Tuesday 23 June 2009

Zülfü Livaneli



















Omer Zulfu Livaneli was born in Ilgin, Turkey in 1946. After being held under military detention for three months during the coup of March 12th, 1971, he had to leave Turkey and move to Sweden. After Stockholm, he lived in Paris and Athens, and he returned to Turkey in 1984.

Livaneli’s latest novel “Leyla’s House” was published in Turkey in May 2006. His third novel “Bliss”, published in 2002, also a number one best-seller, made 44 editions, became almost a cult work and is recently adapted to cinema in Turkey. In 2005, “Bliss” was published in Greece and Sweden, and in 2006, it was published in France by Gallimard, in the United States by St.Martin’s Press and in Italy by Gremese. Immediately after its publication in the latter, Bliss was awarded by Barnes & Noble, the biggest bookstore chain in the world, with the annually given “Discover Great New Authors” award due to its “superior literary value”. Bliss will soon be published in Norway by Gylendal and in Netherlands by Prometheus/ Bert Bakker. His second novel “One Cat One Man One Death”, his first novel “The Eunuch of Constantinople” and a collection of his stories titled “A Child in Purgatory” have also been published abroad.

Livaneli achieved prominent success not only as a writer but also as a musician. With his songs, which have reached cult proportions, he has had an impact on many generations of Turkish youth. His 1997 Ankara concert was attended by no less than 500 thousand people. Livaneli's songs have been recorded by well-known soloists in foreign countries. His collaborations with Mikis Theodorakis of Greece have been noted as a gesture of bringing together the two countries. He has been giving international concerts and the London Symphony Orchestra has recorded his songs. His music continues to have an impact on Turks and non-Turks alike.

Livaneli is perhaps one of the most outstanding figure in the cultural, artistic and political life of Turkey. He also has had a formative influence through his editorial and movies.

Besides being one of the foremost defenders of Turkish-Greek friendship, he has been a highly influential figure in Turkey's political life for the past 30 years.

Livaneli has been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 1996.


Sources: wikipedia.org

unesco.org


Music samples:

http://www.4shared.com/file/113493262/138331d/Zulfu_Livaneli.html




Tuesday 16 June 2009

500 Years of Ottoman Cuisine-Marianna Yerasimos




Title: 500 Yıllık Osmanlı Mutfağı (500 Years of Ottoman Cuisine)
Author: Marianna Yerasimos
Publisher: Boyut
Year: 2005
ISBN: 9752301115
Language: Turkish
Pages:308


"Osmanlı Mutfağı... İstanbul'daki saray mutfağında ve saray çevresinde yaşayan, güzel yemeklerden hoşlanan bir seçkinler grubu tarafından 15. yüzyıldan itibaren biçimlendirilmiş bir yemek kültürü... Bu kültür, kullanılan malzemeden pişirme yöntemlerine, yemek çeşitlerinden yemek yeme alışkanlıklarına, yemek öğünlerine, sofradaki görgü kurallarına, mutfak binalarına dek pek çok konuyu kapsamakta. Bu kitapta Osmanlı yemek kültürünü oluşturan ögelere kısaca değiniyor, sonra da bu mutfaktan alınıp çağdaş mutfağa uyarlanan, denenmiş ve yapılabilir 99 yemek tarifi sunuyoruz. Osmanlıların beslenme alışkanlıklarını kavramak için bazen 7. yüzyılın Orta Asya'sına; bir yemeğin köklerini bulmak için 9. yüzyıla, Abbasi İmparatorluğu'nun başkenti Bağdat'a; pilavların sırrını çözmek için 13. yüzyıla, Moğol istilasına uğrayan Anadolu'ya, oradan da Safevi sarayına gidiyor; bu arada 15. yüzyılın çok öncesinden günümüze kadar, sadece zaman içinde değil, mekanlar içinde de yolculuk yapıyoruz. Bazen balık, balık yumurtası, havyar, lakerda ya da lalanga söz konusu olunca Bizans'a, hatta Roma İmparatorluğu'na dek uzanıyoruz."

