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Great Performances S53E15
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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.
00:30They dance 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.
01:19Coming 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'd 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.
02:38Istanbul has long been a bridge between continents.
02:41A 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,
04:35which he called Constantinople,
04:38after himself.
04:39Very modest.
04:41And the interesting thing is,
04:43with the Ottoman conquest in 1453,
04:47the city became known as Constantinie.
04:50So it was really a Turkish way of saying
04:52the city of Constantine.
04:54So 1453 is actually kind of recent history
04:57for this city.
04:59Absolutely.
04:59And like a lot of these buildings,
05:01with the conquest of Constantinople,
05:02in 1453,
05:04it was converted into a mosque
05:06and remained a mosque
05:07for the next 600 years or so.
05:10And with the Republic,
05:11it 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
05:18and a museum at the same time.
05:20Okay.
05:21One of the most spectacular things
05:22about this building
05:23is the mosaics inside.
05:25So we're going to have a look.
05:25Yes, please.
05:26You lead the way.
05:27This way.
05:27This way.
05:35Alice 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
05:54giving the churches a present to Christ.
05:57Beautiful.
06:11The mosaics, as far as we can tell,
06:14date to the 12th century.
06:17These are incredibly advanced
06:20for the 1100s?
06:22Even something that may be interpreted
06:24as the art of perspective
06:26before its time.
06:27I mean, can you imagine
06:30how much more work that is?
06:32Wow.
06:49What I find really fascinating in this place
06:51is to observe how Islamic architecture
06:54of mosques afterwards
06:55was actually influenced
06:56by buildings like this.
06:58the repeating arches,
07:00the many domes.
07:01So one of the secret superpowers
07:03of Turks is that they kind of successfully
07:07absorbed everything that came before them.
07:10It was clear the city's arts
07:12were at a very high level
07:14when it was Constantinople,
07:15and much of that transferred to Istanbul.
07:19But the Turkish art form
07:21most visitors know today
07:22is the carpet.
07:23In the courtyards off Istanbul's Grand Bazaar,
07:27we went to see Aziz Oskar,
07:30a dealer of textiles from Central Asia.
07:32This is the Kyrgyz.
07:34Ooh.
07:35Brotherly.
07:36This is from Kyrgyzstan.
07:37Kyrgyzstan.
07:38A mirror cover.
07:39A mirror cover?
07:40Okay.
07:40This is also from Kyrgyzstan.
07:42Oh, same.
07:43Yes.
07:43This is more older one.
07:45You can tell the similarities
07:46with the pattern.
07:48That's really nice.
07:50This is Kongrat.
07:51Kongrat is same.
07:53Like mirror cover.
07:54And this is from where?
07:56This is from Uzbekistan.
07:57Uzbekistan.
07:58Yeah, Kongrat.
07:59But still really detailed.
08:02For salt bag.
08:04Salt bag?
08:05Hanging more in the kitchen.
08:08Some people put the spoon, something.
08:11I saw many times
08:12putting 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?
08:23Putting the bread inside.
08:25Hanging more.
08:25So 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.
08:39Wow.
08:39How long did it take, I mean, days to make this?
08:44So much days.
08:45Look at that.
08:46Wow.
08:48It's a woman dress.
08:49Mm-hmm.
08:50You want to try?
08:51Oh.
08:52Sure.
08:53Uzbekistan, Bukhara.
08:54Uzbekistan.
08:55Burka.
08:58I love this.
09:00I would wear this.
09:01How old is this?
09:02Nearly 120, 110 years old.
09:05I mean, this is timeless.
09:07It's just beautiful.
09:08Tajik ikat.
09:10Oh, okay.
09:11This 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.
09:22Every time this collete.
09:23So this is almost a museum quality piece.
09:25Museum quality, yeah.
09:26All pieces.
09:27Yeah, if you want to try one more.
09:29Sure.
09:30This actually, women use it like this, I'm sure.
