The Malta Independent on Sunday
BESIEGED BY THE TURKS, AGAIN
Nikki Petroni If all sieges and wars manifested themselves as the Strada Stretta siege organised by Strada Stretta Concept, a project under the auspices of Valletta 2018, then one need not fear war nor siege.
The Strada Stretta Concept proposed this beautiful event not only as an integral part of the Valletta 2018 Foundation’s cultural and artistic preparations for the coming year, but also to offer a modest alternative as to how different nationalities and religions can unite and form a wonderful unison of culture, art, and creativity.
The event was built upon a much understood and felt word by the Maltese – ‘siege’, ‘besieged’ – who like all peoples passed through sufferance, tragedies, wars, and, of course, sieges, particularly the Turkish, the French, and the Nazi-Fascist. Thus, by looking at our history, one may fully understand what the word ‘siege’ means to a Maltese.
However, this was precisely the intention of the title; to subvert the idea of a military warring siege to one that encompasses a world of inclusive creativity, creativity that belongs to a collective homosapiens category, activity that occurs irrespective of nationality.
Poetry from the rich OttomanTurkish culture was translated and improvised by Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci. He chose a selection of poems from by a number of Ottoman poets hailing from different regions. Maria Theuma read emotional sections from a wonderful and melancholic book written by Irfan Orga entitled Portrait of a Turkish Family: Irfan Orga was born into a prosperous family in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. His mother was a beauty, married at thirteen, who lived in the seclusion of the harem, as befitted a Turkish woman of her class… But the First World War changed everything. Death and financial disaster reigned …
This book was edited by Ateş Orga (who had to untangle his wonderful perplexity being surprisingly met and awed with at such an event) who also wrote the book’s afterward, and whose poems were also translated and recited by Schembri Bonaci.
Poems by Ateş Orga, Ramadan Borozan, Aprin Cor Tigin, Murat Nemet-Nejat, Sule Ozmen, Beki lBahar, Cunyet Ayral, Nazim Hikmet Ran, Bedros Torian, Roza Eskenazi and selections from Rumi, all overflowing with beauty, were read to the enthralled audience on the night. To underline the Malta-Ottoman relationship, the poster showed a painting by the famous Maltese Orientalist artist Amedeo Preziosi.
Emel Hasanoglu, a Serbian pi- anist from Belgrade, originally hails from the Serbian community in Croatia where she experienced first-hand the human tragedies of recent years. Her maternal Serbian bond with a Turkish-Armenian paternal ancestry thus beautifully epitomised the character of the event itself.
For the musical repertoire she intelligently and intriguingly chose to play music by the Hungarian Bartok and Serbian Tajcevic so as to give a more ample and expansive idea of what OttomanTurkish culture was and how it permeated within various parts of European spaces.
Bartok’s “Six dances in Bulgarian rhythm” forms part of what is known as the Mikrokosmos collection. This consists of 153 progressive piano pieces in six volumes. The “Six Dances” are probably the most technically demanding works in all the collection. Bartok chose such a Bulgarian rhythm as the beats in each bar are of unequal tempo. The dances are based on a rich multi-folk flavour that manifest a colourful lively rhythmic exoticism particular to the Balkan region. The Bulgarian rhythmic folk idiom and Balkan music is mixed not only with European-western-classic fundamentals but also with the North American jazz character.
The Balkan-Ottoman ethnic ambience is the most dominant and Bartok “played” with it in the most intelligent and talented manner. Sometimes he combines raw rhythm with very refined harmonies, and sometimes does the exact opposite by accompanying a simple folk melody with a ritualised, syncopated and hypnotic rhythm. Tempo follows that called the Red Hot Chili Balkan speed but also oscillate between the slower speeds that accelerate alternately and create a “natural” and elastic sense to the flow of the music.
Marko Tajcevic was a composer, teacher, and music critic who is recognised as one of the leading figures in musicology of his time in the Balkan region. Tajcevic’s “Seven Balkan Dances” are imbued with a rustic folk dance structure. Oriental melody and harmony are strongly connected with the Balkan rhythm, sometimes complementary and others conflicting, but always in perfect harmony. It is amazing that such conflict may coexist within a space of perfect harmony.
This may slightly be clarified if one recalls that the word “Balkan” in the Turkish language means ‘honey’ and ‘blood’: ‘blood-honey’. Eight centuries of honey-blood Ottoman ruling could not happen without strong mutual influence, and “Seven Balkan Dances” is proof of Balkan history and Marko’s talent and knowledge.
Those who attended this microworld of diverse cultures witnessed the performance of “Seven Balkan Dances”, “Six Bulgarian Rhythms”, Five star literature by Irfan Orga, all Fo(u)r Ates Orga, (Irfan’s son), Three participants, Two Raki indulgences, and all within One microcosm.
In the words of Ates Orga himself: “The Strada Stretta Concept at the Splendid, Valletta. Rakı. Readings in English from Portrait of a Turkish Family, in Maltese from Istanbul: Poetry of Place. Balkan music. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci, Maria Theuma readers. Emel Hasanoglu piano. Broken, overhanging balconies … rotting sashes ... rusting lattices … shuttered secrets. A bordello times past. Locked rooms. Candles, distressed walls, crumbling architecture, bared wires, the clock stopped at a quarter-to-two, a half-open window to let wander the ghost of a girl murdered long ago. Shadows, resonances, memories. Night murmurs. Black silence. Strait Street.” The event was made possible with the help of Mustafa and Bilgi Gulen, Taci and Merve Artar, Carisma Spa & Wellness International, and sponsored by The Turkish Mini Market and Balkan Food Store, Msida.