tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-106784682024-03-06T22:59:33.839-05:00Raquy Danziger's BlogScott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-34696137958735584502012-05-01T08:39:00.001-04:002012-05-01T08:40:32.116-04:00Istanbul Spring 21012<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Today was a
wonderful day! I woke up and
straight away did the ashtanga primary yoga series in my beautiful bohemian
flat with all the windows open letting the spring breeze waift through my flat
while and blasting Indian music.
A fantastic way to start the day.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">After a
nice breakfast I made my way down Istiklal to go meet Saleh, a setar player
from Iran who has been showing me Iranian makams. Today we worked on a makam calld Charga. So dark, so
beautiful!He taught me an ancient Persian wedding song in Charga.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">He left and
I got to practice on my own. I feel myself craving to create something new
after 3 months of learning new things and shedding, so I’m starting to put all
the new material into original compositions!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">In the
afternoon the drummers began arriving. Today it was Bunyamin, Suat Borazan, Ibo
and Tarik. We started jamming
(everyone holding a rhythm and taking turns soloing over it). This time something happened to me
that’s never happened before. I entered a state ofjoy and fearlessness, and
beautiful flawless phrases started effortlessly flowing out of me. It was one
of the best feelings I ever had!
It felt like I was flying!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">This is
after more than 3 months of intense pratciing every day. In over three months
there have only been two days where I didn’t go practice. And it’s not always easy. Even though I do love practicing, I’m
not always in the mood and sometimes it more of a struggle than fun, especially
when I’m practicing with such high level players.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">But moments
like I had today make it all worth it!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">My Move!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">This is my
4th year spending the winter in Istanbul, and I’ve decided it’s time to
relocate and have this magical city as my home! I just got my 3 year residency
permit, so after the July retreats in NY I will move here! I’m so excited!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I'm
working on some new musical projects here including a duet with a wonderful saz
player Orhan Bilge and a new rhythm group with my teacher Bunyamin Olguncan and
some of our other bad ass drumming friends here. I also will start a darbuka school in Istanbul. I’m hoping
to become active in Europe as well now that I’m so much closer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">I’m
very excited about this! I will miss the awesome community I’ve build back in
NY but I’m sure that most of my favorite people will be coming to visit, and I
know that some of them are hoping to move here as well!</span><span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;"></span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Retreat</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">We had our
second year in a row of March Istanbul Retreat! We had participants from America, France, Italy, Spain,
Israel, and one guy came all the way from Australia! It was a wonderful group. I taught a composition of Bunyamin’s called “Balik Pazar” in
the early class and the afternoon was technique class w Bunyamin and Hakan
Kaya. There were crazy jam
sessions every night at Bunyamin’s studio. Everyone got a boost of inspiration!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Terlik</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">It is
customary to take off your shoes when you enter somebody’s home in Istanbul,
but they don’t like to walk around barefoot, so every house provides a bunch of
“Terlik”(house slippers) that are found at the entrance where you take off your
shoes.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I love the
custom of taking off your shoes to enter a home (I’ve always practiced that in
my own house). BUT I’m not crazy
about having community slippers that I share with everybody.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">So for the
studio, I had a great idea. Since
I’m pretty much the only girl who hangs out there regularly I’ll get the
girliest pair of high heal slippers and so there won’t be any chance of
somebody else wearing them.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">However,
little did I know that these guys have absolutely no complex about wearing
girly things. In fact, I’ve never
met more guys that wear pink than my Turkish guy friends. So the result was that all the guys at
the studio were not disuaded by the girly slippers and continued to wear them,
especially Bunyamin (who happens to be my same shoe size). He looked so cute in the high heeled
girly slippers that I actually bought him his own pair (but mine are brown and
his are gold and shinny) so now we have matching slippers that we wear in the
studio.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Princess
Island</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">There are
some beautiful princess islands that are a ferry ride away from Istanbul. My friend Danny and I took a trip to
the biggest one called “Buyukada” (Big Island). There are no cars so you rent bikes are ride around. It started out as a beautiful spring
day. We got our soy lattes right
before we boarded the ferry and spent the ride throwing pieces of simits
(bagles) to the seaguls that followed the boat.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">We rented a
couple bikes (of course I got a purple one) and proceeded to ride around the
Island. We had a map that showed
very clearly two routes to choose from – the short route or the long route.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">How I
managed to get us completely lost is beyond me, but I did. We ended up riding up this huge hill
for quite a while that led to nowhre.
Just as we realized that we were totally lost, the sky turned black, and
the temperature dropped like 20 degrees and it started raining and
winding. We ended up totally
bushwacking, carrying our bikes. </span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Eventually
we did manage to get back to the main road! But before we made it back to the docks I saw a
heartbreaking thing:</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">A beautiful
while horse that was lying in the middle of the road, trying to get up but
couldn’t!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I went up
to it and tried to help it up but it couldn’t get up. I ended up sitting on the road with its head in my lap
giving it water and petting it for two hours until somebody came and called the
vet.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I had to
catch the boat back before the vet showed up so i dont know what happened.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Vitamins</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">One of my
students was coming from the States and asked what to bring Bunyamin as a
present. So I asked Bunyamin what
he wanted and and he said “vitamins”.
So I asked the student for a mens multi vitamin of some kind. </span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The student
arrived with two HUGE bottles- one of vitamin C and another men’s multivitamin. I’ve never seen Bunyamin so
excited. He was like “how many per
day? what time? should I take them with food”… ect. I was like “Its just vitamins – not medicine – it’s no big
deal.” But to him it’s a very big deal.