09:33Like 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...
09:46Turkmenistan.
09:47This is from here.
09:49Yes.
09:49The burka was from Tajikistan here.
09:51Tajikistan, yes.
09:52And this one is from Uzbekistan.
09:54So it's this area.
09:56These people have unbelievable broidery.
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.
10:13Last 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.
10:24Than there.
10:25Yes.
10:26So 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.
10:49After Iran, Hazara, coming to Eastern Turkey, coming to Anatolia.
10:54So where exactly on the map is Anatolia?
10:58Is it, is 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
11:09their textiles and their music with them.
11:13We went to see Koşkun Karademir and Aifer Vardar, two amazing Anatolian folk musicians.
11:20The center is here, near Cappadocia, coming to Iran.
12:02Our translator was guitarist Cenk Erdogan.
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 kopus.
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 and 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.
12:51.
12:52.
12:53Ney gönül, elbet bir gün bu kış gider, yaz gelir, yaz gelir vay vay.
13:10Ben dertliyim de yetmez şikayet vay, oyalarım muhannet.
13:22Vay gurbet, yetmez mi vay vay?
13:35Aşıklara da böylece az gelir, az gelir
13:44Elbet 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.
14:02But 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
14:39Ne ağlarsın benim zülfüsü yanım
14:45Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama
14:52Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, ağlama
15:07Bu da gelir, bu da geçer, Allah'ım var.
15:38Altyazı M.K.
16:13Altyazı M.K.
17:05Altyazı M.K.
17:10Altyazı M.K.
17:17Altyazı M.K.
17:28Altyazı M.K.
17:39Altyazı M.K.
17:47Altyazı M.K.
17:55Altyazı M.K.
18:27Altyazı M.K.
18:27Altyazı M.K.
18:28Altyazı M.K.
18:29Altyazı M.K.
18:29Altyazı M.K.
18:31Altyazı M.K.
18:32Altyazı M.K.
18:33Altyazı M.K.
18:34Altyazı M.K.
18:35Altyazı M.K.
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18:59Altyazı M.K.
19:00Altyazı M.K.
19:09Altyazı M.K.
19:12Altyazı M.K.
19:20Altyazı M.K.
19:20Altyazı M.K.
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19:21Altyazı M.K.
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19:22Altyazı M.K.
19:24Altyazı M.K.
19:25to the 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
19:50they're rehearsing an opera by Adnan Saigun.
19:53Saigun belongs to the first generation of Turkish composers
19:56who wrote in the Western side.
19:59And he 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
20:06in musical culture in Turkey.
20:12Saigun originally fed on Turkish national music,
20:15folk music mainly, which was typical of that first generation
20:19of composers.
20:20A bit of a parallel to consider is that of Bartok.
20:22He started as a more obviously...
20:24He was here.
20:25He was here. He was here with Saigun
20:28collecting Turkish folk music as he did all over Eastern Europe,
20:31but also including Anatolia.
20:33Oh, yeah.
20:33But Saigun did not only draw on Turkish folk music,
20:36but also on the soil itself.
20:37He was a bit of a mystic and was very interested
20:40in what made this soil, this country,
20:42what 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.
20:51Typical story of an evil emperor looking for enlightenment.
20:55Hmm.
20:56As 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 we call Mesopotamia is between the two rivers
21:11of 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,
21:22including the very earliest ones.
21:24And I think that is the key to understanding
21:26the international and universal appeal of his music.
21:30Should we go ahead and have a listen?
21:31Sure, sure.
21:32Let's go.
22:08From there, we went to see, and do,
22:11another famous Turkish art form
22:13with a master artist, Fikret Guni.
22:17Oh.
22:18Oh.
22:19You probably recognize this art, called Ebru,
22:23from book bindings.
22:24Wow.
22:25My favorite color is orange.
22:28I'm going to go with this one.
22:29Yes.
22:30Only two fingers.
22:31Right.
