
05:17Well, it's back to being a mosque and a museum at the same time.
05:20Okay.
05:21One of the most spectacular things about this building
05:23is the mosaics inside.
05:24Shall we go and have a look?
05:25Yes, please.
05:26You lead the way.
05:34Alice found this old Byzantine hymn
05:37written by a priest
05:39set to music by a monk.
05:49That's one of my favorites, actually.
05:51This is the emperor, you see,
05:53the Byzantine emperor giving the churches a present to Christ.
05:57Beautiful.
06:09Shem, how old are these?
06:11The mosaics, as far as we can tell,
06:13date to the 12th century.
06:17These are incredibly advanced for the 1100s?
06:21Even something that may be interpreted
06:24as the art of perspective before its time.
06:27I mean, it's a little gold.
06:29Can you imagine how much more work that is?
06:32Wow.
06:49What I find really fascinating in this place
06:51is to observe how Islamic architecture of mosques
06:54afterwards was actually influenced by buildings like this.
06:58The repeating arches, the many domes.
07:01So one of the secret superpowers of Turks
07:04is that they kind of successfully absorbed
07:07everything that came before them.
07:10It was clear the city's arts were at a very high level
07:14when it was Constantinople,
07:15and much of that transferred to Istanbul.
07:19But the Turkish art form most visitors know today
07:22is the carpet.
07:24In the courtyards off Istanbul's Grand Bazaar,
07:27we went to see Aziz Oskar,
07:29a dealer of textiles from Central Asia.
07:32This is the Kyrgyz.
07:34Ooh.
07:35Brotherly.
07:36This is from Kyrgyzstan.
07:37Kyrgyzstan.
07:38Mirror cover.
07:39A mirror cover.
07:40Okay.
07:41This is also from Kyrgyzstan.
07:42Oh, same, yes.
07:43This is more older one.
07:45You can tell the similarities with the pattern.
07:48That's really nice.
07:50This is Kongrat.
07:51Kongrat is same, like mirror cover.
07:54And this is from where?
07:55This is from Uzbekistan.
07:57Uzbekistan.
07:58Yeah, Kongrat.
07:59But still really detailed.
08:02For salt bag.
08:04Salt bag?
08:05Yeah, hanging more in the kitchen.
08:08Some people put a spoon, something.
08:11I saw time, many times, putting the salt inside.
08:14Okay.
08:15And where was that one made?
08:16This is the same Kyrgyz.
08:18Oh, Kyrgyzstan.
08:19Let me see the first one.
08:20And one other Kyrgyz.
08:22This is for bread.
08:23For bread?
08:23You take the bread inside.
08:25Hanging more, you see here?
08:26Hanging envelope for bread.
08:28Everyone's dream.
08:30This one, Tajik.
08:32Tajikistan.
08:33Burka.
08:33It's a burka.
08:34Burka, yes.
08:35Okay.
08:36So you wear this.
08:37Okay.
08:38Like this.
08:39How long did it take, I mean, days to make this?
08:44So much days.
08:45Look at that.
08:46Wow.
08:47It's a woman dress.
08:49Mm-hmm.
08:49You want to try?
08:51No.
08:58I love this.
09:00I would wear this.
09:01How old is this?
09:02Like nearly 120, 110 years old.
09:05I mean, this is timeless.
09:07It's just beautiful.
09:08Tajik Iqat.
09:09Oh, okay.
09:10This is from Tajikistan.
09:12Yeah, I would wear both of these.
09:14Yeah.
09:15It's beautiful.
09:16I want to keep it.
09:19It's beautiful.
09:20You see some museum like this, every time this collete.
09:23So this is almost a museum quality piece.
09:25Museum quality, yeah, old pieces.
09:27Yeah, if you want to try one more.
09:29Sure.
09:30This actually, woman use it like this.
09:32Like this.
09:34Is this to enter a mosque?
09:37No.
09:37This woman go to the street, use it like this.
09:40How old is this?
09:42150 possible, I can say this one.
09:45So these?
09:47Turkmenistan.
09:47This is from here.
09:49Yes.
09:49The burqa was from Tajikistan here.
09:51Tajikistan, yes.
09:52And this one is from Uzbekistan.
09:54Yes.