When friends come over he makes a big ritual of taking out the vitamins
and offering everybody. Also when
a student is struggling with a pattern Bunyamin will make them take the
vitamins and then say “ok – now try it”. Actually, they usually do play better
after the vitamins!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Date w KK</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Kayhan
Kalhor is one of the greatest Iranian kemenche players today. He tours all over the world. He’s also the only person besides me
who plays the Shah Kemen – the incredible 12 string kemenche created by Peter
Biffen in Australia.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">He and I
also happen to have the same birthday!
How odd is that?</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">He has a
wonderful duet project with the Turkish saz player Erdal Erzincan and they
played in Istanbul last month! It was one of the most stunning shows I’ve ever
seen – only saz and kemenche. It
was like a beautiful dream! </span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Erdal
Erzincan is actually the teacher of Orhan, my saz player, who also attended the
concert. We both got so
inspired since we are like their junior group.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">The next
day I got to meet Kayhan Kalhor for coffee! It was great to see him in person and get to know him a
little after listening to his albums for the last 10 years! I hope one day to get to study with
him.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I Can’t
Stop</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I know that
it’s healthy to take a break sometimes.
Even Allah created the world in 6 days and then rested on the 7th. I also should probably should have at
least one day a week where I don’t touch a dumbek or kemenche.</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">But I can’t
stop. In my 3.5 months here so far
there have been only two days that I didn’t come practice in the studio.
Please, somebody take me on a trip or something so that I am forced to take a
break!!!!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Anyway, here is the latest version of my duet with Bunyamin! Next week we are going to Athens Greece to make a video of us playing it on Descarga Percusssion Drums!</span></div>
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<span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSOmnPKyazQ" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/<wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>watch?v=QSOmnPKyazQ</a> </span><span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Q drum is a
big hit!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">My friend
Quentin Shaw from Chicago has been making these very unique metal drums with
real skin heads for our store. I
brought one of them to Istanbul and it’s making a big hit! The guys over here love it!</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Identity
Crisis</span></div>
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<span lang="ES-TRAD" style="font-family: Helvetica;">I’ve always
played the 4 peg Raquy Dumbek in my shows and recordings. But now after practicing on the clay
drum w Bunyamin for several months, I’m having an identity crisis. The clay drum is so warm and has the
kick and the slides and all these things that the plastic skin doesn’t a
have. Then again the plastic one
really cuts through on stage and is so much more durable easier to carry around. I don’t know what I’ll use in my future
shows! Maybe the Q drum is a nice
compromise.</span></div>
</div>Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-91753203337318787552012-03-18T17:36:00.009-04:002012-03-19T06:19:38.977-04:00My Dumbek ApprenticeshipMy Apprenticeship<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJm790YEMwsx9qMX8X0Fc7xLyrHxseeYX6hOQcWgKUZIOxvW8o_powt5tT9GV63TBLOmLLjVgxHUi9hkXsqTRG_lS_6RWeitgejPbtzXH4iFtt1IZHXIJkfFZML5J-9CnEqIDWg/s1600/photo%25288%2529.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJm790YEMwsx9qMX8X0Fc7xLyrHxseeYX6hOQcWgKUZIOxvW8o_powt5tT9GV63TBLOmLLjVgxHUi9hkXsqTRG_lS_6RWeitgejPbtzXH4iFtt1IZHXIJkfFZML5J-9CnEqIDWg/s320/photo%25288%2529.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721357765464513218" /></a><br /><br /><br />I grew up taking Westen style classical music lessons. I would have a “lesson” with my teacher for 1.5 hours a week, pay a certain amount, and spend the rest of the week practicing on my own preparing for the next lesson. This is the way most Westerns experience learning music.<br /> <br /><br />What I’m experienceing in Istanbul is more Eastern style of being an apprentice to a master musician or “Ustat”.<br /><br />This is my fourth winter in a row living in Istanbul in order to study with Bunyamn Olguncan, and incredible master drummer and very unique being. This is such a wonderful experience for me I want to write about how I spend my days.<br /><br />I start the day sitting in meditation. It happens that my schedule is such that by the time I get up and start meditating, it’s time for the noon prayer, so my meditation is accompanied by the beautiful, haunting call to prayer.<br /><br />After having some breakfast I make my way over to our “office”.<br /><br />The way from my house to the office is one long pedestrian walkway called Istiklal. The walk takes 20 minutes and I see no cars! The only transporation on Istiklal is one little quaint old fashioned trolly that goes up and down the walkway. The walkway is lined with musicians. Saz players, singers, jazz groups, you name it. Buy my favorite is the Laaz (Black Sea) kemenche player. Whenever I pass by he takes a cigarette break and lets me play a few songs.