The Heybeliada International Sound Project aims to create a research and education center to enhance the production of artistic productions focusing on the musical cultures of Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The center also played host to the Greek band Bosphorus on Wednesday night, as the group brought a Greek-Turkish mix to an enthusiastic audience
 Vassiliki Papageorgiou performs her interpretations of songs by contemporary Greek composers in the Rembetiko tradition, as well as a number of Turkish folk songs. |
“Bosphorus,” a musical group that has been working on Greek and Turkish music since 1986, performed a series of masterpieces from early Ottoman composers this past week at the new International Sound Center of Heybeliada.
Bosphorus took the stage at Sepetçiler Kasrı, on the Istanbul island of Heybeliada on Wednesday evening, with a performance including works from the Ottoman period, contemporary Greek songs and Turkish folk songs.
Accompanied by Turkish and Greek musicians, Vassiliki Papageorgiou performed her interpretations of songs by contemporary Greek composers in the Rembetiko tradition, as well as a number of Turkish folk songs.
The program’s art director is the well-known Nikiforos Metaxas, who has been described as “A man ahead of his time, a child of 1968, committed to an ecumenical peace between poisoned nationalist ideologies through the spiritual, living mandala of music.”
Born in Cephalonia and raised in modern-day Zimbabwe, Metaxas played rock and blues and studied Byzantine music in Athens. He was also attracted to Rembetiko, whose roots are found in Anatolian music. Eventually, he came to Turkey to research the relationship between Greek and Turkish music and how the kanun (a stringed instrument similar to a zither) was played. At that time the kanun was not played a lot in Greece. While still in Turkey in 1986, he formed Bosphorus. He eventually settled on Istanbul’s Heybeliada and over the years has contributed greatly to the Greek music scene.
Papageorgiou’s background is Greek folk music and she worked with Costas Ferris famous for the film "Rembetiko." After coming to Istanbul in 1993 to sing and perform his interpretations of Rembetiko, she was deeply affected by her Anatolian roots – her parents are from İzmir – and she did not want to leave.
She met Bosphorus and started taking Turkish music courses. Along with Metaxas she established the group “Anadolu Feneri” (“Anatolian Lighthouse”) and has been living on Heybeliada for over 15 years. She has worked with groups such as “Gündoğarken” and “Ezginin Günlüğü.”
At the concert she performed some of the songs from her latest album released in Greece called “Ellinotourkika.”
Bosphorus is famous in Greece for their interpretation of the works of composers such as Dimitri Cantemir, Tiryaki and Zaharya Efendi. They have two albums containing such classics as "The Last Boat from Heybeli," "Peyk-i Safa Saz Semaisi," and "Suzidilara Devr-i Kebir," and modern pieces like "The Waves" and "Copper Cauldrons."
Metaxas was also the producer behind the Turkish chart success of the “Gündoğarken” and the popular music video of the song "Rüzgar."
The core of the musical group was originally formed by veteran musicians who specialize in Ottoman music. It became the first musical ensemble to explore the historical traditions of Greek and Turkish music and the Greek contribution to classical Turkish music.
The musicians in Bosphorus’ original line-up included Erol Deran (playing the kanun), Mutlu Torun (playing the oud, a short-necked instrument similar to the lute), Abdi Coşkun (playing the tanbur, a long-necked kind of guitar), Hasan Esen (playing the kemençe, similar to a violin), Arif Erdebil (playing the ney, a kind wind instrument similar to a flute), Uğur Işık (plating the cello) and Vahit Anadolu (playing percussion).
Metaxas told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that one of the pleasures of performing this week was getting some of the people who had played with the group over the years back together. At this week’s concert the group was made up of Nikos Krallis (playing the bouzouki, a kind of lute), Engin Arslan (playing the saz, lavta and tzoura, all of which are similar to the mandolin), Kleon Antoniou (playing guitar), Antonis Maratos (playing contrebass), Ugur Işık (playing cello) and Cihan Yurtçu (playing the kaval, a kind of pipe).
The Heybeliada International Sound Project
The goal of the Heybeliada International Sound Project is to create a center for researching, educating in and producing Anatolian and Mediterranean music. The project comprises both traditional musical cultures and new modes of expression arising from modern technology and is housed in part of the Greek-Orthodox community’s old Halki school on Heybeli Island.
In 2007, the Bosphorus Cultural Alliance, a Greek nongovernmental organization, submitted an application to the Greek Department of International Development Cooperation, or YDAS, to fund the project, originally the outcome of the cooperation between the Bosphorus Cultural Alliance and the Heybeliada Society for the Science of Music. The first phase of the project concerning the restoration of the building started on January 2009 following the release of funds by YDAS.
The Heybeliada Greek community school was designed by architect Ioannis Kalfas and built in 1847. It was originally intended to be a school that provided students for the Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary on the island and when it was closed in 1971 the community school had no students applying to attend so it was also closed.
Both Greek and Turkish architects and contractors have worked on the restoration of the building, which had to be restored almost entirely. With the roof repaired and a new drainage system installed, the interior could finally be restored.
Currently, approximately 75 percent of the building has been restored. After air-conditioning and electrical wiring systems have been installed, the walls will be rendered and sealed and restoration works will be complete.
One of the most interesting aspects of the restoration is that the Monuments Commission decreed that the restoration of the building be completed using techniques that were used at the time of its construction. Accordingly, renovators are using Bagdadi [roughcast] plaster, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, in the restoration but the few people know how to work with the material these days.
The Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency has sponsored the center’s development and has funded the purchase of much of its technological and electronic equipment.
