This is Mor ve Ötesi, a Turkish rock band who are apparently going to be Turkey's Eurovision entry this year. If so, I completely approve, with the caveat that Hepsi would have been hilarious.
Jan 24, 2008
Nov 23, 2007
Why I don't take minibuses
For those of you who have never seen a minibus, it's kind of like a full-size van but slightly bigger and sitting much higher on its wheels. It holds about twelve people sitting but probably around 25 when full to capacity. They drive really slowly and pick up passengers from anywhere along their route, not just designated stops -- a major reason why Istanbul traffic gets so snarled.
Anyway, as I was waiting for the (regular) bus this evening, I noticed a classic example of Driverus minibusus tooling along the highway. He was smoking, talking on his cellphone, AND reading the back of what looked like a bag of Haribo gummy bears. (Or maybe they were a look-alike product of the thriving Turkish gummy industry -- Paul's the expert on that.) But no worries -- he did have most of one elbow on the steering wheel, and only two other minibuses had to slam on the brakes to avoid rear-ending him.
Anyway, as I was waiting for the (regular) bus this evening, I noticed a classic example of Driverus minibusus tooling along the highway. He was smoking, talking on his cellphone, AND reading the back of what looked like a bag of Haribo gummy bears. (Or maybe they were a look-alike product of the thriving Turkish gummy industry -- Paul's the expert on that.) But no worries -- he did have most of one elbow on the steering wheel, and only two other minibuses had to slam on the brakes to avoid rear-ending him.
Nov 21, 2007
Verb of the day
One of the billboards along my bus route home made my day. In Turkish, it said:
Siz hala Toyotalilastiramadiklarimizdan misiniz?
It is probably best translated as follows:
Are you still one-of-those-whom-we-have-been-unable-to-make-into-Toyota-owners?
Toyota adapted this delightful and mellifluous verb from an example made famous by Turkish language textbooks: Are you one-of-those-whom-we-have-been-unable-to-Europeanize?
Luckily for me and my sanity, Turks almost never break out with such fearsome examples of agglutinization.
Siz hala Toyotalilastiramadiklarimizdan misiniz?
It is probably best translated as follows:
Are you still one-of-those-whom-we-have-been-unable-to-make-into-Toyota-owners?
Toyota adapted this delightful and mellifluous verb from an example made famous by Turkish language textbooks: Are you one-of-those-whom-we-have-been-unable-to-Europeanize?
Luckily for me and my sanity, Turks almost never break out with such fearsome examples of agglutinization.
Nov 13, 2007
Nov 6, 2007
Nov 2, 2007
Turkish street food
I've been wanting to write a long post about Istanbul's many delicious (and a few not-so-delicious) street foods. Under this category I would also include the small shops where the food is only for take-out, like the wonderful variation on fried dough dipped in honey and sometimes sprinkled with pistachio dust or, my current favorite, kir pidesi. Kir pidesi is a flat, thin, foot-long rectangle of bread with warm but unmelted white cheese and bits of scallion inside. ("White cheese" is the literal translation of the Turkish -- it tastes similar to feta but a little less crumbly and not as salty.) I'm not a good cook, but I'm going to have to try to make kir pidesi when we come back to the U.S.
More on street food soon!
More on street food soon!
A happy Istanbul moment
Yesterday I saw a dolphin! I was taking the ferry from the Asian side to the European side, watching the waves and enjoying the strangely warm weather, when suddenly a dolphin popped up and went right back down again. The boat was unusually empty, with only three other people sitting on the right side (starboard, if you want to be all nautical about it), and I'm pretty sure I was the only person who saw it. It wasn't the only time I've seen dolphins in the Bosphorus, but the other two times were up north near the Black Sea, while this was at the opposite end. It made my day.
Oct 4, 2007
Sinan (the cat, not the architect)
For those who haven't seen our cat in action, this short video is a good introduction.