<br /><br />Our office is a beautiful magical place. Bunyamin decorated it to be perfect for practicing. He keeps it nice and warm and cozy. Besides a bunch of beautiful drums there’s my yoga matt, Bunyamin’s prayer matt, a koran and a tea station where we make turkish “chai” continuously throughout the day.. He made a special area for me consisting of a big soft rug lined with pillows – perfect for sitting on the floor to practice or doing yoga<br /><br />I try to arrive a few hours before Bunyamin so that I can have “Tek Antraman” meaning practice time by myself. But before I sit down to practice I clean anything that needs cleaning. Bunyamin is obsessed with cleanliness and it’s very important for him to have it nice when he arrives. <br /><br />First I practice kemenche and throat singing for an hour or so. The throat singing is coming along. Somedays I still sound like a growling moster but some days something clicks and I start to get beautiful almost electronic sounds. <br /><br />Then I pick up the dumbek and do some very deep listening – to really focus on the beautiful sounds and to fall in love with them. I also use the alone time to go over the hunderds of pages of notes that I take when I’m practicing with Bunyamin and others. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmY5YbWyDWLwCKCk9IWQlXt_Fx6HkKAuH8c3YTB18SBI7FiljB-wbS6KNgI02zzMqbfq8BJeYe6xO9qNgimIgGWdE8Ulz5xyVWV-oMStwWkFTxYUzUeNTJK-AM8d_pblJXXbXoKA/s1600/photo%252814%2529.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmY5YbWyDWLwCKCk9IWQlXt_Fx6HkKAuH8c3YTB18SBI7FiljB-wbS6KNgI02zzMqbfq8BJeYe6xO9qNgimIgGWdE8Ulz5xyVWV-oMStwWkFTxYUzUeNTJK-AM8d_pblJXXbXoKA/s320/photo%252814%2529.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721550091719938370" /></a><br /><br /><br />Bunyamin arrives at around 5 every day. First he cleans (even if I just cleaned and everything is spotless). For example he’ll wash the clean dishes again just to make them super extra clean. The man also mops the floor every single day even though nobody wears their shoes in the studio. Oh, for those who don’t want to take off their shoes Bunyamin has these blue plastic thingies that go over your shoes. They look so funny!<br /><br />After everthing is spic and span, Bunyamin lights the candles. He loves candles and every day at sunset he lights up 10 or so candles all over the room, and other than that there is very little light Thats one reason I haven’t taken so many pictures or videos in the studio – I don’t have a flash and I don’t feel like ruining the romantic atmosphere by turning on the big light. <br /><br />Then he sets up his matt and prays. I always stop drumming when he prays – I’ll sit in meditation or an asana to hold space for him wile he parys.<br /><br />After prayer the drummer friends start “stopping by”. The problem with having a really nice space is that everyone wants to come hang out. We love the friends who come by but latetly its been a little too much and we need to have a talk with the friends about perhaps coming by a little less often so that Bunyamin and i can practice alone together.<br /><br />But there are advantages to being surrounded by some of the worlds best drummers while I’m practicing. No matter who is over, nothing interrupts my practicine. I sit there and practice and practice All day long. The drumming friends can really appreciate what I’m doing. If I’m doing a complicated cycle they will count it and clap on the one. Or sometimes one of them will pick up a bendir and hold a rhythm for me to solo over. Many of them have suggestions and exercises for me and they take turns sitting with me and showimg me things.. And multiple times throughout the day it turns into a big jam with everybody playing.<br />Perhaps the greatest advantage to having these folks around is, I figure that if I can play in front of these great drummers and keep my cool, there is nobody in the world that will make me nervous (Zakir Hussein is in the audience? No prob! President Obama is in the audience? Piece of cake!)<br /><br />Yesterday while I was practicing, one of the friends picked up a bendir and said, “Raquy, lets have a solo!” and started playing a maksum. I gave them a nice solo and when I was finished, he turned to Bunyamin and said something like, “Raquy’s technique smells like yours!” <br /><br />Some of my duties as Dumbek Apprentice inlcude:<br /><br />Being Bunyamin’s Rhythm Bitch<br />I spend a good amount of time every day holding a rhythm while Bunyamin goes crazy over it. This is no easy task, and it takes much focus and stability to hold it down!<br /><br />Chai Lady<br />Now that I know the secret to making the Turkish Chai in the little glasses and saucers and spoons that reminds me of something I used to play with as a kid, I make the tea for the guests and students of the studio. People here are chain chai drinkers. They like to have another glass handed to the as soon as they finish the first one, so it’s a pretty time consuming job!<br /><br />Bunyamin’s Poster Studnet<br />A good student is a wonderful advertisement for the teacher. Whenever a new person or potential student comes by, Bunyamin has me play for them.<br /><br />Bunyamin’s Teaching Assistant<br />Bunyamin has started having me help teach. He will show a pattern to a student and then go away and drink chai while I sit with he student and break it down until they get it.