09:54So it's this area.
09:56These people have unbelievable brodery.
10:00And so you can be here and buy embroidery from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan.
10:07It doesn't matter because everything comes here.
10:09This is kind of the crossroads.
10:10Here, more easy you find.
10:12Mm-hmm.
10:13Last year I go, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan.
10:16Mm-hmm.
10:16I find only two things.
10:18Really?
10:18It's easier to find stuff from Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan here than there.
10:25Yes.
10:25So all of these countries, they speak sort of a Turkish language.
10:31Yes.
10:31They're Turkic people.
10:32All Turkish language.
10:34Can they understand one another?
10:35Like we understand 40%, 50% we understand each other.
10:39So the Turkic people, the people who speak this Turkic language, they came from here.
10:45Yes.
10:45So I guess they traveled through northern Iran.
10:48Iran, coming to Iran.
10:50After Iran, Hazara, coming to Eastern Turkey, coming to Anatolia.
10:54So where exactly on the map is Anatolia?
10:57Is it...
10:58Center is here, near Cappadocia, Ankara.
11:02Anatolia here.
11:03Okay.
11:04So the Turks that gave this country its name actually came from Central Asia, bringing
11:09their textiles and their music with them.
11:13We went to see KoÅŸkun Karademir and Ayfer Vardar, two amazing Anatolian folk musicians.
11:47Sous-titrage MFP.
12:02Our translator was guitarist Cenk ErdoÄŸan.
12:06So these instruments, did they originate here or did they originate in Central Asia?
12:11They come from Central Asia actually, especially sas and the kopuz.
12:16You can see many, many different versions of it when you search back.
12:21But every region of Turkey has a different mode.
12:25We say makams, you know, makams.
12:28And every city has a type of playing and strumming.
12:31So you need to learn all this rhythmic stuff to become like a master of this instrument.
12:39Now she's going to perform a song from the middle Anatolia.
12:44And this style of playing and this style of song is called Bozlak.
13:17Oh, yeah, ölürüm Muhaddet, vay gurbet
13:26Yetmez mi vay, vay
13:36Aşıklarada böylece faz gelir, az gelir
13:58Of course in Anatolia we have songs about love, but we have different types of love.
14:04Love to a woman or a man, love to your country, like a patriotic way.
14:09And the last love, it's the love of God, and most of the Sufis and players, they write poems about
14:18how they can reach to God.
14:20So now they're going to perform a song from the Far East Anatolia.
14:24The name of the song is Ne Ağlarsın, which we can translate it, Why Do You Cry?
14:39Ne ağlarsın, benim zülfüsü yanım? Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama.
15:00Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama.
15:07Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama.
15:13birka yankım?
15:17jumlu hayum?
15:27birka yankım?
15:421
15:56I've known Fossil Psy for more than 30 years
15:59from when we were just starting our careers.
16:02Since then, he's written more than 100 original compositions,
16:06from solo piano pieces to full orchestral works.
16:21You know, I still remember very clearly the first time I heard you play,
16:25because you were playing your own piece.
16:28And when you started, I mean, people were shocked.
16:31And I thought, where is this music coming from?
16:34Maybe this is Turkish music?
16:36Yes, the first generation of Turkish composers,
16:40they composed the Western music, orchestral music,
16:43all this.
16:44They were all students of Bartók.
16:46Bartók took them.
16:47They were very young, begin of 20th century.
16:51They went wild in East Anatolia,
16:54recording and searching, trying to understand the folklore,
16:59folk music and tunes and all this.
17:02And using the ethnical element in the modern music
17:07is also into my music strongly, I think.
17:11Is that why you wrote this?
17:18Yes, this is a microtone.
17:20Yes.
17:20Between E and E flat.
17:22And this is exactly how Turkish music works.
17:25You have to play in between the notes.
17:26In between of those, exactly.
17:28We have strange rhythms, strange bars and musical bars,
17:34like seven-eighths, nine-eighths, thirteen-eighths or so.
17:39All this doesn't exist in Western European music.
17:42So this part is the Turkish part right here.
17:46Many.
17:47One of the, one of the Turkish parts.
17:49On these two pages, you have so many Turkish parts, of course.
17:52It bears the Spanish Roman gehört in the note.