Thursday 11 June 2009

Manos Loizos - Gramma stin Agapimeni (Letter for the beloved - Nazim Hikmet)


Artist: Manos Loizos
Title: Gramma stin Agapimeni (Letter for the beloved)
Year: 1983
Production: MINOS - EMI
Description: Poems of Nazim Hikmet's "Letter for the beloved", rendition by Giannis Ritsos
Titles tracks:
1. Μονάκριβή Μου (6:30)
2. Για Τη Ζωή (4:53)
3. Το Δίχτυ (2:11)
4. Απερίγραπτη Λένε (4:30)
5. Στηθάγχη (4:04)
6. Κατά Τις Λάμψεις Πέρα (2:01)
7. Χλιαροί Και Παλλόμενοι (2:29)
8. Λίγα Γαρούφαλα (3:17)
9. Όπως Ο Κερέμ (4:25)
10. Τι Όμορφο Που 'ναι Να Σε Συλλογιέμαι (4:51)
11. Αν Με Τη Μεσολάβηση (4:13)
12. Η Πιο Όμορφη Θάλασσα (4:18)
13. Ένα Κρεβάτι Εκστρατείας (5:41)
14. Ο Άνεμος Κυλάει (2:12)

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Itri (Buhurizade Mustafa Efendi)



His real name was Mustafa (1640-1712), and he was sometimes referred to as Buhurizade Mustafa Efendi . Itri was a major exponent of Turkish classical music, much in the same way that his contemporary J.S.Bach revolutionized Western music. He was a very prolific composer with more than a thousand works. However, only about forty of these survived to this day.
It is believed that he was a Mevlevi, and composed religious music for this order. He lived through the times of five Ottoman Emperors. He became well known during the time of Mehmet IV. He sang in fasıls, which are concert programs with the same makam, in the presence of Mehmet IV. Starting from this time, he enjoyed the support of the palace for many years. He taught music in the palace Enderun school. He was also interested in gardening. It is believed that his name Itri comes from the word itir, which means rose-geranium, or pelargonium.
As with most composers of his day, Itri was also a famous poet. He used poetic forms based on the classicial Ottoman school of poetry (Divan), as well as those based on syllabic meters identified with folk music and poetry. Unfortunately most of his poetry has not survived to this day. He was also known for being a calligrapher.

Major Works:

Tut-i Mucizei Guyem
Dilkeşhâveran Gece Salâtı , Mâye Cuma Salâtı
Segâh Mevlevi Ayini , Rast Darb-ı Türkî Naat ve Sofyan Tevşih
Nühüft Durak; Nühüft İlahî , Nühüft Tevşih; Nevâ Kâr
2 Pençgâh Beste , Hisar Devr-i Kebir Beste ve Aksak Semai
Mâhûr Ağır Aksak Semai , Rehavî Berefşan Beste
Buselik Hafif Beste ve Yürük Semai, Segâh Ağır Semai
Segâh Yürük Semai , Bayatî Çember Beste
Bestenigâr Darb-ı Fetih Beste , Dügâh Hafif Beste
Isfahan Zencir Beste ve Ağır Aksak Semai
Nikriz Muhammes Beste , Râhatu'l Ervah Zencir Beste
Irak Aksak Semai , Rast Aksak Semai
Nühüft Aksak Semai , Acemaşiran Yürük Semai
Rehavî Peşrev

