Robert Crumb plays Turkish music from his record collection on John Heneghan’s Old Time Radio Show

R. Crumb is known not just for his comics but also for his prodigious collection of old '78s. Here he shares some of his Turkish records on John Henegahn's "Old Time Radio Show." Neither of them have much of a clue about the musicians or the instruments or the names, but they really do appreciate the tracks. And they are great. The only one of the artists I was familiar with on the list is Udi Hrant Kenkulian (listed here as Oudi Hrant), many of whose recordings are in print. (Crumb is apparently unaware that Hrant was Armenian.)

I really liked the track by Fikriye Hanim who, it turns out, was a companion and lover of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during the 1920. 

Here's what was published about her in the Turkish Daily News, July 4, 2006: 

The burial location of Fikriye Hanim, companion and lover of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk during the 1920s, is still unknown according to a heartbreaking story published in Sabah on Monday. Although no one is certain about how her death took place, Turkey's first unofficial "first lady" is commonly believed to have killed herself in the proximity of the Presidential Palace. Voicing speculation on the whereabouts of Fikriye Hanim's grave, Sabah writes that it could be located under a statue of Ataturk located at the Etnographic Museum, as evidence suggests that her body was transported to that location before the museum there was opened. However, there are no official records from the time of her death says Sabah, quoting a cemetery official as saying, "The systematization of burial and death records came much later than Fikriye Hanim's death." 

I wish I could find more about her. If you read Turkish, there is an entry for her on the Turkish wikipedia. (Unfortunately Google translate did not help me much in understanding it.)

Apache (Apaçi) Kurdish Turkish dance. Or is it?

Young Turkish Kurds (reportedly from Ağrı, near the border with Iran) doing 'Apache (apaçi) dancing' (a Turkish subcultural dance style) to a song by the Mehmet Ali Arslan Grup. Well, I assume they are Kurds. (Turks and Azeris also live in Ağrı.)



A comment on a blog that discusses "Apache dancing" tries to explain:

Actually "apaçi" is a trending word in Turkish slang. It is used when describing uneducated and wannabe young people that has immigrant parents and live in suburbs of big cities like Istanbul, Ankara or Izmir. These young people can never completely integrate themselves to the city life because of their origins and that's why they have a "mutant" style, a bit from city life and a bit from their conservative family life.

"Apaçi dance" term came up from a dance style that is performed by these apaçi people when they're in a clubs :)

It's seems then that apaçi is a pejorative term used to describe young Kurds in Turkey. A term of denigration that, perhaps, young Kurds have embraced and attempted to detourn?

A friend who is in Alanya, Turkey, which is far from Turkey's eastern border but has lots of workers from the east, says "the young men with those kinds of hairstyles (standing up in the middle, lots of gel, long on the sides and back, etc) call their style 'apache'."

Meanwhile, as far as I can determine, Mehmet Ali Arslan is from Northeastern Turkey (near Ardahan) and the music may have Georgian, Azeri and Iraqi (Kurdish) influences. (I used Google translate to try to make sense of this.)  

Interestingly, the dance performed above is very similar to the dance performed in the video below. This is from Iranian Kurdistan. Fatima Al Qadiri has written about it here. Not very informatively, as she doesn't even mention that the singer, Mehdi Alizadeh, is from Iran. He is really great, no? 



So maybe (as Sherifa has noted in a bit of conversation about this on FB), there isn't any specific "Apache" dance tradition, so much as it is a matter of apaçi-s who are doing it.

Here's another Mehdi Alizadeh vid.




Who knows, maybe this is more like what Apaçi dance is supposed to be:

Thanksgiving: Beware the Sharia Turkey, Says Pam Geller

Noted Islamophobe Pam Geller, who blogs at AtlasShrugs.com, recently asserted that Butterball turkeys are now certified halal, confirming the rapidly creeping Islamization of the USA.

The hysteria is Pam Geller's. The kufiya-clad turkey is courtesy TPM, which reported on this gem.

Kurdish Kufiyas/Puşis

(Photo by Jodi Hilton for The New York Times. Caption: "Kurdish youth commemorated the 1977 May Day massacre last month during a march to Taksim Square in Istanbul")

This photo appeared in a recent article in the New York Times about the Kurdish struggle in Turkey for cultural autonomy, and particularly in the field of music.

I found the article quite enlightening, but I was, of course, particularly struck by the photo, which features Kurds wearing very stylish kufiyas. These are known in Kurdish as puşis. The puşi is traditional wear for men in Kurdistan, and is often taken as an insignia of Kurdish identity. In my investigation of kufiyas, I've not yet devoted much time to the Kurdish angle.

An article in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet states that kufiyas/puşis have also become trendy in Istanbul, and that the origin of the trend is via the West. One vendor claims that it was due to the fact that Angelina Jolie was spotted wearing one. (I've not seen a photo of this. But I will look.) The kufiyas, in multiple colors, are made in Syria, the article claims.

But apparently, based on the evidence in this photo, it's not simply about trendiness. These Kurds are trendy, yes, but they are also political activists.

To be continued.