17:54And there are albums that have the line in the middle of social Fresno.
17:54He was so nhÆ°ngering for a young Portugal cut to spot.
17:58Sometimes there were Queen当然 to a young man.
18:01And there's their own stories,
18:02it was actually caused by the Muslim validity of the Texas Mormon community.
18:02And here's ì œ producciones.
18:02¿ Thank youุ?
18:44Fossil's music is a crossroads, too, where mournful eastern melodies meet western romanticism, making it accessible to both.
19:20Taksim Square is the heart of modern Istanbul.
19:23We went to one of their modern concert halls with Cem again.
19:40This is such a unique place. It's beautiful.
19:44Yes, this is the Atatürk Cultural Center. It's home to the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.
19:48And I brought you here today especially because they're rehearsing an opera by Adnan Saigun.
19:53Saigun belongs to the first generation of Turkish composers who wrote in the western side.
19:59And he was famous.
20:01In his lifetime, yes, and since. I think he's a very important composer.
20:04He's really the kingpin of this change in musical culture in Turkey.
20:12Saigun originally fed on Turkish national music, folk music mainly, which was typical of that first generation of composers.
20:20A bit of a parallel to consider is that of Bartok, who started as a more obviously...
20:24He was here.
20:25He was here. He was here with Saigun collecting Turkish folk music, as he did all over Eastern Europe, but
20:31also including Anatolia.
20:32But Saigun did not only draw on Turkish folk music, but also on the soil itself.
20:37He was a bit of a mystic and was very interested in what made this soil, this country, what is
20:43now Turkey special.
20:44And the legend of Gilgamesh, on which the opera is based, is actually a Mesopotamian legend.
20:49I've heard of Gilgamesh.
20:50A typical story of an evil emperor looking for enlightenment.
20:55As far as we know, it's the oldest written document, oldest piece of literature that we have.
21:00And it originates from what is now this country.
21:03And Saigun was very...
21:04So Turkey is part of Mesopotamia.
21:06The Mesopotamia is part of what is now Turkey.
21:08Okay, really?
21:09Because what they call Mesopotamia is between the two rivers of the Euphrates and the Tigris.
21:14But they're born, naturally, in what is now Turkey.
21:16We are now living on this land.
21:18But this is, you know, it's like the crossroads of the world, which has been home to so many civilizations,
21:22including the very earliest ones.
21:24And I think that is the key to understanding the international and universal appeal of his music.
21:30Should we go ahead and have a listen?
21:31Sure, sure.
21:32Sure.
22:08From there, we went to see and do another famous Turkish art form with a master artist, Fikret Guni.
22:19You probably recognize this art, called Ebru, from bookbindings.
22:24Wow.
22:26My favorite color is orange.
22:28I'm going to go with this one.
22:29Only two fingers.
22:31Right.
22:31This?
22:32Yes.
22:32Okay.
22:33Okay.
22:33This way.
22:34Oh, that way.
22:35Okay.
22:36Okay.
22:37Oh!
22:38How did you do that so gracefully?
22:41Oh, you're doing well.
22:43Same way.
22:45Okay.
22:47When was this process first invented?
22:50Nearly 600 years ago from Turkistan Bukhara came Istanbul, making Istanbul Üsküdar Özbekler Tekkesi.
23:00First time.
23:01So this technique migrated, it came from Turkestan?
23:06Turkistan Bukhara came Istanbul.
23:08To here.
23:09Okay.
23:1510 cm up.
23:17This is Tarak.
23:19This way.
23:20Okay.
23:21Looks nice.
23:22Ooh.
23:23It's very nice Tarak.
23:30So we should have luck.
23:34Wow.
23:34That looks cool.
23:38This way.
23:39Okay.
23:40Very nice.
23:50Peace.
23:53In half.
23:59Oh.
24:00Nice.
24:05There's another art form that came to Istanbul, but this one from the west.
24:10We went with Cem to the Pera Museum to see their Ottoman portrait collection.
24:16See, this character is a French ambassador to the Ottoman court dressed as a Turk.
24:22So the depiction of the human image is completely forbidden in Islam, and the first sultan who
24:29actually dared having his portrait painted was Mehmet II.
