—Track 01
Ah, Cemal
Travis and I met Cemal on the Asian side of Istanbul. He’s a shop owner, with a small stand among many in a tangle of restaurants, cafes, clothing stores, bookstores, butchers, fish mongers, and the like. We almost didn’t take the ferry across the Bosporus to this neighborhood, but I’m so glad we did. If there were any other toursits there, I didn’t see them. And we had one of the best lunches of the entire trip. And, of course, there was Cemal.
We got to chatting with Cemal while I was looking through scarves in front of his store. He took us for visitors and of course, asked where we were from. When he learned we were Americans, his eyes lit up (not the typical reaction we had the rest of our encounters) and he immediately asked us to send him American music when we got back to the states. He gave us his address and tried to give us money to pay for a CD in advance. This was exciting! Sharing music! So many good things to have him listen to! But what type of American music tickles his fancy?
“What music do you like?”
“American music! Indian music.”
”I don’t understand..”
”Not Indian music. North America Indian music.”
“ohhh…..like….flutes? Drums?”
“No no no… like ‘AH ya ya ya. AH ya ya ya.”
“…..like, Pow Wow?”
“Like American Indian music! AH ya ya ya. AH ya ya ya. This is what I have wanted! Can I pay you?”
So Travis and I owe Cemal some Native American Pow Wow music. Instead of allowing him to pay us, we just asked for some of his favorite music. He burned us a CD on the spot - he explained that it’s from the Black Sea region. He decided to play it for us before burning it - and let me tell you - nothing gets Cemal dancing like this first track. The guy put on a one man show right there, in front of the sunglasses, scarves, and market shoppers.
We definitely need to get a good Pow Wow CD in the mail, en route to Istanbul. I can envision Cemal dancing to Native American music in front of his store, and it’s oh so awesome.