<br /><br />Drum Painting and Henna<br />I love painting drums and doing henna on the drum skins so Bunyamin will have me decorate the drums of his friends. <br />I’m also honored that he just asked me to henna “Allah” in Arabic caligraphy on his prize favorite drum. Here’s what it looks like now:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5usqZ5f2xwqQazDUytO4UH_OU0HthMovv583TKB7Fj93P3D7akoVIiFpvrOVLt8mH1_TX3MoxxR9odDze1Aq6riwjKSm76Wv_HqvevsIzL_ruci4vrGo2VzTp7B_8LLikW8PTg/s1600/photo%252813%2529.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5usqZ5f2xwqQazDUytO4UH_OU0HthMovv583TKB7Fj93P3D7akoVIiFpvrOVLt8mH1_TX3MoxxR9odDze1Aq6riwjKSm76Wv_HqvevsIzL_ruci4vrGo2VzTp7B_8LLikW8PTg/s320/photo%252813%2529.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721356692116356978" /></a><br /><br /><br />Red Tent Ban<br />I had a rough “Time of the month” last month – I had horrirble cramps and was lying around the studio all day like a bloated moaning mess. As a result Bunyamin said I’m not allowed in the studio on the first day of my cycle. I’m thinking of suggesting that I make a little red tent in the corner of the studio for such occassions.<br /><br />Having Bunyamin all to myself<br />My favorite times at the studio are when everybody else leaves and it’s just me and Bunyamin alone practicing together. We’re working on a beautiful composition and when we alone we can really focus on it. His playing never ceases to astonish and delight me. I sit there next to him and absorb the beauty that effortlessly flows through him. What an inspiration!<br /><br />Time Warp<br />Bunyamin's studio is a time warp! I get there in the afternoon and the next time I look at my clock, it's 11 at night! The time goes by so fast! Somebody will serve me chai while I'm practicing and I'll think, "ok I'll just play this pattern a little more and then drink my chai" and then next thing I know the chai is totally cold!<br /><br />Candelit Koran Discussions<br />When the friends are over Bunyamin loves to take out his koran and pick out phrases and discuss them. He won’t even turn on the lights for that, so the result is a few guys reading the Koran by candlelight. It’s a beautiful scene that could be from 200 years ago!<br /><br />The Damn Drum Lamp<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvtJpWZcGbo54pSTqMZM4fsCIUnG2IPEcTMEpwQtNYZEAdvD16StlBrT1ptUb7eUggL0ApD8i3J4ukjGqPxU7cXT9jzptfROwdr2nZIIdNj1udFjzOuHWPnLiIs2Vn23ZuSWnHA/s1600/photo%252810%2529.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvtJpWZcGbo54pSTqMZM4fsCIUnG2IPEcTMEpwQtNYZEAdvD16StlBrT1ptUb7eUggL0ApD8i3J4ukjGqPxU7cXT9jzptfROwdr2nZIIdNj1udFjzOuHWPnLiIs2Vn23ZuSWnHA/s320/photo%252810%2529.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721357575735352082" /></a><br /><br /><br />When we practice in Istanbul we don’t touch the metal drums. We only use the clay drums with natural skins. When you practice on those it’s nice to put a light inside to warm up the skin and make it tight, so that you end up playing this warm glowing orb! We have a couple lamps at the studio but I’ve never in my entire life seen such a fragile and finiky devise as a drum lamp. The lamp has about a 5 hour life span – it rarely makes it to the next day without breaking. Every day Bunyamin and friends spend a good amount of time futzing and fixing the lamps only do have them break shortly after. I hope somebody will invent a drum light that is a little more reliable!<br /><br /><br />Ish!<br />Bunyamin is getting me gigs this year! Very nice easy, well paying gigs in fancy places. Acutally I have a feeling that I can make a much better living here in Istanbul as a dumbek player than i could in New York.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAoON28hESp_JaBp4bgQgVWnt_AJ_smcYfnHXpJa9id1rIg4b4SJTzfdCfv-ldvF3yFuABeYUM_uSvBZYa4LIgi4ixiGs0s1dWmObTrlwoGFeQwjZh62q0ylnE3SqOObEzii8jbg/s1600/is.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAoON28hESp_JaBp4bgQgVWnt_AJ_smcYfnHXpJa9id1rIg4b4SJTzfdCfv-ldvF3yFuABeYUM_uSvBZYa4LIgi4ixiGs0s1dWmObTrlwoGFeQwjZh62q0ylnE3SqOObEzii8jbg/s320/is.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721355883719384498" /></a><br /><br />My cold hands<br />I think I have a problem w my circulation. My hands and feet are always freezing! Like icicles! <br />That is a huge disadvantage for a dumbek player because when your hands are frozen they don’t move.<br />It was really frustrating the other day because I was playing the black sea fiddle out on the street on a very cold day with my Laaz friend and then I went to drop something off at Emin percussion. At this point my hands were literally frozen. When I got to Emins, some people were jamming, including one guy who once told a friend of mine that women don’t make good drummers and shouldnt drum. They saw me and told me to jam with them. Of course I couldn’t resist, but it was so frustrating because I wanted to kick that guy’s ass (and I know I could if I was warmed up) but but my hands were icicles and just wouldn’t move! Just as my hands were thawing out, they took a break for lunch. I vow to go back to that guy on a warm day and then hell see how women play drums!!!!!<br /><br /><br />“The Look”<br />My students have told me for years that I have a terrifying way of looking at them when they’re playing that makes them mess up things that are usually easy for them. Well it’s the same way for me with Bunyamin! I’ll be doing just fine, playing along, and as soon as he looks at me- -----Bam! I lose it! So I try to imagine that he’s looking at me all the time when I’m practicing so that I’ll be prepared when he actually does! Now I know how everybody feels.