24:32He had the audacity to bring in a painter from Renaissance Italy called Bellini, and absolute
24:39scandal at the time.
24:41But he could get away with anything.
24:42Highly enlightened monarch.
24:44Very brilliant character.
24:4521 years old when he conquered the city.
24:47Spoke seven languages and all that.
24:49So at its largest, how far did the Ottoman Empire stretch?
24:54Very far.
24:55Most of the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, the whole of North Africa, the Balkan countries,
25:00Greece, quite a bit of the Black Sea region.
25:05Basically anything with people of Islamic origin was actually covered by the empire.
25:10So really far east as well.
25:12Absolutely, yes.
25:13And tell me about Ottoman court music.
25:15What was that like?
25:16Well, Ottoman music is a slightly confusing term because it's a little bit like the Ottoman
25:20language.
25:21We have a language which is really a synthesis of Persian, Arabic, and what came from Central
25:28Asia.
25:28So the music was also very much part of that.
25:31All kinds of instruments, anything that was at hand, could become part of what we now call
25:35Ottoman Turkish classical music, to distinguish it from Turkish folk music.
25:57That is an incredible sounding clarinet.
26:00I've never heard a clarinet sound like that.
26:03Yes.
26:04Is it a different instrument?
26:06Yes.
26:07What key is this clarinet in?
26:10It's a G clef.
26:12Yeah, G key.
26:12It's a G key.
26:13G key, yes.
26:14In soul?
26:15Yeah, soul.
26:15Turkish clarinet.
26:16Really?
26:17I've never heard of a G clarinet.
26:20That's incredible.
26:22That is an incredible looking instrument.
26:24What is that?
26:24Another incredible one.
26:26It is kanu.
26:27Kanu?
26:27Kanu, yes.
26:28Turkish music instrument.
26:29Okay.
26:30And do you change the tuning with those?
26:33Yes.
26:33These small levers, these are smaller than quarter tone.
26:37And then during playing, we are changing it.
26:39Oh, fantastic.
26:40So it's like a harp pedal.
26:41Yeah.
26:42But they are quarter tones, you know.
26:43This is very smaller.
26:44Very small.
26:46Oh.
26:52You don't tune the harp with these pedals.
26:55You are using pedal number four because you want the quarter tone or you want the three-eighths tone.
27:02Yes, during playing.
27:03During playing.
27:03During playing.
27:04We are changing it, yeah.
27:05And so you, while you're playing this, you have to memorize, oh, I need this pedal.
27:09Yes.
27:10Or I need this one.
27:11Yes, and you have to know very good Turkish music flavors.
27:15So you are spicing the music with these.
27:16Yes, absolutely.
27:18Can we all play together?
27:19Sure.
27:20Okay, let's try it.
27:23Yes.
27:44This reed flute, the ne, is another interesting Turkish instrument, but we'll come back to that.
28:42Sultanahmet Square is the heart of old Istanbul,
28:46home to its most famous landmarks.
28:49There, we met another Fazl,
28:51the imam Fazl Ashikutlu.
28:54Fazl, these are chestnuts, right?
28:56Yes, this is our famous chestnut.
28:58Can we have some?
28:59Yes, of course you can.
29:01Let me give you, but please be careful, it can be hot.
29:05Oh.
29:06Okay.
29:14You like it?
29:15It's good.
29:16I love chestnuts.
29:17I don't like it so much.
29:21And I born in Bursa City.
29:24And Bursa City is famous with chestnuts.
29:28Okay.
29:29Yes.
29:30How long have you lived in Istanbul?
29:33Approximately 30 years.
29:35It seems like Istanbul is a really busy city.
29:39I mean, is it, what is the population of Istanbul?
29:42When I started to live here, population was approximately 12 million.
29:50Mm-hmm.
29:51But now it's 16 million.
29:54Wow.
29:55So a very crowded city.
29:56Mm-hmm.
29:56But this city is very magical and mesmerized city.
30:01Mm-hmm.
30:02Yeah, I sense that.
30:03Great food here, too.
30:05Great food.
30:05Great food.
30:06Great sound, great music.
30:08Is that the Blue Mosque?
30:09Yes.
30:10Can we walk there?
30:11Of course.
30:13So, Fazl, how did you become an imam?
