Magic and Amazing Istambul

Istambul 2010 on Fotopedia

16 million people, 4 times as many as Paris.. a perfect mix of Ottoman beauty, European and Asian style, also a perfect mix of tradition and extreme modernity. A total surprise for all of us, the city has changed so much, yet managed to keep its soul at the same time..

Under a very hot temperature, we joined the band at the hotel, then went to see the stage and the crew. Everybody was excited to be together again. We had a dinner in a cool terrace by the Bosphorus organized by Zeynep our charming promoter.. The following morning we went with the musicians to some music stores where Claude and I bought some great and rare turkish cymbals..

Later we went to the venue by boat to do the sound check under 40 degrees... The instruments were so hot that I could not touch my Memory Moog. We did a decent rehearsal, the most challenging moment being to try the laser harp under the sun! We had to cover the captors and wait till sunset to check it..

Then the concert started at 21h40.. I had to climb the back of the grand stand to appear at the top of it, at the beginning of the show, quite an experience.. The concert went really well, in spite of the fact that we did not have our regular PA system and that I was really burning on stage with the extreme heat.. The turkish audience was as hot as the weather and we had a great evening together..

The following day, I had a few meetings, I saw a strange audio/ visual installation, part of a large art exhibition organised at the occasion of Istanbul being European cultural capital 2010. The audio part of this installation is produced by Aphex Twin. In the evening, we all had dinner at a beautiful villa owned by two sisters, lovely women, one being involved in an association taking care of autistic children in Turkey, the other is involved in Soufi music, and she played us incredible recordings of traditional turkish music.

Then we went all together by boat on the Bosphorus to the old part of Istanbul to visit some place they have in mind for a future outdoor concert. We'll see.. Anyway, the trip on the river in the middle of the night surronded by old Mosques, was awesome.