<br /><br />No Lound Playing Policy<br />Bunyamin could play very loud if he wanted, but he HATES loud dumbek playing. He plays quite soft. When we have new guests over who start playing loud, Bunyamin will actually stop them and tell them that they can't play loud at his studio! He gets everyone to play soft but with control. Not an easy thing! But it's beautiful having a group of amazing drummers all playing soft and really listening to each other!<br /><br />Laaz Kemenche Guy Tries my Kemenche<br />Ha Ha! Check out the look on his face trying my kemenche!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mC3-kNLvMsHnrZZ-XeXb3tjFhqwtqn0RHO60ZuVK3SjL467r8YaFkF2AxtSyV_Co6E1VeilhLApSpzKkrBGRNzk1eYMYM-9yM-tArv2lChI46ewIgC0CDnwQHE6NZtxPy53CRw/s1600/photo%252811%2529.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6mC3-kNLvMsHnrZZ-XeXb3tjFhqwtqn0RHO60ZuVK3SjL467r8YaFkF2AxtSyV_Co6E1VeilhLApSpzKkrBGRNzk1eYMYM-9yM-tArv2lChI46ewIgC0CDnwQHE6NZtxPy53CRw/s320/photo%252811%2529.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5721358372577914034" /></a>Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-5373069470719764732012-02-08T06:26:00.016-05:002012-02-08T07:13:55.703-05:00Istanbul Adventures - February 2012<span style="font-weight:bold;">Istanbul Blog Feb 8th 2012-02-08</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQw8TId8HDL20Fb24-ediGrRURnhuMhs6va-HiAuRpzfWyGbo25kHRuKKyqx_d8twOQbe1r7S5G_30AUnpMGwFsafXO6sr7uBYu8kSBrP4AV3P-CWdDZIAInPvhArvtNtxwzUuPQ/s1600/mustafa.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQw8TId8HDL20Fb24-ediGrRURnhuMhs6va-HiAuRpzfWyGbo25kHRuKKyqx_d8twOQbe1r7S5G_30AUnpMGwFsafXO6sr7uBYu8kSBrP4AV3P-CWdDZIAInPvhArvtNtxwzUuPQ/s320/mustafa.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706725813310518914" /></a><br /><br /><br />It’s amazing to me that I’ve been here almost a whole month. I feel like this is the happiest time of my life. I wake up every day full of joy, excitement and gratitude for this incredible opportunity life is offering me. I savour every day here in Istanbul as a precious gift.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Best Antraman Ever!!!!!</span><br />The antraman this year has been intense! Now that we have a beautiful, comfortable , smoke free place to practice, Bunyamin and I are practicing like crazy. <br /><br />I’ve had a few hard days with practicing, when I feel like I’m swimming upstream – that everything is a struggle, that nothing is sounding quite right, that my body and mind aren’t relaxed. When I see the speed and dexterity of the other guys I feel discouraged and hopeless of ever getting to that level. I witness such beauty effortlessly streaming out of Bunyamin – such mastery, perfection and pure expression and I feel frustrated and impatient that I’m not there. <br />Sometimes when I’m playing with Bunyamin I have a mental image of a mother giraffe (Bunyamin) walking so beautifully and gracefully with no effort, and the baby giraffe (me) stumbling along trying to imitate its mother. I get insulted when he tells me the things that I always tell my students – that I need to be more relaxed, slow things down and articulate more. I’m like “That’s what I say to MY students! You shouldn’t have to tell me that!”<br />On such days the best thing is to leave the studio early have a shot of Raki and chill- maybe go hear some live music and dance a little or go home and read my awesome murder mystery book that takes place in Istanbul.<br /><br />However, most of the days at the studio I’m absolutely soaring. I realized the importance of arriving at the studio a couple hours before Bunyamin so that I have some time to go over stuff by myself. Then by the time he arrives I’m all warmed up!<br />I’ve had several realizations about the hand position that has taken my playing to a whole different level. My rolls are getting so flowing and smooth and my ability to come up with cool solo phrases is improving daily. The drummers who come to the studio regularly can’t believe my progress. Ibrahim yesterday was saying that he can’t imagine how I’ll be playing after 4 months of this! My biggest compliment is that everyone’s been saying that I’m sounding more and more like Bunyamin.<br /><br />When other drummers are there we spend a good amount of time “jamming” where everyone is holding a rhythm and everybody gets a turn to do four measures of solo. It used to be that as soon as my turn was over I’d spend the whole cycle planning what I was going to do on my next turn. <br />Now I have a different approach which is so much better! I don’t plan AT ALL. Whatever I do is a direct response to the person who goes right before me. Either I imitate him or contrast him or do a variation on his thing, but whatever it is, it must have something to do with what he did. It makes the drum circle so much more enjoyable! I can actually listen to everybody else because I’m not so busy planning. I also am more connected to what’s happening around me since I’m responding to a spontaneous phrase as opposed to planning my own thing. I end up doing phrases that are new and refreshing when I get out of my own head! I’m so happy about this new approach! I encourage everyone to try it next time you are jamming with people.<br /><br />Because our studio is so nice and comfortable, many of the Turkish drummers have made it their daily hang out – yesterday there were ten drummers who just happened to stop by and spent all evening there! Everybody brings snacks so we are bombarded with nuts and dried fruit and chocolate and cookies and stuffed grape leaves and of course Turkish Delight. It’s nice, but it’s been getting a little too much, so some days when they call Bunyamin tells them”Sorry, today Raquy and are working on our composition – come tomorrow”, because when everyone is there we don’t work on or composition.