Monday 8 June 2009

16th International Istanbul Jazz Festival


16th International İstanbul Jazz Festival running July 2-15 will host world-famous artists and groups within its rich programme that includes a wide range of musical genres varying from classical and modern jazz to pop, rock, ethnic and folk music. Festival tickets available.
PROGRAMME:

http://www.iksv.org/caz/program.asp

JAZZ Magazine- Issue 54



Türk basın sektöründe 1995 yılının Ocak ayından beri varolan Jazz dergisi Türkiye'nin tek jazz dergisi olma gururunu 7 yıldır taşıyor. Türkiye'de müzik dinleyicilerinin % 5'inin dinlediği jazz müziğini meraklı kitlesiyle buluşturan ve Jazz'la ilgilenen her yaştan insanın giderek artan bir sempatiyle benimsediği Jazz dergisi, dünyadaki benzerleriyle de yarışıyor... Yurdumuzdaki ve dünyadaki Jazz müziği festival ve konserlerini izleyen, ünlü cazcılar ve müzisyenlerle röportajlara yer veren, yeni çıkan albümleri, müzisyenleri tanıtan yazı, fotoğraflar ve yorumlarla oldukça zengin içeriğiyle üç ayda bir yayınlanıyor.

Bu sayıda bulabilecekleriniz:

JAZZ'ARAZZI Zuhal Focan
MC NELLY SMITH Devrim Dikkaya-Dilek Himam Er
NO BORDERS: RICHIE BEIRACH Selim Benba
YAZARLARIMIZ; SERDAR KARABATI Devrim Dikkaya
ŞU JAZZ DEDİKLERİ, Ali Sönmez
FİRMALAR - SOUND'LAR: CRAMMED DISC Orhan Kahyaoğlu
RÖPS. MICHEL CAMILO Serhan Yedig
KEREM GÖRSEV Tunçel Gülsoy
OZAN MUSLUOĞLU Tunçel Gülsoy
TELVETEN Tunçel Gülsoy
JÜLİDE ÖZÇELİK Tunçel Gülsoy
KURT ROSENWINKEL Sevim Yolaçtı
TİMUÇİN ŞAHİN Sevim Yolaçtı
ANA VIDOVİC Nilgün Unur
ÖZEL DOSYA, BLUE NOTE 70 YAŞINDA Can Ergelmiş
NELER OLACAK: CHARLES LLOYD Can Ergelmiş
CHARLES LLOYD Feridun Ertaşkan
BABYLON Sarp Dakni
CRR Sümeyra Gümrah
NARDIS JAZZ CLUB Zuhal Focan
İSTANBUL JAZZ CENTER Zuhal Focan
GHETTO Aslı Delikara
SEVDA CENAP AND Zuhal Focan

Sunday 7 June 2009

Sultan Composers


Title: Sultan Composers (2 CD) [Sultan Bestekarlar]
Artists: Violoncello:Uğur Işık, Ney:Ahmet Şahin, Quanun:Reha Sağbaş, Tanbur:Özer Özel, Classical Kemenche:Ahmet Kadri Rizeli, Rhytms:Fahrettin Yarkın
Year: 1999
Production: Kalan Music (130-131)
Description: The works in this collection are the recorded examples of an imperial family's musical heritage. These are professional level compositions of the Ottoman family members, who gave their signature to six centuries of the Turkish history. Composed between the first half of the sixteenth century and the second half of the present century, they have remained for many years in private collections known as "Sultani Besteler" (Sultanic Compositions). Now, for the first time, they have been brought together on these CD's.
Tracks: 47 tracks

1.Evc Saz Semai-Sultan Bayezid II (1447 - 1512)
2.Uzzal Peşrev-Sultan Murad IV (1612 - 1640)
3.Uşşak Peşrev-Sultan Mahmud I (1696-1754)
4.Pesendide Peşrev-Sultan Selim III (1761 - 1808)
5. Pesendide Saz Semai-Sultan Selim III
6.Hicaz Oyun Havası-Sultan Aziz (1830 - 1876)
7. Hicaz Sirto-Sultan Aziz

more info about CD:

