Art event with a ‘green’ message
A ÇATALKÖY costume spectacular sends a “green” message next Saturday following the launch of a new musical composition, lyrics and song competition show at the ninth Beşparmak Days of Art and Culture.
The festival programme starts on Friday from the “Love Cave” at the entrance to the village, with a 6pm international flag-bearing procession of flamboyant models dressed by fashion entrepreneur Abdullah Öztoprak.
They will be joined by local and Turkish folk dancers, sports club and theatre players, Vounous Symposium potters and schoolchildren.
Stands and a show of replica pottery and statues produced last month at the nearby site of the ancient Vounous necropolis open at 7pm alongside an exhibition of cartoons and live painting by the capital’s Studio 21 Yuka Blend team.
Chefs from the International Final University will also put on a show.
The main stage hosts a folk dance show from Anamur at 7.30pm before concerts by Bikem Tunar and SOS with Arif Ediz.
Next Saturday, October 13, offers an art contest for children at the Çatalköy Junior School and a 5pm-to-6.30pm Masters in the Street show by Girne’s Youth Centre Association folk dancers at the Çatalköy “meyhane” (tavern).
Applications for the first Beşparmak competition for composers and lyricists closed yesterday and a jury selection will be performed by a professional orchestra in the village square at 6.30pm next Saturday.
Mr Öztoprak’s trademark costume spectacular promises to transform the village square at the 9pm festival finale as models, dancers and surprise guests take over stages, village streets, doorways and balconies across the festival area before the closing awards ceremony.
He said his seventh Çatalköy costume show, Zira, was themed on the “many reasons to stop the destruction of our environment”.
TURKISH Cypriot choreographer Abdullah Öztoprak’s Quenchless Turkish Fire was featured before a 120,000strong audience on the final night of the 15th International Anatolian Day Culture and Arts Festival in Turkey. Organised by Turkey’s Etimesgut Municipality in Ankara province, the show took three months to prepare and had a cast of 86, including Turkish Cypriots, who performed dance displays and acted while Mr Öztoprak recited poems and stories. He also sang three songs of his own composition. Resounding applause was given at the end of the show and Mr Öztoprak was presented with a plaque by Etimesgut Mayor Enver Demirel for making a major contribution to the festival. Mr Öztoprak said he had been “thrilled” to have such a large audience attending the production that he prepared with a TRNC team. He also thanked Kıbrıs, the Turkishlanguage sister newspaper of Cyprus Today, for its reporting on and support for the show, which he said would be followed by others.