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Chai</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNcUjraTmRIy4VJLmT3_CEiWvFOZD0-5NBw-B_rYmrEYvXhNSZ9gFIrvRyRsre2Q6VLxWZTLs3zhDzBrgRTC9gaC2Bwuevc71TwlYF5KZEikR_iWMWYCAs6eOgovZ9IIvTxynl7g/s1600/Chai.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNcUjraTmRIy4VJLmT3_CEiWvFOZD0-5NBw-B_rYmrEYvXhNSZ9gFIrvRyRsre2Q6VLxWZTLs3zhDzBrgRTC9gaC2Bwuevc71TwlYF5KZEikR_iWMWYCAs6eOgovZ9IIvTxynl7g/s320/Chai.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706725370827670754" /></a><br /><br />The Turkish Chai (Tea) is a huge thing. There is a certain way that Turks may tea. They are very picky about it. One day I was like “I’ll make the tea” and I started doing it and three different people ran over to me frantically giving instructions about how to do it. So now I know and am officially qualified to make the tea. It’s very bitter and strong and they serve it in these cute little glasses. I’d say Bunyamin drinks about 15 of those every day. One day the tea pot broke and it was a big crisis. Bunyamin was on the phone for hours trying to get a friend to bring another one! Thank god the next day we got another one!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />My Awesome Saz Player!!!</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcMe4SHUPDnfToObd4XESwLy6B0rdxjvX3MposWPWj-riPG9wrl2JuDKXpvhMVsLmn_NgiBFe5HiZN1Rfmk3WxWoZDLxVT3dj4VNXYBXGMDNIcWUMhkrIf-QD05QafDVvJJLytxQ/s1600/414374_3126654973206_1469638345_33152500_1491336406_o.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcMe4SHUPDnfToObd4XESwLy6B0rdxjvX3MposWPWj-riPG9wrl2JuDKXpvhMVsLmn_NgiBFe5HiZN1Rfmk3WxWoZDLxVT3dj4VNXYBXGMDNIcWUMhkrIf-QD05QafDVvJJLytxQ/s320/414374_3126654973206_1469638345_33152500_1491336406_o.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706727115058889458" /></a><br />I started a new duet project here, saz and kemenche, with a wonderful saz player named Orhan Bilge. He's awesome and his studio is right next door to ours so we rehearse a few times a week. He's learning my compositions and it's turning out soooo beautiful! Saz and kemenche are just gorgeous together! Plus he's a really nice guy and not so bad to look at either! Right now we're just rehearsing but I hope we'll do some show in a couple months! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">My Tantrums at TurkCell</span><br />Every time I come back to Turkey my cell phone doesn’t work and I have to have two or three tantrums at the TurkCell office.<br />I’ve come to look forward to these tantrums. This year I had to go so many times it became a part of my daily routine – have breakfast, study Turkish, go to TurkCell and have a tantrum, go antraman, ect. It was so much fun.<br />Unfortunately after about 12 visits this year, my I phone is working perfectly as a Turkish phone, so I have no more excuses to go back, I hope something will stop working soon.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">My Laaz Kemenche Friend</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUZdPKvxEbUSv6FPAyNDVcpfQx7EsZoPIIfm1AjnNPRo4Z23WfKOQPfMIzUTQYeUV5dxaPt2jpzQdRKCYbu6e-GNy5b9VtPbzrZzW4JzHawPcCyYsbi0A6rhX5XSPkFVfojevgQ/s1600/Laaz.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUZdPKvxEbUSv6FPAyNDVcpfQx7EsZoPIIfm1AjnNPRo4Z23WfKOQPfMIzUTQYeUV5dxaPt2jpzQdRKCYbu6e-GNy5b9VtPbzrZzW4JzHawPcCyYsbi0A6rhX5XSPkFVfojevgQ/s320/Laaz.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706725611656347474" /></a><br /><br />When you walk up and down Istiklal, the pedestrian walkway you see amazing musicians all along the way. My favorite is this Laaz guy from the Black Sea who plays the pontic kemenche. I love him. One day I mentioned to him that I play to so he immediately handed me his kemenche, had me sit down in his seat and told me “I need a break – bye!” and left.<br />Fortunately I know how to play one song on the pontic kemenche so I sat there for a while and played that song over and over (people are walking by so its okay to play the same song on repeat) and made a little money for him. It was so much fun!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />My Mom is Coming!</span><br />After four years of me living part time in Istanbul I finally convinced my mama to come visit! She has work to do on her Masters degree, so I can still antraman while she’s here. I’m so excited to show her my favorite city! She’s coming Feb 18th for 6 days. I think she’s gonna love it here!!!Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-14800319045381776522012-01-24T09:27:00.021-05:002012-01-24T10:46:43.038-05:00First week Back in Istanbul, 2012!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXTIZxh5Rg13tTOxjGHI9BrmHYWd29dQe3bCrygcGs8c4SFHCd2k3pcKxM8yP5n8uVYL5nCpYrNDd-_7Yj3WUXYhsEVeBoTZyd3t_OAfCDaOcHw03JQF_xYR4SVl0InNO_TQ9Ug/s1600/photo%252813%2529.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFXTIZxh5Rg13tTOxjGHI9BrmHYWd29dQe3bCrygcGs8c4SFHCd2k3pcKxM8yP5n8uVYL5nCpYrNDd-_7Yj3WUXYhsEVeBoTZyd3t_OAfCDaOcHw03JQF_xYR4SVl0InNO_TQ9Ug/s320/photo%252813%2529.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701219760308161474" border="0"></a><br />Beautiful reunion after not seeing each other for 9 months!<br /><br />I'm back in Istanbul, my favorite place on earth! This is my fourth year in a row spending the winter here and I find myself falling in love with this city more and more each time. I keep extending my trip each time. The first year I stayed one month, the second, two months, the third three months and this year, I'll be here for four whole months!