Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Edirne; Ancient Beloved Capital of the Ottoman


old synagogue





TOKI is everywhere...



"Allah" written on the walls of the "Old Mosque" (Eski Cami)










Beautiful Kufic Arabic Script in the shape of a mosque





The tree of life, not so common in mosques, this one is a unique Seljuk Style, the oldest mosque in Edirne...quite Shamanistic I would say...




flowers or clouds?





Takunya:)






Lands..






Sunflowerscape..





Meriç River




the town





behind the fountain























Pehlivan:Turkish oil wrestler













































Last week we went on a road trip to Edirne just 220 kms away from Istanbul ,to attend the annual 650'th Kırkpınar Wrestling festival. The idea came from a friend (ilkergurer.blogspot.com) who wanted to work on his personal photography project on portraits of Turkish oil wrestlers. While he took his portraits, we have been helping him with assisting the people and meanwhile I took a few photos and videos of mine too.


I was pretty amused to see that this famous ancient sport was carried out carefully with great interest and passion among its' young followers. All of the pehlivans whom I asked "why are you Pehlivan?" answered pretty much the same, they said: "because this is my grand father's sport". One can easily realize, the traditional implications this sport carries and how it evokes feelings of respect and commitment among the peers. Also unlike common wrestling, the tournament can only be won by having control of eachothers lederhosen (called kisbet, made of calfskin) by putting the arm through the latter's kisbet, creating an interest scene much different then any wrestling tournament.












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Sunday, July 3, 2011

İstanbul Tünel Jazz fest: Eren Noyan Quartet

Last night,Istiklal street was cheering up with rhytmic jazz music all over. Every step to a different corner , took me to interesting performances by Turkish locals, Colombians , French, South Africans and all over the world. It was an amazing melodic feast to my ears and soul. Yet, the best part; I was so fortunate to share this beautiful night with my good old friend Eren, whom also performed with his newly established band "Eren Noyan Quartet", under youth jazz scope. They performed the most popular Jazz Standards, interpreted in their own unique way. It was a wonderful night and thanks to all the musicians for sharing such beautiful music... (The video is upcomming!)
































































Saturday, July 2, 2011

Büyük Utanç

Türkiye'de çocuk gelin, dünya sıralamasında (%17) Gürcistan'dan sonra ikinciymiş (%19). Ülkeme dair, en yüz kızartıcı en haysiyetsiz istatistik verisidr. Çocukların mal/mülk gibi aileden aileye takas edilmesi,satılması kuşkusuz sadece Türkiye'ye mahsus değildir, fakat sanılanın aksine sadece Kürtçe konuşulan kesimlerine ve ya Güney Doğu illerine de mahsus değildir. 49 farklı il'de 18 yaş altı evlilikler, hem de kaçak yollardan, resmileştirilmeden, nikah memurları olmaksızın, çocuk gelinlerin kaderleri; hiç bir hakları korunmaksızın, imam nikahı sonrası tümüyle yaban ellere teslim edilmektedir . Türkiye'de reşit yaşta gelin olmak ,ülkenin sosyo-demografik yapısı itibariyle kendi başına ayrıca zorken,daha oyun çağında evlendirilen,her gece kocaları olarak tanımlanan kişilerce tecavüze uğrayan, daha kendileri çocukken kollarında bebelerine süt emziren gelinlerimizin yaşamı, yaşam mıdır?Sormak lazım! Çünkü, 18 yaşının altında kendi rızası olmadan evlendirilen tüm çocuklar, geceleri tecavüze uğrarlar. Bunun antropolojik, akademik açıklaması tabiki yapılabilir, yapılmalıdır da. Fakat insan gözüyle bakıldığında, heleki söz konusu bir çocuksa, dünyanın neresinde olursanız olun, bunun tek açıklaması olmalıdır: "bu bir yaşamın, bir geleceğin cinayetidir". Dolayısıyla lütfen imzalayınız;
http://imza.la/cocuk-gelinler

Sunday, June 26, 2011

La Vie est dure sans confiture

Eva, a multitalented textile specialist from Germany lives in Istanbul since the last thirty years with her husband and two daugthers. Being a professional in fashion business, her real passion relies within the beautiful smells of the lavander, Daphne and other various herbs and flowers that she picks up in the upper hills of a peaceful island "Büyük Ada" , just an hour away from heavily populated (18 million) mega city Istanbul. Eva can spend hours, days and weeks just preparing her amazing home made organic jams, jellies and marmalades. Each time, she comes up with new ideas, combinations, inventing new recipes, she fills each jar with an inspirationally artful love. This little intro was shot in my one and only day in the island, and it is to be my first trial with my brand new Canon 7D. I did avoid texts and narrations as all I wanted to do is to give a glimpse of a day, from Eva's island...

You can see the video at:
http://vimeo.com/25802659

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjjn69_la-vie-est-dure-sans-confiture_creation

And if you'd like to try from these mouth-watering jams:), please contact to: banukent@yahoo.com