ANKARA: Istanbul has been hosting a year-long special gathering that uses Afro-Arab musical traditions to foster mutual understanding and social integration in Turkey.
Since 2019, January 24 has been celebrated as the World Day for African and Afro-descendant Culture, and in turn, a unique group took root in Turkey, which combines the musical traditions of Africa and the Arab world.
The musical ensemble, consisting of 10 musicians, performs Arabic Sufi music and meshk under the direction of Abdullah Kaymak, gathering every Sunday in Istanbul’s Uskudar neighborhood on the Anatolian side.
The group meets in a cozy city environment, where musicians – from percussionists, cellists and violinists to vocalists and players of traditional Eastern instruments such as the oud, ney and rebab – and the audience sit in a circle and talk to each other in a openly. format.
Each music meeting, called meshk, is free and open to everyone.
During the sessions, traditional Afro-Arab Sufi hymns are sung, with audience participation acting as a spontaneous choir.
The pieces are selected from the well-known musical repertoire of the Arab world, especially from the Gulf states, the Maghreb region, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya.
The group made their first appearance last Ramadan and the positive feedback from the audience encouraged them to continue their project together.
They plan to reach a wider audience without sacrificing the qualities that make them unique and have started receiving invitations from abroad as well.
At the invitation of the Chishtiya Ribbat Center for Sufi Studies in Pakistan, they will be performing in Pakistan at the end of January and conducting several interactive meshk sessions.
“Turkish and Arabic music have been in constant interaction for centuries. Not only the instruments, but also the topics, mannerisms and musical traditions coincide,” Kaymak, the group’s lead vocalist and leader, told Arab News.
“If regional politics supports peace, multiculturalism and the universal values of the humanities, music also becomes a tool to achieve this goal,” said Kaymak.
Kaymak, who hails from Mauritania, learned Arabic during the years he lived in Egypt, which gives him fluency in lyrics and pronunciation.
From his childhood, he remembers various meshk sessions under the direction of his father, who performed music from the Maghreb region, as well as hymns from the Gulf region, Iraq and Libya.
Before his final stop in Istanbul, he performed at these musical gatherings in Madinah, Cairo, Alexandria, Jordan and Mauritania, as well as in the southern province of Adana in Turkey.
Another member of the group is Hatice Gulbahar Hepsev. During the meshk, she plays the rebab, a lute-like wooden instrument of Arabic origin that is played with a bow.
“During these musical meetings, an emotional bond is formed between the musicians and the audience,” she told Arab News.
“When you know a person from a meshk, you invite them to the next meeting, and the audience keeps growing,” she said.
Those who join a meshk for the first time are surprised by the participatory element and the unique atmosphere of the multicultural gathering, but the universal power of the music inevitably wins them over.
The audience is mainly composed of young and middle-aged guests who come from different parts of the world, including Turkey, the Arab region, Europe and the USA.
As a reflection of Istanbul’s musical and linguistic richness, the gathering has become a tourist attraction in recent months.
“The common feature of audiences is that they are not limited to narrow contexts. They are rather interested in different cultures and excited to know each other’s backgrounds,” Kaymak said.
“Therefore, our audience profile is comprised of those who love – rather than simply tolerate – multiculturalism and multilingualism.”
The project made an important contribution to mutual understanding in Turkish society, where Arabs and Africans have always been associated with refugees and asylum seekers who would disturb the social fabric.
According to rebab player Hepsev, some audience members learn new Arabic hymns during these gatherings and feel at home.
“Turkish listeners learn new anthems from the African and Arab world, which gives them the opportunity to know new cultures and enrich their exchanges with people from Arab countries. In this way, our musical gatherings play an important role in social integration in Turkey,” she said.
Before joining the group, Hepsev performed in various projects in Istanbul, where he performed Ottoman, Central Asian and Turkish Sufi music.
At the opening of each musical meeting, Kaymak usually gives a speech and encourages the listeners to join him in the reprises of the hymns.
“Applause and audience participation boost the positive atmosphere and harmonious flow of the gathering,” Hepsev said.
Every week, new vocalists and new instrumentalists join meshk, making it a dynamic and constantly evolving project.