Ara GULER


Ara Guler, one of the most distinguished and internationally renowned of creative photographers, was born in Istanbul in 1928. While still at Lycee he took up various types of work in the film studios, while at the same time following theatre courses run by Muhsin Ertugrul with the ambition to be a stage director or a playwright. He began his journalistic career in 1950 on the Yeni Istanbul newspaper while still a student at the Faculty of Economics. On completing his military service he began work on the Hayat magazine, where he was employed until 1961 as head of the photographic department. When Time-Life opened an office in Turkey, Ara Guler was engaged as correspondent for the Near East. This was followed by his employment as Near East photographic reporter for Paris-Match and Der Stern. It was during this period that he made the acquaintance of Henri Cartier-Bresson and joined the Paris Magnum Agency. In 1961 he was selected by the English publication Photography Annual as one of the seven best photographers in the world, and in the same year he was accepted as the sole Turkish member of ASMP (American Society of Magazine Photographers). In 1962 he was awarded the title Master of Leica, an honour accorded to very few photographers, and in the same year, the Swiss periodical Camera, the most important publication in the world of photography, devoted a special issue to his work. In 1964 photographs by Ara Guler were included in a work by Mariana Noris printed in the USA entitled Young Turkey. In 1967 an anthology entitled Photography of the World containing photographs by Ara Guler and Richard Avedon was published in Japan. An album of photographs entitled Turkei was published in Germany in 1970. Some photographs on the subject of art and the history of art appeared in the literary sections of Newsweek, Time-Life and Horizon, and were used by the Swiss publishing house Skira. Ara Guler furnished the photographs for Lord Kinross’ Hagia Sophia, published in 1971. The cover photograph on the English, French and German versions of Picasso, Metamorphose et Unite, published by Skira to celebrate Picasso’s 90th birthday, was by Ara Guler. Works by Ara Guler were exhibited in Glimpses of the Human World in Canada in 1967, Ten Masters of Colour Photography in the New York Gallery of Modern art in 1968, and the Fotokina Fair in Koln in the same year. In 1972, an exhibition was opened in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. In 1975 he was invited to the United States, where he took photographs of a number of famous Americans, and an exhibition entitled Creative Americans composed of photographs taken during this trip was opened in several large cities throughout the world. About the same time, Ara Gdler interviewed and took photographs of various famous personalities from Bertrand Russel to Winston Churchill, Arnold Toynbee to Picasso and Salvador Dali. The most famous of these photographic portraits was that of Picasso who was well known for his refusal to sit to photographers. In 1979 Ara Guler was awarded First Prize by the Association of Turkish Journalists for his work in the field of photographic journalism. In 1980 a number of his photographs were published in book form by the Karacan Press under the title Photographs. In 1986 he supplied the photographs illustrating the book Mimar Sinan written by Abdullah Kuran and published by the Hurriyet Foundation. The same book was published in English in 1987 by the Institute of Turkish Studies. In 1989 photographs of famous personalities in the world of the cinema were collected by Hil Publications under the title The Movie World of Ara Guler. In 1991 he supplied the photographs to illustrate the book The Sixth Continent written by Cevat Sakir Kabaagac (the Fisherman of Halicarnassus) for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile, Ara Guler had travelled over most of the world apart from South America, and the photographs taken during these travels had been distributed throughout various countries by the Magnum Agency and printed in various newspapers and periodicals. From 1989 onwards he worked in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei with the most distinguished photographers in the world on the programme A Day in the Lfe of.. His photographs of the works of the architect Sinan, a subject on which he had worked for many years, were published in France in 1991 by Edition Arthaud, and in the U.K. and U.S.A by Thames and Hudson in a deluxe edition entitled Sinan, Architect of Soliman the Magnjicent. The same year saw the publication of a book published in the U.K. and U.S.A by Thames & Hudson under the title Living in Turkey, in Singapore by the Archipelago Press under the title Turkish Style, and in France by the Albin Michel Press with the title Demeures Ottomanes de Turquie. A large number of Ara Guler’s photographs are to be found in the Bibliotheque National in Paris, the George Eastman Museum in Rochester U.S.A., and the Nebraska University Sheldon Collection. His photographs are also exhibited in Das Imaginare Photo-Museum and the Ludwig Museum in Koln.