<br />Since it is 2012 and may be the last year of the world as we know it I decided to go all out this time and spare no expense to make it the most magical experience ever. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My Bohemian Flat with Murals</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFCOfT0H9ACk-OQJ-GUHGy_hexEeuSDkzzG6C4hZ-d2AvP7D9Qc9sDIVbAk1QC9AIm3WUpNehYmLYJFu1f-ehxqBj8GvBee22R0DPtkb8kaIA48TWDZnfjY44zJR5eiqB6ERS7g/s1600/photo%25289%2529.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIFCOfT0H9ACk-OQJ-GUHGy_hexEeuSDkzzG6C4hZ-d2AvP7D9Qc9sDIVbAk1QC9AIm3WUpNehYmLYJFu1f-ehxqBj8GvBee22R0DPtkb8kaIA48TWDZnfjY44zJR5eiqB6ERS7g/s320/photo%25289%2529.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701206554176356722" border="0"></a><br /> My kemenche is right at home in my new place!<br /><br />This is the first year that I'm living in my own place without my students. I must say I LOVE having my own place. I found it on airbnb which is an incredible site for finding places to stay in foreign countries. The flat is on my favorite street, a 5 minute walk from Emin Percussion and the music street and a 15 minute stroll down the beautiful pedestrian walkway, Istiklal, to get to Bunyamin's practice studio. Basically I never see a car. <br />It's an adorable one bedroom apartment that is in a gorgeous old building but has been lovingly renovated to be sooo comfortable without losing the exotic charm. The heat works great, there is an awesome shower with hot water, the kitchen is small but totally workable and there are beautiful kilims and pillows with seating on the floor just how I like it. And the walls in the living room have beautiful murals! I felt at home as soon as I stepped into this place! It's totally inspiring!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bunyamin's Slick Antraman Studio</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nGfgHLGhum62exbXcMdPWPiZo618edAt5XsoG2JzAfIFG1zLKGX8jRWltT4AOI_FP-9Dgka20tC1kzvhMkWsa80MymdXPV5b6b0ncftGORNWozPTOC9Sgn7HnqSNy0SvlIQgLg/s1600/photo%252810%2529.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4nGfgHLGhum62exbXcMdPWPiZo618edAt5XsoG2JzAfIFG1zLKGX8jRWltT4AOI_FP-9Dgka20tC1kzvhMkWsa80MymdXPV5b6b0ncftGORNWozPTOC9Sgn7HnqSNy0SvlIQgLg/s320/photo%252810%2529.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701209530581838530" border="0"></a><br /> He's so happy in his new studio!<br /><br />When I first met my teacher Bunyamin four years ago he had an "office" which he used for practicing. He was like the King there - it was the place for all of the best drummers to get together and jam. Then he lost the place and for the last couple years he didn't have his own space.<br />This year I decided to splurge and help him get a new office. He took it a couple months before I arrived and spent some time painting it blue and preparing everything so by the time I arrived it was all ready. <br />He is so happy there! He is there every day from 4pm till the early morning. He installed a heater so its super cozy. He put candles all over the place and burns incense. When I first arrived it was so cute - he couldn't stop putzing around - making tea, adjusting the heat, adjusting the lighting cleaning, ect. I've never met anyone so neat and clean. He fanatically cleans and mops the place every day!<br />It's the perfect place to practice- there's a big rug and pillows for those like me who like to sit on the floor (and it's awesome for practicing yoga as well!) All of the great drummers have been coming by every day to practice. And here's the best thing about it - NO SMOKING!!!!!! I think it's the first time in history that a Turkish drummer has a no smoking policy in his practice studio! Whoever wants to smoke is kindly asked to do so on the balcony! What a pleasure to practice and breathe clean air! Plus he has a no shoes policy! It's sooo awesome!!!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bunyamin is Flying</span><br />Ever since he got the studio Bunyamin has been practicing more than ever. His level now is completely off the charts - nobody can believe it, including the other amazing Turkish drummers. His hand have just become one big blur. We are slowly putting together a new composition based on the stuff he's coming up with - mostly in 9, but some cool stuff in 7 as well.<br /><br />The other day Suat Borozan came over to practice and after complaining that he never has time to practice anymore proceeded to completely kick my butt playing this stuff in unison about three times as fast as I could. I love it - there's nothing like a good challenge! But even though I'm still not as fast as these guys, everyone here noticed that my level is much better than last year - I guess all of those drill series and office hours are paying off!<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwIHyS6WDedKkhq38tDA3D4BeG727S8z1ymgfNiCP_r7fxw360R22YSiN24GGruIDO3N6HAk94c' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />Bunyamin and Suat Jamming<br /><br /><br />Today Mehmet Akatay is coming! This other guy Ibrahim comes almost every day as well as this guy Tarik who plays tabla. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lessons!</span><br />A couple people have already come with me this year. Yufi and Sam who were with me last year came back again! They've both been taking lessons from Bunyamin. Also Osama Farouk, perhaps the best Arabic style drummer living in America came just for a few days,but he took a lesson from Bunyamin as well! It was beautiful to see them jamming together, masters of two very different styles!