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Great Performances - Season 53 Episode 15 - Now Hear This – “The Call of Istanbul
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00:05up next on great performances i'm scott you join me and my wife alice dade in istanbul
00:15it's a place we've wanted to visit for years that's one of my favorites actually
00:21i love this i wanted to find out why the city sounds like no other i mean this is insanely
00:29fast
00:29they dance like electricity you know this is such a unique place but we would experience so much more
00:40the art
00:48wow oh hot the food you like it it's good i 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 it really became a fashion in hayden and
01:15mozart and onwards as much as we have shaped it coming 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 thank you
01:49i come to istanbul at last for two reasons to see my friend fasil sai turkey's most celebrated pianist and
01:58composer and to try to figure out its music
02:05the city spreads across both sides of the bosphorus half european half asian and sounds like no other
02:14i wanted to know why
02:38Istanbul has long been a bridge between continents, a crossroads of many cultures.
02:43I suspected that shaped its music.
02:46I suspected that it was a long time for a long time, but it was a long time for a
03:16long time.
03:16When Turkish armies invaded Europe, Istanbul shaped the music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
03:36Today, we know Turkey as a Muslim country, but that's a cultural crossroads, too, because
03:43for centuries before that, Istanbul was Christian.
03:49My wife Alice and I went to the Karie Mosque, which was originally a Byzantine church, with Turkish conductor Cem
03:56Mansur.
03:58This looks very, very old.
04:01Only from the end of the 5th century AD.
04:05So the oldest parts of this building, the lowest layers, are 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, the city was known with different names.
04:18And it was founded by a Greek maritime character called Byzes.
04:22And we therefore call that early part of the city's history Byzantium.
04:26But it's really the Emperor Constantine, as the Emperor of Rome, who decided to move his capital from Rome to
04:34this place, which he called Constantinople, after himself.
04:39Very modest.
04:41And the interesting thing is, with the Ottoman conquest in 1453, the 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.
05:00And like a lot of these buildings, with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, it 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.
05:12Now, 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 is the mosaics inside.
05:24Shall we go and have a look?
05:25Yes, please.
05:26You lead the way.
05:27This way.
05:35Alice found this old Byzantine hymn, written by a priest, set to music by a monk.
05:49That's one of my favorites, actually.
05:52This is the emperor, you see, the Byzantine emperor, giving the churches a present to Christ.
05:57Beautiful.
06:09Sham, how old are these?
06:11The mosaics, as far as we can tell, date to the 12th century.
06:17These are incredibly advanced for the 1100s.
06:22Even something that may be interpreted as the art of perspective before its time.
06:27I mean, it's incredible.
06:29Can you imagine how much work that is?
06:32Wow.
06:49What I find really fascinating in this place is to observe how Islamic architecture of mosques afterwards was actually influenced
06:56by buildings like this.
06:58The repeating arches, the many domes.
07:01So one of the secret superpowers of Turks is that they kind of successfully absorbed everything that came before them.
07:10It was clear the city's arts were at a very high level when it was Constantinople.
07:15And much of that transferred to Istanbul.
07:19But the Turkish art form most visitors know today is the carpet.
07:24In the courtyards off Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, we went to see Aziz Oskar, a dealer of textiles from Central Asia.
07:32This is the Kyrgyz.
07:34Ooh.
07:35This is from Kyrgyzstan.
07:37Kyrgyzstan.
07:38Mirror cover.
07:39A mirror cover.
07:40Okay.
07:41This is also from Kyrgyzstan.
07:42Oh, same.
07:43Yes.
07:43This is more older one.
07:45You can tell the similarities with the pattern.
07:48That's really nice.
07:49This is Kongerat.
07:51Kongerat is the same.
07:53Like mirror cover.
07:54And this is from where?
07:56This is from Uzbekistan.
07:57Uzbekistan.
07:58Yeah, Kongerat.
07:59But still really detailed.
08:02From a salt bag.
08:04Salt bag?
08:05Hanging more in the kitchen.
08:08Some people put a spoon, something.
08:11I saw many times putting the salt inside.
08:14Okay.
08:15And where was that one made?
08:16This is the same Kyrgyz.
08:18Oh, Kyrgyzstan.
08:20And one other Kyrgyz.
08:22This is for bread.
08:23For bread.
08:23To take the bread inside.
08:25Hanging more.
08:25You see here?
08:26Hanging envelope for bread.
08:29Everyone'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.
08:39How long did it take, I mean, days to make this?
08:44So much days.
08:45Look at that.
08:46Wow.
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.
09:09Oh, 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.
09:19Beautiful.
09:20You see some museum like this every time this colite.
09:23So this is almost a museum quality piece.
09:25Museum quality, yeah, all pieces.
