Last night J and I did something we swore we’d never do again – go to a music concert in another parochial backwater! Truth to tell I’d given up on ever being able to enjoy any live performance where plebs without a moment’s thought for anyone else bring children and wailing infants into the venue; scrunch about in sweet packets; talk and are never off their bloody iphones and soddin’ ipads!

(salvaged from Archers of Okçular and first posted 30th May 2014)

Give me Istanbul where people, real fans of whatever music they are there to enjoy, know how to behave – and do! Give me Istanbul – whatever the flight costs, it’s worth it not to have these . . these . .

Anyway, as I was saying, we went to a concert in Fethiye last night to hear the Tombak and Daf playing of a young man from Iran of whom we’d never heard – Mohammed Reza Mortazavi. In spite of all of the above listed pig-ignorance, this performance was just amazing! Phenomenal! The most wonderful, virtuoso tour-de-force by an absolute master of the craft.

Rather than write about him, here’re a few minutes to whet your audio-buds. For those here in Turkey who still miss You Tube here’s a simple work-around: Download and install the Google Chrome browser (Chromium if you use Linux/Ubuntu like me). Then install the ZenMate add-on and Bob’s your uncle – you have You Tube. You also have bandwidth to choose some of the really good stuff from this guy, I don’t! Now, enjoy this amazing musician at work:

above with Tombak and below with Daf

After last night we won’t be going to any more parochial concerts . . well, until the next time!

Alan in Okçular