For the Queen of cities
Or our Istanbul story.
The place, where amazing things that would never repeat themselves again happened.
Istanbul is a teacher and a student at the same time. There is nothing new under the sun. But the Queen is forever.
Today we split the story in two – the physical and the spiritual Istanbul.
The physical Istanbul – there are few places in the world that have awakened such endless joy as the Queen. Seen on a winter’s day, covered in snow, and on a July day, sizzling hot under the heat. In April, covered in tulips or on a warm November. Always carrying the same poetry and the souls of the millions that have gone through there.
Once, many years ago in a casual conversation, someone asked me: Where do you go once you’re there, in the centre?
Then I thought to myself that this is a city where the word centre has a very broad meaning. Which centre?
The radical or the worldly? The conservative or the rebellious? Which one?
A ship or a metro can take you to an entirely different world. Istanbul – the city of rooftops and worn out shoe soles, because you keep walking and walking.
The Istanbul of contrasts and smells. The Istanbul of sounds. Because the Queen has her own sound. (In an interview Mercan Dede says: „Just go down Istiklal and you already have an album!") He is right.
The Istanbul of tastes – of little locantas and unpopulated by tourists places; to the people that once you return to are already your friend.
Istanbul is our balcony in Cihangir that overlooks the Bosporus and we count the passing ships.
The Istanbul of Istanbul cats and our passing.
The cats of Istanbul are like no other. They are hungry and equal citizens of the city. In Kadikoy you can even find institutions resembling cat day care and even at three in the morning you can meet a person with a bag of cat food, feeding the cats amongst all the chaos.
Istanbul is the place, where on a warm July night we had two places to spend the night. Because we weren’t sure which side of the Bosporus we’d end up staying on.
Istanbul for the last at least 15 years has brought us together with some of the biggest teachers, with incredible experiences and warmth.
Some of those are Hakan Atala, Ilhan Ersahin and the people he plays with, the friends from Mercan and Galata, the wonderful people in Moda and Kadikoy.
In Istanbul we have listened to Ibrahim Maalouf and Dhafer Youssef, Chick Corea and The Bad Plus, Hazmat Modine and Natacha Atlas, Baba Zula and Azam Ali, Bugge Wesseltoft and Vincent Peirani, Gogol Bordello and Shantel, Mark Guiliana and Richard Bona, Giovanni Mirabassi and Erik Truffaz…and many, many more.
Istanbul is welcoming many sunrises after crazy nights out and ridiculous mini-bus ride home in 2014 from a Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke concert, that ended up at our favorite locanta. On the TV the Brazil – Germany game was playing and at the time of our arrival the score was 5:0 for Germany. And the drummers during the Ramadan were drumming before the first prayer and waking up all the believers…
Istanbul is poetry. Istanbul is a kaleidoscope.
That is why today we share a beautiful piece, where the queen is the main character, accompanied by the music of Ilhan Ersahin and Jane Birkin’s voice.
April 2019
Photo ©МА