Friday 5 June 2009

Murat Belge-Istanbul Travel Guide


Book Title: Istanbul Travel Guide
Turkish Title: Istanbul Gezi Rehberi
Author: Murat Belge
ISBN: 9789750504730
Language: Turkish
Year: 2007
Pages: 423
Publisher: İletişim Yayınları
Description: Prof.Dr.Murat Belge's Istanbul guide is about the old legends of the city, unknown historical places and stories from Byzantine and Ottoman period, ethimologic roots of the district names..
Everyone who believe that Istanbul is the capital city of the world should read this book.

Zafer Karaca-Istanbul Greek Orthodox Churches


Book Title: Greek Orthodox Churches in Istanbul before 1839
Turkish Title: İstanbul'da Tanzimat Öncesi Rum Ortodoks Kiliseleri
Author: Zafer Karaca
ISBN: 9789750814839
Language: Turkish
Year: 2008
Pages: 680
Publisher: Yapı Kredi Yayınları
Description: It's about Istanbul Greek Orthodox Churches in Istanbul.why before 1839? because after the westernisation and reformisation process (1839) , Greek churches were influenced from this period and church architecture look like to the western European churches..This book is about the more Greek/Byzantine architecture.

Bezmara-In The Search Of The Lost Sound


Title: Yitik Sesin Peşinde (In The Search Of The Lost Sound)
Artist: Bezmara Ensemble (Oud:Akgun Col, Ney:Aziz Senol Filiz, Quanun:Serap Aybar Caglayan, Tanbur:Birol Yayla, Kemança:Kemal Caba, Kudüm:Kamil Bilgin, Kopuz:Birol Yayla, Santur:Ihsan Ozer, Ceng:Fikret Karakaya, Sehrud:Osman Kirklikci, Miskal:Tugay Basar)
Year: 2000
Production: Kalan Music (161)
Description: The Bezmara Ensemble, specialized in the interpretation of early Ottoman music, owning instruments some of which have totally disappeared, was founded in 1996 by Fikret Karakaya on the occasion of the musicological project, whose purpose was to recreate, on ancient instruments the compositions which appear in various old collections, and which contemporary musicians had abandoned.

Arazbar Peşrev - Besteci: Nefiri Behram, Fahte (5:14)
Hüseyni Peşrev - Besteci: Gazi Giray Han, Zencir (5:08)
Kanun taksimi (1:01)
Evc Peşrev - Besteci: Acemler, Fetig Darbi (2:36)
Arazbar Peşrev - Besteci: Eyyubi Mehmed Çelebi, Devr-i Revan (6:27)
Çeng Taksimi
Nişabur Peşrev - Besteci: Hintliler
Çargâh Peşrev - Besteci: Derviş Mustafa
Kemançe Taksimi
Kürdi Peşrev
Buselik-Aşiranı Peşrev
Evc Peşrev
Muhayyer Peşrev
Mahur Semai

more info:
http://www.kalan.com/english/scripts/album/dispalbum.asp?id=493

Giorgos Leonardos - The Last Palaeologue


Book Title: The Last Palaeologue
Greek Title: Ο τελευταίος Παλαιολόγος
Author: Giorgos Leonardos
ISBN: 978-960-14-1644-1
Language: Greek
Year: 2007
Pages: 541
Publisher: Livanis "Nea Sinora" http://www.livanis.gr
Description: An historical novel that refers to the last Empire of the Byzantine, Constantine Palaiologos, based on the Venetian, Turkish and Greek sources.
The questions answered were, how much did the Byzantines fight the Ottomans to save Constantinople, and how much the Latin Catholics. Who traded Constantine Palaiologos and who raised the ottoman flag in the castle of “Vlahernon” while he was fighting in the central walls of the City. How much did the clergy resist the capture of the city or figh for their own tide to obtain privileges with the ottoman establishment. What happened after the fall of the Byzantine Empire……

Website:
http://www.gleonardos.gr/gleon_index_en.html

Thursday 4 June 2009

Dances of Lesvos Island Greece


Geragotikos Sirtos, Aptalikos Karsilamas


Ayvaliotikos Zeybekikos


Ayse Karsilamas (Kareklatos) or Aydinikos