Crossing The Bridge – The Sound Of Istanbul (Fatih Akin, Germany, 2005, 92mins)
This fascinating documentary follows Alexander Hacke (bassist with the legendary German industrial band Einsturzende Neubauten) as he travels around Istanbul, recording Turkish music, both traditional and contemporary. Directed by Fatih Akin (last year’s much-lauded Head On), the film is an intelligent and sympathetic investigation into Turkish music and a profound look, all too timely considering Turkey’s imminent joining of the European Union, at the ideological and geographical distance between the East and the West and the cross pollination that is occurring on both sides of the Straight Of Bosporus, the body of water that separates Turkey from Europe.
It is fitting then, that the first band Hacke talks to is the post-psychedelic Baba Zula, who insist on playing and being interviewed aboard a boat on the dividing straight. A rag-tag group of hippies, Baba Zula are the bastard child of The Doors, Pink Floyd and traditional Turkish music and, after their an album of theirs was mixed by production supreme The Mad Professor, are far better known in Europe than in Turkey, where they are considered to avant garde for the mainstream.
Orient Expressions are two DJs from Istanbul and a changing group of musicians who add a distinctly electronic edge to traditional Turkish music. Duman (or Smoke) are your typical grunge indie musicians whose lead singer learned all his knows in Seattle, where he moved at the height of the grunge movement. The Replikas are a bit more sophisticated and make dangerous, edgy, noisy music that is reminiscent of American bands such as The Paper Chases and Blonde Redhead which sets them apart from most of their rivals. Their Turkish identity, however, still beats strongly through their music. Erin Koray, godfather of Turkish Rock music has been going since the 1960s and has had his fair share of trouble with the authorities for his unusual combination of Turkish culture and rock music (he once covered Beatles and Rolling Stones songs using traditional Turkish instruments). Now respected as the forerunner of the modern music revolution in Turkey, he is a hero to most of the bands interviewed. Ceza is the closest that Turkey gets to Eminem. Not bothered with the “bullshit” of American gangster rap, Ceza embodies the spirit of a Turkey that is situated between the East and West and writes powerful, political chants that have beguiled Istanbul’s youth.
Hacke also interviews many more traditional musicians such as Selim Sesler, Brenna MacCrimmon, a Canadian woman who sings in perfect Turkish, Orhan Gencebay, world-famous recording artist and actor, 86 year-old Muzeyyen Senar and Aynur, a Kurdish singer who has an extraordinary, haunting and mournful voice that represents generations of the oppressed.
Akin does not concentrate on Hacke’s motives in recording the sounds of Istanbul but lets the music very much speak for itself. Whatever his reasons are for travelling across Europe to collect the songs, it is clear that he has a heartfelt connection with Istanbul and loves the varied music that is around every corner. The interviews with the younger musicians are particularly interesting – on the verge of being absorbed into Europe (it is pretty much an inevitability that Turkey will be integrated into Europe within a decade), they are struggling to maintain their Turkish identity whilst grappling with the influences from across the pond. It is a fascinating time for Turkey and this shows strongly in the creative explosion in music that has occurred in the last couple of years – something that Crossing The Bridge conveys entertainingly.
Review by Barnaby Welch
It is fitting then, that the first band Hacke talks to is the post-psychedelic Baba Zula, who insist on playing and being interviewed aboard a boat on the dividing straight. A rag-tag group of hippies, Baba Zula are the bastard child of The Doors, Pink Floyd and traditional Turkish music and, after their an album of theirs was mixed by production supreme The Mad Professor, are far better known in Europe than in Turkey, where they are considered to avant garde for the mainstream.
Orient Expressions are two DJs from Istanbul and a changing group of musicians who add a distinctly electronic edge to traditional Turkish music. Duman (or Smoke) are your typical grunge indie musicians whose lead singer learned all his knows in Seattle, where he moved at the height of the grunge movement. The Replikas are a bit more sophisticated and make dangerous, edgy, noisy music that is reminiscent of American bands such as The Paper Chases and Blonde Redhead which sets them apart from most of their rivals. Their Turkish identity, however, still beats strongly through their music. Erin Koray, godfather of Turkish Rock music has been going since the 1960s and has had his fair share of trouble with the authorities for his unusual combination of Turkish culture and rock music (he once covered Beatles and Rolling Stones songs using traditional Turkish instruments). Now respected as the forerunner of the modern music revolution in Turkey, he is a hero to most of the bands interviewed. Ceza is the closest that Turkey gets to Eminem. Not bothered with the “bullshit” of American gangster rap, Ceza embodies the spirit of a Turkey that is situated between the East and West and writes powerful, political chants that have beguiled Istanbul’s youth.
Hacke also interviews many more traditional musicians such as Selim Sesler, Brenna MacCrimmon, a Canadian woman who sings in perfect Turkish, Orhan Gencebay, world-famous recording artist and actor, 86 year-old Muzeyyen Senar and Aynur, a Kurdish singer who has an extraordinary, haunting and mournful voice that represents generations of the oppressed.
Akin does not concentrate on Hacke’s motives in recording the sounds of Istanbul but lets the music very much speak for itself. Whatever his reasons are for travelling across Europe to collect the songs, it is clear that he has a heartfelt connection with Istanbul and loves the varied music that is around every corner. The interviews with the younger musicians are particularly interesting – on the verge of being absorbed into Europe (it is pretty much an inevitability that Turkey will be integrated into Europe within a decade), they are struggling to maintain their Turkish identity whilst grappling with the influences from across the pond. It is a fascinating time for Turkey and this shows strongly in the creative explosion in music that has occurred in the last couple of years – something that Crossing The Bridge conveys entertainingly.
Review by Barnaby Welch
posted by Barnaby at 2:02 PM
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