International Women's Day

Last Monday (March 8th) was International Women's Day. On Friday afternoon we got one of those e-mail summons, telling us the university rector would be observing the day with a speech and lunch -- at noon. Those of us would teach until 12:10 PM should come directly from class. Actually it was a nice occasion. Women faculty and support staff were invited. The senior administration, all of whom were men, was also there. The rector did give a speech in Turkish, followed by some words in English, none of which referred to women. He had a specially wrapped red carnation for everyone present. One of our Turkish English language teachers was supposed to say a few words, but someone her presentation got lost in the shuffle.

At the lunch one of the other Turkish teachers told us that her mother was singing in a concert of traditional Turkish music that evening. My colleague Judy and I decided to go. And what a great decision that was. In honor of International Women's Day, a local chorus specializing in Turkish music had prepared a concert of music written by the Turkish composer Neveser Koekdesh -- her picture is partially visible in the photo above. From what I could deduce from the program, the music was composed in the 1930s and 40s. It's know as Turkish Art Music. First there is folk music, traditional music sung by the "people" -- like traditional American folk music. Then there is Art Music. Art music which has moved into the realm of pop is called Arabesque. Then there is Fantasie, which is strictly pop. Anyhow, the music was thoroughly enjoyable.

As you can see in the photo above, especially if you click on it to enlarge it, the chorus was mixed. However, they did not sing in parts but rather in unison, presumably in different octaves. In front was a small orchestra of traditional instruments like the Ude and Ney as well as violins, a viola and traditional drum (the women clear to the right.)

Another nice part about the evening was that we were mixing with regular people from the community. I'm sure the audience was composed in large part of family and friends of the performers. During the intermission everyone came out into the lobby where there were serving free Turkish coffee. Judy and I realized that our entire lives in Gaziantep revolved around Zirve University and the people who work there. We don't know anyone else. It was so refreshing and uplifting, like a whiff of normalcy.

So it turned out to be a wonderful International Women's Day.