The center is dedicated to the study and practice of the musical traditions of the region and their broader cultural context, as well as experimenting with new forms that arise from these traditions in a modern context.
Its activities will include the organization of workshops and seminars of Greek and Turkish traditional, contemporary and technologically enhanced music, recording musical and audiovisual productions, as well as publishing literary and scientific works illuminating the broader cultural context.
Bosphorus took the stage at Sepetçiler Kasrı, on the Istanbul island of Heybeliada on Wednesday evening, with a performance including works from the Ottoman period, contemporary Greek songs and Turkish folk songs.
Accompanied by Turkish and Greek musicians, Vassiliki Papageorgiou performed her interpretations of songs by contemporary Greek composers in the Rembetiko tradition, as well as a number of Turkish folk songs.
The program’s art director is the well-known Nikiforos Metaxas, who has been described as “A man ahead of his time, a child of 1968, committed to an ecumenical peace between poisoned nationalist ideologies through the spiritual, living mandala of music.”
Born in Cephalonia and raised in modern-day Zimbabwe, Metaxas played rock and blues and studied Byzantine music in Athens. He was also attracted to Rembetiko, whose roots are found in Anatolian music. Eventually, he came to Turkey to research the relationship between Greek and Turkish music and how the kanun (a stringed instrument similar to a zither) was played. At that time the kanun was not played a lot in Greece. While still in Turkey in 1986, he formed Bosphorus. He eventually settled on Istanbul’s Heybeliada and over the years has contributed greatly to the Greek music scene.
Papageorgiou’s background is Greek folk music and she worked with Costas Ferris famous for the film "Rembetiko." After coming to Istanbul in 1993 to sing and perform his interpretations of Rembetiko, she was deeply affected by her Anatolian roots – her parents are from İzmir – and she did not want to leave.
She met Bosphorus and started taking Turkish music courses. Along with Metaxas she established the group “Anadolu Feneri” (“Anatolian Lighthouse”) and has been living on Heybeliada for over 15 years. She has worked with groups such as “Gündoğarken” and “Ezginin Günlüğü.”
At the concert she performed some of the songs from her latest album released in Greece called “Ellinotourkika.”
Bosphorus is famous in Greece for their interpretation of the works of composers such as Dimitri Cantemir, Tiryaki and Zaharya Efendi. They have two albums containing such classics as "The Last Boat from Heybeli," "Peyk-i Safa Saz Semaisi," and "Suzidilara Devr-i Kebir," and modern pieces like "The Waves" and "Copper Cauldrons."
Metaxas was also the producer behind the Turkish chart success of the “Gündoğarken” and the popular music video of the song "Rüzgar."
The core of the musical group was originally formed by veteran musicians who specialize in Ottoman music. It became the first musical ensemble to explore the historical traditions of Greek and Turkish music and the Greek contribution to classical Turkish music.
The musicians in Bosphorus’ original line-up included Erol Deran (playing the kanun), Mutlu Torun (playing the oud, a short-necked instrument similar to the lute), Abdi Coşkun (playing the tanbur, a long-necked kind of guitar), Hasan Esen (playing the kemençe, similar to a violin), Arif Erdebil (playing the ney, a kind wind instrument similar to a flute), Uğur Işık (plating the cello) and Vahit Anadolu (playing percussion).
Metaxas told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that one of the pleasures of performing this week was getting some of the people who had played with the group over the years back together. At this week’s concert the group was made up of Nikos Krallis (playing the bouzouki, a kind of lute), Engin Arslan (playing the saz, lavta and tzoura, all of which are similar to the mandolin), Kleon Antoniou (playing guitar), Antonis Maratos (playing contrebass), Ugur Işık (playing cello) and Cihan Yurtçu (playing the kaval, a kind of pipe).
The Heybeliada International Sound Project
The goal of the Heybeliada International Sound Project is to create a center for researching, educating in and producing Anatolian and Mediterranean music. The project comprises both traditional musical cultures and new modes of expression arising from modern technology and is housed in part of the Greek-Orthodox community’s old Halki school on Heybeli Island.
In 2007, the Bosphorus Cultural Alliance, a Greek nongovernmental organization, submitted an application to the Greek Department of International Development Cooperation, or YDAS, to fund the project, originally the outcome of the cooperation between the Bosphorus Cultural Alliance and the Heybeliada Society for the Science of Music. The first phase of the project concerning the restoration of the building started on January 2009 following the release of funds by YDAS.
The Heybeliada Greek community school was designed by architect Ioannis Kalfas and built in 1847. It was originally intended to be a school that provided students for the Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary on the island and when it was closed in 1971 the community school had no students applying to attend so it was also closed.
Both Greek and Turkish architects and contractors have worked on the restoration of the building, which had to be restored almost entirely. With the roof repaired and a new drainage system installed, the interior could finally be restored.
Currently, approximately 75 percent of the building has been restored. After air-conditioning and electrical wiring systems have been installed, the walls will be rendered and sealed and restoration works will be complete.
One of the most interesting aspects of the restoration is that the Monuments Commission decreed that the restoration of the building be completed using techniques that were used at the time of its construction. Accordingly, renovators are using Bagdadi [roughcast] plaster, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, in the restoration but the few people know how to work with the material these days.
The Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency has sponsored the center’s development and has funded the purchase of much of its technological and electronic equipment.
The center is dedicated to the study and practice of the musical traditions of the region and their broader cultural context, as well as experimenting with new forms that arise from these traditions in a modern context.
Its activities will include the organization of workshops and seminars of Greek and Turkish traditional, contemporary and technologically enhanced music, recording musical and audiovisual productions, as well as publishing literary and scientific works illuminating the broader cultural context.
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