30:16What inspired you?
30:19I became imam because I love to serve people.
30:22And in my family, there is lots of imams.
30:26Oh, really?
30:27Yes.
30:27My father was imam.
30:28Okay.
30:29Yes, my grandfather was imam.
30:31And your great-grandparents?
30:32Yes.
30:33Really?
30:33My grandparents, since Ottoman Empire, there were many religious scholars and leaders who
30:42served in high positions.
30:44It's like a family business.
30:45Yes, it's just like a family business.
30:48You know, in the United States, Islam has, for some people, a violent reputation.
30:55Unfortunately.
30:56My own personal experience with Muslims, one of whom actually is one of my favorite people,
31:02and he's from Istanbul.
31:04He's the least violent person I could ever imagine.
31:07He's so smart, so enlightened.
31:09What are the principles of Islam?
31:13Islam itself comes from salam, which means peace.
31:17Peace.
31:17Yes.
31:18To be honest, to be merciful, to be respectful to each other.
31:24Fazl, the call of prayer.
31:26Yes.
31:27This is the sound of Istanbul.
31:28In our call to prayer, they are singing with makams, microtones, and each call to prayer
31:37singing in its own makam.
31:40The words are the same, but the singing is very different.
31:47Every imam and every muezzin has their own style.
31:52So you have your own style?
31:54Yes.
31:54Okay.
31:55Tomorrow, my friends, they will show you.
32:05The next day, we went deep into the Uskedar neighborhood, which would have been a separate village
32:10when the Chinili Mosque was built 400 years ago.
32:15Though it's small, Chinili is famous for its blue tiles, each a magnificent artwork on its own.
32:22There, we met imams Mustafa al-Faita and Durzun Shaheen.
32:27I've never been to a place like this.
32:29This is such a beautiful mosque.
32:31This was built in the 1600s.
32:34Yes, 1600.
32:34Wow.
32:35Now, if I may ask a personal question.
32:37Okay.
32:39Why did you become an imam?
32:41Good question.
32:44I was a child and my village come a new imam.
32:49His sound very, very, very nice.
32:53So the new imam sang well.
32:56Yes.
32:56I like music.
32:58I finished conservatoire.
33:01Oh, wow.
33:02Yes.
33:03And after conservatoire, master.
33:08Really?
33:08Now, started doctora.
33:13You're doing a doctorate?
33:14Yes, yes.
33:15Imam have two good sounds.
33:20Yeah.
33:20So is singing your favorite part of being an imam?
33:23Yes, music, my life.
33:27Fantastic.
33:28Yes.
33:28Well, can we hear you sing now?
33:30Yes.
33:34Oh, you're an al-salam.
33:54Oh, you're an al-salam.
33:56Oh, you're an al-salam.
33:59Oh, you're an al-salam.
34:01Oh, you're an al-salam.
34:03Oh, you're an al-salam.
34:05Oh, you're an al-salam.
34:06Oh, you're an al-salam.
34:06Oh, you're an al-salam.
34:07Oh, you're an al-salam.
34:32Shabbat Shalom
34:38Oh
34:40Oh
35:07Olam!
35:18Also in Uzkodar, we went to one of Istanbul's
35:21famous traditional markets.
35:23Is that a grape leaf?
35:24Grape leaf?
35:25I love this.
35:25A new leaf?
35:26Yeah, very tasty.
35:27I love that.
35:28In Biloxi area, they are making rice.
35:31Mm-hmm.
35:33Dessert.
35:34Dessert?
35:35Soap?
35:35Yes.
35:35What?
35:36Dessert.
35:37Dessert.
35:37I don't know about that.
35:39So you can buy this fried over there?
35:42Yes, you can buy, and you can eat here.
35:44You can eat here, and it's amazing, right?
35:46Perfect, very delicious, very fresh.
35:48Besides art and culture, this is also
35:51the crossroads for food in the region.
35:53From east and west, from land and sea,
35:56Istanbul gets the best of everything.
35:59Can I try one?
36:02Which one is your favorite?
36:04Why do I want to offer?
36:06I want to offer.
36:08I want to offer.
36:11With us were Berjo Caradog, the nae player,
36:14sorry, that's all.
