Spring Concert for the Elderly on 20th March, 2023

By Heidi Trautmann….

Held at the Spectrum Hall of the Girne American University.

Girne Municipality invited the Turkish Classic Music Ensemble under the baton of Ihsan Gürel to bring a concert for the Elderly to celebrate spring together, the month of rebirth and love.

And they came, whole families came and brought their parents and grandparents, but also some young people, who love classic Turkish music. There were musicians playing old classical instruments and a mixed choir with 20 members, and a narrator who came forward to introduce each following piece and he narrated the story of it, and his words were accompanied by music in the background.

I sat back in my seat and listened what the musical stories were, I imagined to be visiting a village and those were ordinary days, the women and men were pursuing their daily work, and while they worked they were singing…. and for each song, one singer of the choir stepped forward and took over their role, and the choir answered and confirmed the story told.

I remember the people in my childhood were also singing during their work, it gave them the rhythm to work with, beating the dough for the daily bread or brushing the washing, or going out into the field and cutting the grain or grass.

It was good to remember that in those days we raised our own voices and made music and the birds and the wind did the accompaniment…… and everybody in the audience, I saw, was clapping hands and at the end were singing along with the choir and I realized that they still remembered the lyrics. A precious journey into the past which must not be forgotten.

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