Performances

Yesterday afternoon Peter returned to Boston.  I apologize for the lack of posting during his time here but, as he pointed out, much of the past week was spent revisting the major tourist sites of Istanbul.  It was fun to play tour guide and get a second look at the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Archaeology Museum.

Yesterday evening I went to an Istanbul Music Festival performance at the Hagia Eirene church.  You may remember this church from the previous post on Topkapi Palace.  I had originally planned to attend a performance with Peter but the concerts that overlapped with his time here "priced out the riff-raff", as he put it.  The program I heard was performed by the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, conducted by and featuring on piano David Greilsammer. The concert included pieces by Mozart, Maurice Ravel and Jean-Philippe  Rameau.

The building itself dates from the 6th century but is at least the third church to be constructed on this site.  It is nearly stripped bare of decoration both inside and out.  The most ornate piece of art is the black on gold mosaic cross decorating the half-dome over the apse.  This stark simplicity was a product of the iconoclastic period in the Orthodox Church.  Between 726 and 843 AD all existing icons were destroyed and only certain symbols were permitted as ornaments in places of worship.

Today I spent the day hanging around Istiklal Blvd. before I went to see another, very different, kind of performance: a Sufi Mevlevi Sema, better known as the Whirling Dervishes.

I stumbled across this awesome shop called By Retro.  Located in the expansive basement of an ancient apartment building off Istiklal, this shop has all the charm of treasure hunting in your great-aunt's basement without the cat-pee smell that usually goes along with it. Winding corridors are lit with chandeliers and lined with double rows of vintage skirts, dresses, blouses and jackets.  Nooks and crannies hide kitschy paintings, posters, bags and over the top costumes.  A great place to check out when you get tired of the cloying monotony of the chain stores and souvenir shops on Istiklal.

I walked up Istiklal to Taksim Square and was greeted by yet another of Istanbul's frequent public rallies.  This event was an informal parade organized for Gay Pride Week.  Revelers carried rainbow flags as well as signs in both Turkish and Armenian.  There was a small army of policemen in a nearby corner of the square, heavily armed and bored.  The numerous onlookers craned their necks in curiosity and I saw no hostility even from the most obviously pious members of the crowd.

I had mixed feelings about attending the Mevlevi Sema.  As part of one of my undergraduate religion classes, we had watched and analyzed this type of ceremony.  I remembered the hypnotizing beauty of the soft music and twirling worshipers.  However, the commercialization, and in following desacralization, of the ceremony bothered me quite a bit.  This was amplified by the fact that the Mevlevi's traditional headquarters, referred to quite erroneously in English as a monastery, is currently undergoing extensive "renovation". Therefore the Semas have been moved to a some what shabby nearby theater, completing the transformation of the Sema from communion with God to pure performance.

Sufi brotherhoods, and in following their ceremonies, were banned by Ataturk in 1924.  However, Sufi brotherhoods went underground and many men continued to join their ranks, including politicians.  Starting in 1954, the government granted the Mevlevi order permission to perform their ceremonies solely for tourist audiences.  This use of the Mevlevi Sema for commercial purposes has only grown since then. You can find images of the "Whirling Dervishes" on postcards, t shirts, tiles and just about anything else marketed to tourists.  Watching the ceremony in the half empty theater, amongst an obnoxious cascade of camera flashes, was a strange experience. Throughout the ceremony, I wondered:  What did the "dervishes" think of their objectification?  What did the audience know about the ceremony they were watching?  Could the Sema even be considered sacred anymore?  Perhaps the relationship between religion, tourism, the state could turn into a research topic for me in the future.

To learn about the structure, meaning and purpose of a Sema click here.