Rewind- Izmir

From Canakkale to Bergama. The ruins of Pergama were amazing. I went early in the morning and imagined what it would have looked like in Roman times. Of course I’m glad I went, but not much in the way of music while I was there. After two days, I made my way to Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey.
In Izmir I met Tuba and Kursat Terci. Tuba was the cousin of Cem Egesel, who I had stayed with in Canakkale. If it wasn’t enough to be introduced to all those kind people at his school and then meeting Filiz Bodur, he made sure I went to visit Tuba, his cousin. Her husband Kursat was a classical guitar teacher at the conservatory of music at the private college there, and Cem figured he’d be a great resource to learn more about the traditional music forms of Turkey.
I met Tuba, Kursat and two of their friends the first night for a fantastic dinner of mezes- my first time- I had been told of this dish, or dishes, a Turkish specialty. The plan was to go see an open air jazz performance by a band from Istanbul afterwards. On the drive over, one of their friends asked me if I had read the author Tom Robbins as it was one of her favorite authors. It was a surprising question, being so far away from home, but also because he’s one of my favorite authors and I wondered how his quirky and creative use of the English language would translate into Turkish. Damn, gotta love things like that.
The space for the concert was an old factory converted into public grounds. It was nice. The band mainly performed jazz standards, and the lady sang the familiar songs with a heavy Turkish accent. The people were diggin’ the western sound and the band played well, but lacking the latent force and backbeat that makes a good American jazz band so rewarding to listen to.
During the concert, Kursat relayed to me the complex history of the Turkish Republic in relation to the music of the country and incidentally at his school (see previous blog entry). It was incredibly enlightening both towards the history of the region, but of the role music has played in the psyche of the people in this land.
The next day I went to meet Tuba and Kursat at their school. They both were professors there. Kursat a music teacher as I mentioned, and Tuba an English literature teacher. Tuba and I had a great talk over coffee and lunch while we waited to meet up with Kursat. She told me of her amazing journey towards teaching, which included her quitting school before high school. The way she was being taught didn’t jive with her way of learning, and she was aware enough to do something about it then. Years after, after finding out what her true passion was, initially being spurred by interest in Native American studies (the way she was led to this is another fascinating topic on it’s own, but personal to her I think), she quickly finished her high school degree, going on to college then finishing her graduate school work in her mid 30’s. She is now a professor at a major college. It was inspiring not for the length of education or the type. It was inspiring because of how she did it. She only went through with intensive class based learning when it was something she felt was important. Before that she read voraciously and was led to a lifelong passion. I related not only to her disenchantment with general classroom learning in the teenage years, but also found inspiration from her in finding her passion and following it no matter what the age. We tend to think life comes in chunks and phases, and that those phases correlate to certain ages. While sometimes true, it’s great when the rules are broken, showing that this life still contains many surprises and we can learn things at unexpected times.
The intention that day was to go to the traditional music section of their school and meet with one of the instrument makers there, possibly talking to professors as well. But it was bad timing as it was a friday, and everyone had went home early. I wouldn’t be around on Monday when they resumed studies. Damn, but it was a rewarding trip nonetheless. Although I didn’t get to see any traditional music in Izmir, I learned many things from the great discussions I had.