|
At the Ottoman Bank Museum
No Wedding without Music
Ottoman music and instruments researcher Ersu Pekin will be our guest speaker, this month, at "Objects and Rituals," to discuss the evolution of musical instruments over time. The lecture entitled "No Wedding without Music" will be held at the Museum, free of charge on Wednesday, May 25 from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Describing the timeless and ubiquitous aspect of musical instruments, Ersu Pekin says:
"From the musical instruments used at Hittite weddings to those of 15th century Inner Asia, from the sema of the Mevlevi in the 13th century to the erotic dances of the 16th century...We gaze from the 21st century at the musical instruments used in music and dance at the circumcision celebrations of princes in the 18th century. The logic of custom calls for music. Whether it is a religious ceremony we join in or amusement we are offered, the musical instrument used to call upon God or to entertain remains the same. Perhaps we would like to believe it sounds different; perhaps it really has made a different sound this time. But a ney is always the same reed flute and even though those two small drums may at times be the gypsies' nakkare and at others the mevlevis kudüm-I şerif (holy drums), they remain two copper bowls covered with thin leather. Man is the creature who adds a meaning to these objects."
Ersu Pekin was born in 1946, in Istanbul. In 1971, he graduated from the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts. From 1967 to 1981 he taught at the Cinema-TV Center at Mimar Sinan University where he also held the post of secretary general.
Pekin has been active in the musical field for over 30 years now. His research focuses, in particular, on Ottoman music and musical instruments and he has published articles on the subject in various magazines and newspapers. Ersu Pekin was the curator for an exhibition on Ottoman Musical Instruments held in the Aynalıkavak Kasır (summer palace), one of the properties under the auspices of the Ministry of National Palaces. From 1995 to 2003, he prepared and broadcast the music program Saz ve Söz ("Words and Music") with Bülent Aksoy on Açık Radyo. He currently engages in book designing and editing.
| |
Voyvoda Street Lectures
Objects and Rituals
Stalin and Music: the Shostakovich Phenomenon
Ersu Pekin
No Wedding without Music
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Free admission
The Ottoman Bank Museum
35/37 Banks (Voyvoda) Street
(0212) 334 22 70
|
|
|