36:16And Rifat Varo, who makes them.��
36:26You can buy them, you can buy them, you can buy them, you
36:27can buy them. You
36:29can buy them, you can buy them, you can buy them, you
36:33can buy them.
36:33This is good ney because it has nine joints, one, two, three, four.
36:37Okay.
36:38And to find it like this, you can look, for example, one thousand of them.
36:42Only one of them will be ney.
36:45Yes.
36:46One in a thousand will be ney?
36:48Wow.
36:49That's...
36:49Okay.
37:05Oh, that's beautiful.
37:06Original one, yes.
37:07Okay.
37:08And also, it's empty.
37:10Teal here.
37:12One horn, only two or three or one.
37:16One horn?
37:17Yes.
37:17Really?
37:22Oh, really?
37:38Wow.
37:39It's got a crown now.
37:42Now, we will find the holes.
37:47So, every reed that you're working with is a different length.
37:50Yes.
37:51So, the keys are going to be in different places.
37:54So, you have to calculate for each, every time.
37:57Because old arm is unique.
38:05Somehow, it's very cool.
38:06I'm watching a ney being born.
38:10Wow.
38:14We will check the tuning.
38:16It must be C.
38:18Mm-hmm.
38:20Mm-hmm.
38:29Tunisaki.
38:30Beautiful.
38:30Yes.
38:31So, it's done.
38:33It's yours.
38:34Oh, really?
38:35Wow.
38:37This is so cool.
38:39Now, I just have to learn how to play it.
38:53Burju is one of the most respected ney players in all of Turkey, though this is traditionally
38:58a male instrument.
39:18It's only a male instrument.
39:39This is so cool.
39:40What do you mean?
39:44At the moment, after the age of three, it's been used to be in each of three different paths.
39:45You can do it.
39:46It means no respect.
39:46On the way, you can do it.
39:49It means no respect.
39:49We can do it.
39:53I subscribe to the bunch.
39:54You can do it.
39:54You can destroy it for three or four years.
40:02The Neh is best known from the music of Sufis, a Muslim religious sect.
40:08Rifat plays in one of their ensembles for their famous whirling dervishes.
40:38What does it mean, Sufi, Sufism?
40:42Sufism is right hand is down, up, left hand is down.
40:46This is the Sufi.
40:47So what is the meaning of this?
40:49This is right hand, it takes from the gut, left hand is down, gives it to human.
40:55I am in the middle.
40:56So you're the intermediary between God and man.
40:59Yes.
40:59That's Sufism.
41:00That's Sufism.
41:29Do you get dizzy?
41:31The first time we can.
41:33First time you get dizzy?
41:34First time we get dizzy.
41:35But now every year it's going so on, going so on.
41:38The disease and something like this comes, no.
41:41So you haven't been dizzy in years?
41:43No.
41:49Actually, I've heard the whirling focuses their thoughts to enter a trance-like state.
41:56A meditation in motion set to music.
42:11For more videos, please.
42:13For more videos, please listen and share.
42:38Jem took us to the Tekfur Palace, the best preserved from Istanbul's Byzantine era.
42:44But we were here to see and hear an Ottoman-era military fixture, the Janissary Band.
42:51You know, you study Mozart and Beethoven, you hear about Janissary bands.
42:54I've never heard one live, so I'm very excited to hear one in the flesh.
42:58Yes, well, today's the day.
43:00They used to march in front of the army, actually established the rhythm of the march for the soldiers.
43:06It was also, yes, musicians, drums and everything on horseback, and also brass players on foot,
43:13establishing the arena and probably creating quite a scary effect for the enemy on the other side.
43:19Merhaba ey Mehteran!
43:23Merhaba! Mehter Moshu!
43:26Merhaba! Mehter Moshu!
43:32Merhaba! Mehter Moshu!
43:38Merhaba!
43:41Merhaba!
43:53So when did the Europeans first hear the Janissary Band?
43:57The Ottoman Empire, at the zenith of its expansion, had reached the gates of Vienna.
44:03They actually heard the Janissary Band firsthand, but Johann Josef Fuchs, the composer, we know
44:10that he heard it from the ramparts of the, or top of the, of St. Stephen's Cathedral, perhaps.
44:16To be clear, it was not a concert.