22:31This?
22:32Yes.
22:32Enough.
22:33It is this way.
22:34Oh, that way.
22:35OK.
22:36OK.
22:37Oh.
22:38How did you do that so gracefully?
22:41Oh, you're doing well.
22:43The same name.
22:46OK.
22:47When was this process first invented?
22:50Nearly 600 years ago.
22:52OK.
22:53From Turkistan Bukhara came Istanbul,
22:56making Istanbul Üsküdar Özbekler Tekkesi.
23:00First time.
23:02First time.
23:02So this technique migrated, came from Turkistan?
23:06Turkistan Bukhara came Istanbul.
23:08To here.
23:09OK.
23:15OK.
23:16And then something, Bob.
23:17This is Tarak.
23:19This way.
23:20OK.
23:21Looks nice.
23:22Ooh.
23:23It's very nice Tarak.
23:34Wow.
23:36That looks cool.
23:38Oh, this way.
23:39OK.
23:40Very nice.
24:05There's another art form that came to Istanbul,
24:08but this one from the West.
24:10We went with Cem to the Para Museum to see their Ottoman
24:14portrait collection.
24:16See, this character is a French ambassador to the Ottoman
24:20court dressed as a Turk.
24:22Hmm.
24:22So the depiction of the human image is completely
24:26forbidden in Islam, and the first sultan who actually
24:29dared having his portrait painted was Mehmet II.
24:32He had the audacity to bring in a painter from Renaissance,
24:37Italy, called Bellini, and absolute scandal at the time,
24:41but he could get away with anything.
24:42Highly enlightened monarch, very brilliant character,
24:4521 years old when he conquered the city, spoke seven languages
24:48and 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,
24:58the whole of North Africa, the Balkan countries, Greece,
25:02quite a bit of the Black Sea region.
25:05Basically anything with people of Islamic origin
25:08was 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,
25:25Arabic, and 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
25:36classical 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-G clef.
26:11Yeah, G key.
26:12It's a G key.
26:13G key, yes.
26:14In Sol.
26:15Yeah, Sol, Turkish clarinet.
26:16Really?
26:17I've never, I've never heard of a G clarinet.
26:20That's, that'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!
26:49Yeah.
26:50Wow.
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, actually.
27:03During playing?
27:03Yeah, during playing, we 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, uh, 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.
27:44This 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, home 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.
30:04Great food here, too.
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?
30:18I 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?
30:34My grandparents, since Ottoman Empire, there were many religious scholars and leaders who served 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.
31:19To be honest, to be merciful, to be respectful to each other.
31:25Basil, 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 singing in its own
31:40makam.
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 village when the Chinili
32:11Mosque 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.
32:28I've never been to a place like this.
32:29This 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.
32:38Why did you become an imam?
32:40Good question.
32:45I was a child and my village come a new imam.
32:49He's sounds very, very, very nice.
32:54So the new imam sang well.
32:56Yes.
32:57I 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 favorite part of being an imam?
33:24Yes.
33:24Music, my life.
33:27Fantastic.
33:28Yes.
33:28Well, can we hear you sing now?
33:30Yes.
33:33Oh, you're an us-salaam.
33:52Oh, you're an us-salaam.
33:56Oh, you're an us-salaam.
34:01Oh, you're an us-salaam.
34:07Oh, you're an us-salaam.
34:53Allah is the best
34:56No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
35:18Also in Uskedar, we went to one of Istanbul's famous traditional markets.
35:23Is that a great leaf? Great leaf?
35:25I love this.
35:25A new leaf?
35:26Yeah, I love that.
35:28In Bileksi area, they are making rice.
35:33Dessert.
35:34Dessert?
35:35Soap?
35:35Yes.
35:35What?
35:36Fish dessert?
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.
35:45Yes, yes, 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?
36:05I'm going off.
36:06Did you tell me if you need to?
36:08I'm going off.
36:11I'm going off.
