Politik Bir Cumartesi

Fetih evet gerçekten de hem bizim için hem de insanlık tarihi için önemli ama kutlamalar yapmak sorumluluğu bende olsa daha çok fetih zamanında İstanbul’un durumu, öncesinde sırasında ve sonrasında olanlar, o zamana kadar yapılamayan işi 19 yaşındaki Fatih Sultan Mehmet’in nasıl başardığı gibi konulara odaklanırdım. Continue reading Politik Bir Cumartesi

Connecting Rebellion

The program’s format goes like this: first you play a song from say Iron Maiden, let’s suppose you play Hallowed Be Thy Name, a song about a man on his way to the gallows. To proceed to the next song, the DJ has to find a connection to another artist. Let’s also assume that you have a schizophrenic taste of music and you are also fond of Michael Bolton’s How Am I Supposed to Live Without You. This is a song about a man who doesn’t know how he’s supposed to live without her. Continue reading Connecting Rebellion

Protest Music from Gezi Park

In this case when I say Protest Music I mean something else. I’m adding some videos below which are all about the protests but would not be filed under this genre. Maybe it can be said that just like the people, music genres are also uniting to protest against the PM and his government during the Summer of 2013. Continue reading Protest Music from Gezi Park

People’s Republic of Taksim

The Gezi Park was packed, and it looked like a carnival. There were street vendors selling all sorts of food, guitar players with cigarettes in their mouths with the ash almost falling onto their laps, people dancing the halay, voracious readers reading in dim light, a tattoo maker with a sign that said, “Ataturk’s signature tattooed with henna”, more people dancing the halay, people singing songs by Zulfu Livaneli (a popular leftwing singer from the 90’s), people sleeping to get prepared for the long night, occupiers on cleaning duty going around with huge trash bags, a lot of people taking photos and even more people dancing the halay. Continue reading People’s Republic of Taksim

The Teargas Revolution

I can see a growing interest from the rest of the world regarding the anti government (i.e. anti Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan) demonstrations in Turkey. But the real perplexing thing for us Turks is that the demonstrations have mobilised a previously numb and apolitical fraction of the society. Continue reading The Teargas Revolution