09:28Yeah, if you want to try one more.
09:29Sure.
09:30This actually, women use it like this on the show.
09:33Like this.
09:34Is this to enter a mosque?
09:36No.
09:37This woman go to the street, use it like this.
09:40How old is this?
09:42A hundred and fifty possible.
09:44I can say this one.
09:45So these...
09:46Turkmenistan.
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.
09:56This people have unbelievable brodery.
09:59And 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.
10:13Last year I go, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan.
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.
10:33All 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?
10:58Is it...
10:58The center 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 their
11:10textiles and their music with them.
11:13We went to see Koshkun Karademir and Ayfer Vardar, two amazing Anatolian folk musicians.
11:20Of the country.
11:21So the men and the people who live with them.
11:25They were born in my heart.
11:36They were born in my heart.
11:42They were born in my heart.
11:47They were born in my heart.
12:02Our translator was guitarist Cenk Erdoğan.
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.
12:43And this style of playing and this style of song is called Bozlak.
12:48Okay.
12:53Okay.
13:01Okay.
13:03Okay.
13:16Okay.
13:18Okay.
13:34Okay.
13:36Okay.
13:37Okay.
13:39Okay.
13:39Az gelir, az gelir, elbet bir gün bu kış gider, yaz gelir, yaz gelir, vay vay...
13:54What are these songs about? Are they about love or...?
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.
14:13And most of the Sufis and players, they write poems about how 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?
14:33Ne ağlarsın benim zülfüsü yanım? Ne ağlarsın benim zülfüsü yanım?
14:46Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama.
15:00Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama.
15:07Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama.
15:19Bu da SUBSCRIBAR
15:56I've known Fossil Psy for more than 30 years, from when we were just starting our careers.
16:02Since then, he's written more than 100 original compositions, from solo piano pieces to full orchestral works.
16:21You know, I still remember very clearly the first time I heard you play, because you were playing your own
16:27piece.
16:29And when you started, I mean, people were shocked.
16:31And I thought, where is this music coming from? Maybe this is Turkish music?
16:36Yes, the first generation of Turkish composers, who they composed the Western music, orchestral music,
16:43all this. They were all students of Bartók. Bartók took them, they were very young,
16:49beginning of 20th century. They went wild in East Anatolia, recording and searching,
16:56trying to understand the folklore, folk music, and tunes, and all this.
17:02And using the ethnical element in the modern music is 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, and 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, like 7-8, 9-8, 13-8, 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 Turkish parts.
17:49On these two pages, you have so many Turkish parts, of course.
17:52One of the Turkish parts.
18:44Fossil's music is a crossroads, too,
18:46where mournful Eastern melodies meet Western romanticism,
18:51making 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.
19:43It's beautiful.
19:44Yes, this is the Atatürk Cultural Center.
19:46It'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.
19:59He was famous.
20:01In his lifetime, yes, and since.
20:02I 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,
20:17which was typical of that first generation of composers.
20:20A bit of a parallel to consider is that of Bartok,
20:22who started as a more obviously...
20:24He was here.
20:25He was here with Saigun collecting Turkish folk music,
20:29as he did all over Eastern Europe, but also including Anatolia.
20:33But 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,
20:42this country, what is now Turkey special.
20:44And the legend of Gilgamesh, on which the opera is based,
20:47is 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,
20:58oldest 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.
21:06Mesopotamia 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,
21:20which has been home to so many civilizations, including the very earliest ones.
21:24And I think that is the key to understanding the international
21:27and universal appeal of his music.
21:30Should we go ahead and have a listen?
21:31Sure, sure.
22:08From there, we went to see and do another famous Turkish art form.
22:13With a master artist, Fikret Gouni.
22:19You probably recognize this art, called Ebru, from book bindings.
22:26My favorite color is orange.
22:28I'm going to go with this one.
22:29Yes, only two fingers.
22:31Right.
22:31This?
22:32Yes.
22:32Okay.
22:33Okay.
22:33It is this way.
22:34Oh, that way.
22:35Okay.
22:36Okay.
22:37Oh!
22:38How did you do that so gracefully?
22:41Yeah, you're doing well.
22:43The same way.
22:46Okay.
22:47When was this process first invented?
22:49Nearly 600 years ago, from Turkistan Bukhara came Istanbul,
22:56making Istanbul-Üsküdar-Özbekler Tekkesi.
23:00First time.
23:01So this technique migrated, came from Turkistan?
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.
23:36That looks cool.
23:38This way.
23:38Okay.
23:40Very nice.
23:42Wow.
23:50Please.
23:54Enough.
23:59Oh.
24:00Nice.
24:05There's another art form that came to Istanbul,
24:08but this one from the West.
24:10We went with Cem to the Pera Museum
24:12to see their Ottoman portrait collection.