36:11I'm going off.
36:12With us were Birju Cardog, the nay player.
36:14Sorry.
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 sold all over the world.
36:33This is good nay because it has nine joints.
36:37One, two, three, four.
36:38Okay.
36:38And to find like this, you can look, for example, 1,000 of them.
36:43Only one of them will be nay.
36:45Yes.
36:46One in 1,000 will be nay?
36:48Wow.
36:49That's...
36:50Okay.
37:05Oh, and that's beautiful.
37:06Original one, yes.
37:07Okay.
37:08And also, inside it is empty.
37:10Right.
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.
37:42Now you will find the holes.
37:47Yes.
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...
37:55Yes, every time.
37:56...for each, every time.
37:57Because all done is unique.
38:05Somehow, it's very cool.
38:06I'm watching a nay being born.
38:10Wow.
38:14You will check the tuning.
38:16It must be C.
38:19Mm-hmm.
38:28Tuning is 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.
38:41Oh, my...
38:53Burju is one of the most respected nay players in all of Turkey, though this is traditionally
38:58a male instrument.
39:58Satsang with Mooji
40:02The Neh is best known from the music of Sufis,
40:05a Muslim religious sect.
40:08Rifat plays in one of their ensembles
40:10for their famous whirling dervishes.
40:39What 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,
40:52left hand is down, gives it to 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.
41:05Sufism is right hand is down.
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 it's every year it's going so on, going so on.
41:38The disease and something like this comes down.
41:41So you haven't been dizzy in years?
41:43No.
41:50Actually, I've heard the whirling focuses their thoughts
41:53to enter a trance-like state.
41:56A meditation in motion set to music.
42:27A meditation in motion set to music.
42:38Jem took us to the Tekvir Palace,
42:40the best preserved from Istanbul's Byzantine era.
42:44But we were here to see and hear
42:46an Ottoman-era military fixture, the Janissary Band.
42:51You know, you study Mozart and Beethoven,
42:53you hear about Janissary bands.
42:54I've never heard one live,
42:55so 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,
43:02actually 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
43:17for the enemy on the other side.
43:18Merhaba, ey Mehteran!
43:22Merhaba, Mehter başı!
43:27Nevvete selâ!
43:28Derfas-ı!
43:30Essergan kalası!
43:32Hastur!
43:36Hayri!
43:37Yağla!
43:39Hayri!
43:53So when did the Europeans first hear the Janissary Band?
43:58The Ottoman Empire at the zenith of its expansion had reached the gates of Vienna.
44:03They actually heard a Janissary band firsthand, but Joran 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
44:15perhaps.
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 it in a little symphony atre, he wrote a symphony
44:26in three parts.
44:27And it's very weird.
44:28And 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.
45:00Laughter
45:04of the
45:04This.
45:52I studied Mozart's violin concert when I was eight years old.
45:55We were taught that it's a Janissary band, but I didn't know what I was imitating.
45:59I wonder how many people actually realized 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.
46:42I think it's okay to go a little bit over the top with it.
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.
48:06And in our music, microtonal scales can be played only 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 the regular guitar, you don't have it.
48:23You have only one C sharp.
48:25And that's why it's a very open instrument than a guitar, regular guitar,
48:29because you can play any type of ethnic, ethical music and scale on it, you know.
48:34Can we hear this fretless instrument with this fretless instrument?
48:37Of course, of course.
48:38Can we hear this fretless instrument with this fretless instrument?
49:12Can we hear this fretless instrument with this fretless instrument?
50:38I've seen that instrument.
50:40Right.
50:40Yes, 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, 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 Comanches play this fast?
51:14Yes.
51:14I mean, this is insanely fast.
51:16Insanely fast, yes.
51:17And they danced with this.
51:20Really?
51:20They dance 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.
51:57Ha, ha, ha, ha.
52:21All these instruments, and of course, the call to prayer, are microtonal, often playing between the notes.
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.
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