Sep 16, 2007
In case the Haghia Sophia, Blue Mosque, and Topkapi Palace aren't enough...
Istanbul is also home to what has to be the world's most beautiful Starbucks:
It even has a drive-through!
It even has a drive-through!
Sep 7, 2007
Pavarotti and Turkey
In 1963, before Pavarotti had achieved his big breakthrough, he was cast in La Boheme at the Ankara State Opera. Unbelievably, he was only in the third cast, behind two Turkish tenors no one has ever heard of. (Ankara's Mimi, on the other hand, was apparently famous for being on a Turkish soap opera called "Mothers-in-Law.")
Pavarotti's stay in Ankara was short -- only one performance. As explained by the current director of the Ankara State Opera on the news, Pavarotti asked to have "Che gelida manina" (Rodolfo's big aria) transposed down a step because the air in Ankara was too dry and messed up his voice. In a move that I'm sure he never regretted, the director refused the request and dismissed Pavarotti.
Another account says that Pavarotti was only scheduled for one performance anyway. The first-cast tenor, Ismet Kurt, did the role sixteen times and claimed that upon first hearing Kurt sing, Pavarotti asked the Ankara management, "Why did you call me when you have this tenor?" Kurt hastened to say that Pavarotti's voice improved greatly in later years!
Whatever the truth, most musicians in Turkey have more respect for Pavarotti now. I say "most," because in 2005, there was another incident of Turkish Pavarotti-bashing. The members of the Ankara Radio Polyphonic Chorus (the state chorus that performs Turkish folk music) were on their way back from a concert in Thessaloniki, listening to Pavarotti on the bus. One of the officials in the state music organization (not himself a musician) turned on the singers, telling them, "Turn off that *&^$# infidel music!" In the ensuing argument, he called the singers "traitors."
The most incomprehensible part is that the official was not the one disciplined for the incident. Instead, the entire chorus was punished by having their working day lengthened, from three hours to eight, and the Pavarotti-hater was promoted!
Of course, the brouhaha did not go unnoticed in political circles: members of the secularist party (founded by opera-lover and sometime librettist Atatürk) attacked the ruling party for filling the government with imams and people educated in religious high schools. Kind of like how in the U.S. government, most new hires have degrees from Regent University and whatever Jerry Falwell's college is called.
Pavarotti's stay in Ankara was short -- only one performance. As explained by the current director of the Ankara State Opera on the news, Pavarotti asked to have "Che gelida manina" (Rodolfo's big aria) transposed down a step because the air in Ankara was too dry and messed up his voice. In a move that I'm sure he never regretted, the director refused the request and dismissed Pavarotti.
Another account says that Pavarotti was only scheduled for one performance anyway. The first-cast tenor, Ismet Kurt, did the role sixteen times and claimed that upon first hearing Kurt sing, Pavarotti asked the Ankara management, "Why did you call me when you have this tenor?" Kurt hastened to say that Pavarotti's voice improved greatly in later years!
Whatever the truth, most musicians in Turkey have more respect for Pavarotti now. I say "most," because in 2005, there was another incident of Turkish Pavarotti-bashing. The members of the Ankara Radio Polyphonic Chorus (the state chorus that performs Turkish folk music) were on their way back from a concert in Thessaloniki, listening to Pavarotti on the bus. One of the officials in the state music organization (not himself a musician) turned on the singers, telling them, "Turn off that *&^$# infidel music!" In the ensuing argument, he called the singers "traitors."
The most incomprehensible part is that the official was not the one disciplined for the incident. Instead, the entire chorus was punished by having their working day lengthened, from three hours to eight, and the Pavarotti-hater was promoted!
Of course, the brouhaha did not go unnoticed in political circles: members of the secularist party (founded by opera-lover and sometime librettist Atatürk) attacked the ruling party for filling the government with imams and people educated in religious high schools. Kind of like how in the U.S. government, most new hires have degrees from Regent University and whatever Jerry Falwell's college is called.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
