Mélodies III: Fauré in Isfahan – the middle period
With this, the fifth instalment in our series of articles on composers who wrote chansons – French art songs – we continue our exploration of the songs of Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924), this time covering...
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Bird Island Farm… two-and-a-half months on
It is June and my daughter Ceylan and I have spent two and a half months at Bird Island Farm, the animal sanctuary founded by my grandson, Alican’s wife, Chantal. I cannot imagine a healthier, more...
View ArticleMélodies III: Fauré in Isfahan – the later works
With this, the sixth and final instalment in our series of articles on composers of chansons – French art songs – we conclude our exploration of the songs of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). In this...
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The paper architect
Nazimî Yaver Yenal: Imaginary World of a Paper Architect Istanbul Research Institute The story of Nazimî Yaver Yenal's career as an architect, spanning nearly 50 years, might be seen as one of stellar...
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That’s the spirit – the Sumahan lives again
The very words ‘hospitality industry’ have always struck me as not just an oxymoron but slightly sinister. In my mind’s eye I see dark satanic mills fuming suntan oil or holiday camp animators with...
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Adalet Ağaoğlu (1929–2020)
Adalet Ağaoğlu, the novelist who died on Tuesday at the age of 90, was one of the country’s most accomplished novelists in the last quarter of the twentieth century, and very widely read in her own...
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Postcard from Pergamon: on the road with Don McCullin and Barnaby Rogerson
WAITING FOR THE RIGHT LIGHT… Last September I had the honour of accompanying the famed photographer Sir Don McCullin (pictured at Assos, left) and the author/publisher Barnaby Rogerson (right) on what...
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The ‘Monster of Moda’: such a nice boy
The home and studio of the Istanbul-based artist Canavar (Turkish for ‘monster’), whose work above graces the walls of Marmara University building, is tucked away on a backstreet in the heart of...
View ArticleWaving the baton on Büyükada
This is a heads-up (or should that be ‘ears-up’?) for a concert to be streamed live this evening – Saturday, September 19 – from Büyükada. The musicians will be senior members of the Turkish Youth...
View ArticleThe Turkish Youth Philharmonic and friends join in an Island serenade
Following my animadversion in these pages on Saturday, September 19 (which I described in somewhat less Jane-Austen-like terms as a ‘heads-up’), the much-anticipated concert on Büyükada – given by an...
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Sotheby’s is back with a spectacular Bond Street Arts of the Islamic World...
After an auction-starved spring, hats off to Edward Gibbs, Benedict Carter and the Islamic Department at Sotheby’s London for persevering with their postponed sale Arts of the Islamic World &...
View ArticleCannonballs and cadenzas
‘Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.” “I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an...
View ArticleNot only but also…
No sooner had the 2020 İKSV Istanbul Music Festival got under way in September than the İKSV Jazz Festival popped up – like a most welcome jack-in-the-box (or should that be jazz-in-the-box?) – on...
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The birds will fly: deaccessionary times are upon us
Today, Islamic Sales Week in London kicked off with the Islamic and Indian Art sale at Bonhams this morning (e-catalogue). One cannot help feel a twinge of regret when heirlooms disappear into the...
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Birds of a feather, and the fleeting joys of deaccession
It's Islamic Sales Week again! And as always there are lovely artefacts waiting to be discovered and snapped up. It is surprising to see an institute such as the LA Mayer Museum for Islamic Art in...
View ArticleNot too late to catch the last spoonful of the Jazz Fest
The online streaming of the İKSV Jazz Festival concerts is due to finish on November 3. You have been warned! The tap is about to run dry, so now is the time to catch up on what you have been missing...
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The Anka Bird has landed…
The new Cornucopia book is out. The Land of the Anka Bird, Berrin Torolsan's heart-warming selection of photographs of Central Asia and beyond by the much lamented Ergun Çağatay was immediately...
View ArticleA stroll through the pages of The Land of the Anka Bird – the new book from...
Cornucopia photographer-at-large, Monica Fritz turns the pages of the new book from Cornucopia Books, in which Caroline Eden pays tribute to the pioneering Turkish photographer Ergun Çağatay's...
View ArticleSerendipitous Bodrum
Thanks to Lara Stoby for this link to this mini-portrait on Bodurm, directed by Cenk Baysan with music by Sarper Semiz. Old settlers puts on brave faces against a jangling world of Oriental muzak,...
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Reminiscing on an Istanbul winter
Everything about this year has been strange, to say the least, including this December weather. In January we usually see a bit of snow in Istanbul, and only three years ago there was a wonderful...
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