44:18It was not a concert.
44:19It was an invasion.
44:20Yes, it's part of the offensive.
44:22And actually the composer who emulated in a little symphony at 3, he wrote the symphony
44:26in three parts, but it's very weird.
44:29And it's a full century before it really became a fashion, the trumpets and drums, the Turkish
44:34effect in Haydn and Mozart and onwards.
44:50The Ottoman Empire, at the top of the world, the German Empire, at the top of the world.
45:12Oh, oh, oh, oh
45:51I studied Mozart's violin concerto when I was eight years old.
45:54We were taught that it's a janissary band, but I didn't know what I was imitating.
45:59I wonder how many people actually realize that it's Turkish-inspired music.
46:04It is.
46:05The percussive element is something that comes in to the music, but also the melody contours
46:10are really imitated from the Turkish military band of the time.
46:14You know, even our two-year-old son knows what a janissary band is because he listens to
46:19the Rondo a la Turca on his toy at home.
46:22It's part of our musical DNA, isn't it?
46:24So you're right, it's somebody, even if they don't know what it is, they know it.
46:28And so if we're playing this, what do you suggest we do?
46:33I think the main thing is to emulate as much as possible the percussive aspect of the music.
46:39And I think in that respect, it's okay to go a little bit over the top with it.
47:27Turkish music may have inspired the West three centuries ago, but today the West inspires
47:33Turkish music through, among other things, jazz.
47:37Cenk Erdogan is a virtuoso of the fretless guitar, the Istanbul version of a Western instrument.
47:44He plays Turkish jazz with crossover artists like Nami Yarkin on the Comanche.
48:00Wow, that sounds very different from a normal guitar.
48:03Yeah.
48:03But of course, you don't have the fret, and in our music, microtonal scales can be played
48:10only with fretless instruments.
48:12Right.
48:13When we play in a Turkish makam system, if you play like C sharp according to the scale,
48:19it has to be flatter sometimes.
48:21But on regular guitar, you don't have it.
48:23Right.
48:23You have only one C sharp, and that's why it's a very open instrument than a guitar,
48:28regular guitar, because you can play any type of ethical music and scale on it, you know.
48:34Can we hear this fretless instrument with this fretless instrument?
48:37Of course, of course.
49:06Of course.
49:07I'm a great composer.
49:13That's so good.
49:14Okay.
49:14Oh.
49:15Oh.
49:15Oh.
49:27Oh.
49:29Oh.
49:31Oh.
49:32Oh.
49:32Oh.
49:32Oh.
49:34Oh.
49:34Oh.
50:13So when you write pieces, are you still, even today, drawing from Turkish folklore, Turkish folk music?
50:20Yes, but I don't take exactly the song or rhythm. I take the DNA of it.
50:27This third movement here, what is this inspired by?
50:31This is music from Black Sea area by an instrument, Kemenche, which is a string instrument size of violin.
50:39I've seen that instrument.
50:40Right.
50:40Yeah, it's this big and you play it this way.
50:43Of course, this instrument makes this polyphonic microtonality.
50:46So that's why you write the microtone here.
50:48Microtones in this sonata a lot, yes, exactly.
50:51And the other movements are also inspired, like the first movement, like beginning to like nail flute.
50:59Yes.
50:59This melancholic sound of nail.
51:03So these instruments, these colors, these rhythms, this energy of rhythms, of course, very important in my life.
51:10Do Kemenches play this fast?
51:14Yes.
51:14I mean, this is insanely fast.
51:16Insanely fast, yes.
51:18And they danced with this.
51:20Really?
51:20They danced like, you know, it's like electricity, you know.
51:24Incredible, yeah.
51:25I'll do my very best.
51:26Yes, you will, you will.
51:57Ha, ha, ha, ha.
52:21All these instruments, and of course, the call to prayer, are microtonal, often playing between the notes.
52:28Of Western music.
52:43These things combine to make the sound you can only find in Istanbul.
52:49I'm Scott Yu, and I hope you can now hear this.
53:25This program is available with PBS Passport.
53:28And on Amazon Prime Video.
53:30To find out more about this and other Great Performances programs, visit PBS.org slash Great Performances.
53:37And follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
53:52Transcription by CastingWords
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