24:16See, this character is a French ambassador
24:19to the Ottoman court, dressed as a Turk.
24:22Hmm.
24:22So the depiction of the human image is completely forbidden in Islam.
24:27And the first sultan who actually dared having his portrait painted was Mehmet II.
24:32He had the audacity to bring in a painter from Renaissance Italy called Bellini.
24:39And absolute scandal 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 spoke 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,
25:01Greece, 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
25:19because it's a little bit like the Ottoman language.
25:21We have a language which is really a synthesis of Persian, Arabic,
25:26and what came from Central Asia.
25:28So the music was also very much part of that.
25:31All kinds of instruments, anything that was at hand
25:33could become part of what we now call Ottoman Turkish classical music
25:37to distinguish it from Turkish folk music.
25:57That is an incredible sounding claret.
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?
26:10G-Clef.
26:11Yeah, G key.
26:12It's a G key.
26:13G key, yes.
26:14In Sol.
26:15Yeah, Sol.
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?
26:25Another 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, these 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, but they are quarter tones, you know.
26:43This is very smaller.
26:44Very small.
26:46Oh.
26:49Here it is.
26:50Yeah.
26:51Wow.
26:51Yeah.
26:51You don't tune the harp with these pedals.
26:54You 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.
27:03Yeah, during 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?
27:17Yes, absolutely.
27:18Can we all play together?
27:19Sure.
27:20Okay, let's try it.
27:42Let's try it.
27:44This reed flute, the ne, is another interesting Turkish instrument.
27:48But 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 Fasl, the Imam Fasl Ashikudlu.
28:54Fasl, 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.
29:05Okay.
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.
29:24Mm-hmm.
29:25And 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?
29:43When I started to live here, the population was approximately 12 million.
29:51Mm-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.
30:06Great food.
30:06Great sound.
30:07Great music.
30:08Is that the Blue Mosque?
30:09Yes.
30:10Can we walk there?
30:11Of course.
30:13Yes.
30:14So, 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's lots of imams.
30:26Oh, really?
30:27Yes.
30:27My father was imam.
30:28Okay.
30:29Yes, my grandfather was imam.
30:31And your grandparents?
30:33Yes.
30:33Really?
30:33My grandparents, since Ottoman Empire, there were many religious scholars and leaders
30:41who served in high positions.
30:44It's like a family business.
30:45Yes.
30:46It'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.
31:25Fazl, the call of prayer.
31:26Yes.
31:27This is the sound of Istanbul.
31:29In our call to prayer, they are singing with makams, microtones, and each call to prayer
31:37singing in its own makam.
31:41The 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
32:10village when 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.
32:23There, we met imams Mustafa al-Faita and Durzun Shaheen.
32:28I've never been to a place like this.
32:30This is such a beautiful mosque.
32:31This was built in the 1600s.
32:33Yes, 1600.
32:34Wow.
32:35If I may ask a personal question.
32:38Okay.
32:39Why did you become an imam?
32:41Good question.
32:44I was a child and my village come a new imam.
32:49His sounds very, very, very nice.
32:54So the new imam sang well.
32:56Yes.
32:56I like music.
32:58I finished conservatoire.
33:02Oh, 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 favourite part of being an imam?
33:24Yeah.
33:24Yes.
33:24Music.
33:26My life.
33:27Fantastic.
33:28Yes.
33:28Well, can we hear you sing now?
33:30Yes.
33:33My life.
33:35My life.
33:49My life.
33:53My life.
33:55As-salamu alaykum
34:41Allahu akbar, allahu akbar.
34:55Allahu akbar, allahu akbar, allahu akbar.
35:13Allahu akbar, allahu akbar.
35:42Allahu akbar, allahu akbar, allahu akbar.
35:43Yes, you can buy and you can eat here.
35:44You can eat here.
35:45Yes, yes.
35:45And it's amazing, right?
35:46Perfect.
35:47Very delicious, very fresh.
35:48Besides art and culture, this is also the crossroads for food in the region.
35:53From east and west, from land and sea, Istanbul gets the best of everything.
35:59Can I try one?
36:02Which one is your favorite?
36:05My one.
36:11With us were Burju Cardog, the nay player,
36:16and Rifat Varol, who makes them.
36:25Rifat has built reed flutes for more than 20 years.
36:28By his count, he's made more than 5,000,
36:31sold all over the world.
36:45One in a thousand will be nay?
36:48Wow, that's...
37:02Turkish nay has this mouse piece.
37:05Oh, that's beautiful.
37:06Original one, yes.
37:07Okay.
37:08And also, inside is empty.
37:10Teal here.
37:11Mm-hmm.
37:12One horn, only two or three, or one.
37:16One horn?
