The two sides of the Aegean

There is an album that goes by this name by our favourite Turkish clarinet player Hüsnü Şenlendirici, recorded with Greek musicians from Chios. But that is not the reason we are stopping by the two sides of the Aegean shores. As people, that have gone around the Aegean Sea – by both land, and water, and as people, that listened to music on both sides, today we share the emotion and the energy that flows through those lands. 

For us first came the Turkish shore, with many years of traveling – in the beginning by bus from Sofia to Marmaris. After that by car through villages, small towns, along the lengthy roads between Sofia and Göcek – through the Dardanelles, Troy, Ayvalık, Bergama, Izmir and Selçuk, in order to get on a boat. It does not matter if we drove by car or bus, each time we reached the turn in the heights from Muğla towards Marmaris, we would see these breathtaking serpentines. And down in the lower parts, as if observed by a drone – the wild shore, the sea, the flying kite surfers, the stone pines and the eucalyptus – they show you that you’re down south. 

Then came the plane to Rhodes – and from there through the crowd – east you have Kastellorizo, west – the Dodecanese along the Turkish coast – magical and full of stories. It does not matter how you reach those lands, it’s the final destination that counts – the banana trees, the olive plantations, and the anthill of people on the one side and the stone pines, the fishermen, the quiet tides and the peace from the other side – it does not change. There is a certain warmth and a cozy bliss, a feeling of a thousand stories – both past and present, about a life – full, multi-layered and incredibly colourful. 

To us the south of the Aegean means stocking up supplies on a boat and disappearing for a while, getting lost in the blue waters. It means to find your car after 15 days, covered by seagull excrements and begging for a wash. Stumbling into a wedding you have not been invited to and feeling pure happiness. The south is jumping into a plankton in full algal bloom and feeling happy – the water is warm and there are no annoyances around you. To have a string of docked boats with neighbours who just purchased their boat and looking for peace, and on the left side you’re helping someone dock a boat the size of the boat on the right by themselves. The south is time flowing, despite everything. The south of the Aegean is sitting in a Greek pub together with the captain of a neighbouring Turkish boat that came from across, drinking wine, silently watching the news on a TV and mocking the politicians with hand gestures, no matter which shore you came from. Followed by a friendly goodbye – with mutual respect to one another, only for everyone to sail away to their destination the next morning. 

The south of the Aegean is trying to catch the slippers of your friends, that have fallen into the sea. To see people with shampoo bottles in the sea. To meet wild goats in front of trash bins. To have a dialogue in an unknown language about the preparation of the fish that you have caught earlier in the day. The south makes people drop all their predispositions – those who can’t swim and are afraid of the water decide to be brave – to cross the coast alone in a boat and jump straight into the sea. In the meantime a heard of goats would storm the base camp on main land. The south is laughing at the spider web we’ve drawn with the boat on the GPS, while running on the deck and trying to dock with the help of someone on land. 

The south is waiting for the water in the bathroom to start running, to have dinner with a light generator, followed by a cell phone flashlight, when the power has eventually gone. 

The biggest joy is going to a restaurant by boat, because there’s a thing called a dinghy – an inflatable boat. You use it to reach anything that is within a short distance from your boat, and you tie it as if it is your horse on the dock. Naturally, every restaurant in the south has a little place to tie your dinghy to. The first time, many years ago, a slightly tipsy French captain in the harbour of Bozburun drunkenly asked us if we have seen his dinghy, we thought he was referring to his missing dog. Afterwards we found out he was referring to his tiny boat, that he had lost while trying to reach the harbour with his yacht, to rest in the afternoon heat; we found it blown by the wind under a catamaran. We empirically learned what a dinghy is in yacht lingo. 

There are plenty of other stories to tell about the Aegean – that is where our hearts lie and we return every chance we get. And during those trips between Anatolia and the Greek islands, is when you listen to the most real and Mediterranean music. Yes, there is no commerce in the small villages, there is a bit of pain. But the true beauty lies within. The south, like every other journey, is accepting what you are being given, instead of carrying all your heavy thoughts around with you. Today we only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the music of the Aegean sea. We do it with the help of two real divas – Sezen Aksu and Haris Alexiou, who show us how powerful life is. Tоday we celebrate the spring with Sezen Aksu and enjoy the moon with Haris Alexiou. This ist he real life. Everything else is prejudice. 

There is no video, and it is not necessary – the music paints the picture. 

August 2019

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