37:17Yes.
37:17Really?
37:36Mm-hmm.
37:38Wow.
37:39It's got a crown now.
37:42No.
37:43We 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.
37:53So, you have to calculate...
37:55Yes, every time.
37:56...for each, every time.
37:57Because all that is unique.
38:05Somehow, it's very cool.
38:06I'm watching a nay being born.
38:10Wow.
38:14We will check the tuning.
38:16It must be C.
38:19Mm-hmm.
38:29It's okay.
38:30Beautiful.
38:30Yes.
38:31So, it's done.
38:33It's yours.
38:34Really?
38:35Wow.
38:37This is so cool.
38:39Now, I just have to learn how to play it.
38:41I don't know.
38:46I don't know.
38:48I don't know.
38:53I don't know.
38:53Burju is one of the most respected nay players in all of Turkey, though this is traditionally
38:58a male instrument.
39:02Euphor's Barn, Frite, primaver, minor, and the wheel is going to be the main music theater for
39:02I don't know.
39:02I don't know.
39:03I don't know.
39:13I don't know.
39:16I don't know.
39:18But, I don't know.
39:19I don't know.
39:20I don't know.
39:21But, I don't know.
39:21I don't know.
39:22I don't know.
39:25Let's think of it.
39:25I don't know.
39:26I don't know.
39:27I don't know.
39:28I don't know.
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 dirges.
40:38What does it mean, Sufi? Sufism?
40:42Sufism is right hand is up, left hand is down. This is the Sufi.
40:47So what is the meaning of this? This is right hand, it takes from the God, left hand is down,
40:54gives to the human.
40:55I am in the middle.
40:56You'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 is going so and going so.
41:38The disease and something like this comes down.
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, a meditation in motion set to
41:58music.
42:38Jem took us to the Tekvir 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,
43:10and also brass players on foot, establishing the arena
43:14and probably creating quite a scary effect for the enemy on the other side.
43:18Merhaba ey Mehteran!
43:22Merhaba!
43:24Mehter başı!
43:27Nevvete selah!
43:29Derfası!
43:30Essergan kalası!
43:33Hastur!
43:36Hayri!
43:38Ya Allah!
43:58Yoran Yusuf Fuchs, the composer of the Ottoman Empire at the zenith of its expansion had reached the gates of
44:03Vienna.
44:03They actually heard the Janissary Band firsthand, but Yoran Yusuf Fuchs, the composer,
44:09we know that 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.
44:21Yes, it's part of the offensive.
44:22And actually, the composer who emulated in a little symphony at 3, he wrote the symphony in three parts.
44:27But it's very weird.
44:28And it's a full century before it really became a fashion, the trumpets and drums, the Turkish effect in Haydn
44:35and Mozart and onwards.
44:58Ah, ah, ah, ah.
45:12Ah, ah, oh, oh, oh.
45:17Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
45:52I 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. The percussive element is something that comes in to the music,
46:08but also the melody contours are 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
46:17because he listens to the Rondo a la Turca on his toy at home.
46:22It's part of our musical DNA, isn't it?
46:25So you're right, 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.
46:46.
47:27Turkish music may have inspired the West three centuries ago,
47:31but today the West inspires Turkish 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, but of course you don't have the fret and in our music, microtonal scales can be played only with
48:11fretless instruments.
48:12Right.
48:13When we play in a Turkish Makam system, if you play like C sharp according to the scale, it has
48:20to be flatter sometimes.
48:21But on the 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, regular guitar, because
48:29you 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.
48:39Can we hear this, folks?
49:08Now we arehusband withizado guitar solo.
50:13So when you write pieces, are you still, even today, drawing from Turkish folklore, Turkish
50:19folk music?
50:20But we don't, I don't take exactly the song or written, I take the DNA of it.
50:27This third movement here.
50:29Yeah.
50:29What is this inspired by?
50:32This is music from Black Sea area by an instrument, 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.
50:52And the other movements are also inspired, like the first movement, like beginning to
50:58like nail flute.
50:59Yes.
50:59This melancholic sound of nail.
51:02So these instruments, these colors, these rhythms, these energy of rhythms, of course, very
51:09important in my life.
51:10Do Comanches 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.
51:28You will.
51:28Ha, ha, ha.
51:56So what gives Istanbul's music its unique flavor?
52:00Its history as a crossroads certainly plays a part.
52:05But more so, the folk music specific to Anatolia.
52:13And the instruments unique to Central Asia and this region.
52:21All these instruments, and of course, the call to prayer,
52:25are microtonal, often playing between the notes of 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.
52:55Just follow me.
52:57I hope you can now hear this.
53:00Bye.
53:05Bye.
53:07Bye.
53:13Bye.
53:14Bye.
53:17Bye.
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