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrqJKmoauRaZ8u65OCr_E77qwcx5y6uGtps-Z8_jdyuLvNBwYbuI3Ivx2SdeQPoFmgHsNBw2m1YsJmocg0m6-w6w9DPuF9RwMSkb-tnHClaZAEMroDIS7ArkeHN1X8GgyXJ4znqw/s1600/photo%252812%2529.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrqJKmoauRaZ8u65OCr_E77qwcx5y6uGtps-Z8_jdyuLvNBwYbuI3Ivx2SdeQPoFmgHsNBw2m1YsJmocg0m6-w6w9DPuF9RwMSkb-tnHClaZAEMroDIS7ArkeHN1X8GgyXJ4znqw/s320/photo%252812%2529.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701214480414967858" border="0"></a><br /> Osama having his lesson<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My Routine</span><br />I still haven't really adjusted from New York time, so I have to drag myself out of bed at 1pm. After meditation I take a walk around the neighborhood. First I stop at Emin Percssion to have a tea and see who's jamming. Then I got to my juice guy and get a pomegranate juice and say hi to the Galata Tower. There are so many cute little cafe's all around my house - my mission is to try them all. I sit at one of the cafes and study Turkish. Then I go back home and practice kemenche and throat singing for a few hours. Then I walk down Istiklal, the beautiful pedestrian walkway to go to Bunyamin's studio. I try to take different little side streets each time - there are so many quaint little ally ways to explore! <br />From 6ish till late late night, it's basically practicing with Bunyamin and friends with a short break for dinner. After a few years of being here, I now know where to get amazing food. The salads here are absolutely stunning and ridiculously cheap. When I'm here I live on raw veggis, beans and dried fruit and nuts. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJXVIOYwEBGDUFsNY4XYU6p9QYKNCey_49S8IRPXGP21B2WsUx5_OxFaluzUhFJdPvChTNWxu658RSghZ0ytpUT5rQwZYWog9ulj5XiZ72fd6rHC1TdFF31rKscYmD6Rh4KW_qRA/s1600/photo%252811%2529.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJXVIOYwEBGDUFsNY4XYU6p9QYKNCey_49S8IRPXGP21B2WsUx5_OxFaluzUhFJdPvChTNWxu658RSghZ0ytpUT5rQwZYWog9ulj5XiZ72fd6rHC1TdFF31rKscYmD6Rh4KW_qRA/s320/photo%252811%2529.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5701216934756056322" border="0"></a><br /> One of my favorite places to eat<br /><br />At around 2 am Bunyamin and I go back to my place and "fig out" - we make a pot of hibiscus tea and snack on dried figs and nuts. After he falls asleep, since I'm still jet lagged, I do my yoga practice and go to sleep at around 5. I hope I'll adjust and get on a slightly more normal schedule, but there is something I'm enjoying about this vampire - like existence!<br /> <br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />New Project!</span><br />Since I plan to spend more and more time in Istanbul I want to start a musical project here. I've been dreaming for years of finding a saz player to learn my compositions. It just so happens that the studio next door to Bunyamin's is owned by a saz player! It turns out he studied with Erdal Erzincan, the saz player who plays with Kayhan Kalhoor! I gave him a cd of my music and tomorrow we will have our first session playing together.Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-36643064081209726392011-09-18T17:45:00.007-04:002011-09-24T14:52:34.453-04:00Drama on the West Coast Tour!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqseaRtMz1obr1PE-IRRp23QIPxCzK2DMpd0OJLp-CI4g3mqvdzVfeir4dwl-e5BXuEy3wJQhV7LWuuSE2EHgj0NMOUPiYQCviSijBIIdejZbt6vVI1HtLucmOSpWv6gPWZ6RFWA/s1600/photo-2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqseaRtMz1obr1PE-IRRp23QIPxCzK2DMpd0OJLp-CI4g3mqvdzVfeir4dwl-e5BXuEy3wJQhV7LWuuSE2EHgj0NMOUPiYQCviSijBIIdejZbt6vVI1HtLucmOSpWv6gPWZ6RFWA/s320/photo-2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653873107054604130" /></a><br /><br /><br />Usually I only keep a blog when I’m having my adventures in the Middle East, but I’m on a west coast tour with Raquy and the Cavemen and there has been such drama that I feel compelled to write about it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Drama #1 – No Passport</span><br />So the plan was for us to fly in to Seattle and for Euphrates to pick us up and take us up to Van Couvar. <br />However, after driving 14 hours she realized she hadn’t taken her passport! In her defence, she had come straight from Burning Man where she spent all night flogging people and didn’t get any sleep.<br />We quickly recovered from this first drama by changing the plan – Euphrates would stay in Seattle with a friend while we took her car to Van Couvar and she would meet us a couple days later after her mom sent her her passport. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Drama #2 – Fishky Disappears</span><br />Euphrates finally made it to Van Couvar just in time for my advanced dumbek workshop. Fishky wanted to practice back at the house where we were staying so he said he would pick us up at 9:15 when the workshop was over. <br />9:15, the workshop ends and no Fishky. We wait for 20 minutes and no Fishky. “That’s strange”, I thought. Although he is a wild crazy musician he is always extremely organized and reliable when it comes to being places on time during the tour. <br />“Maybe he fell asleep at the house” we thought. We picked up some Indian food and another friend brought us back to the house.<br />We get to the house and still no Fishky. I try to call him and his phone is turned off. I start worrying. Euphrates says, “ lets just eat, I’m sure he’s fine!” but by this point I was starting to freak out and had no appetite. “He would never just disappear like this on tour”, I thought, “Something terrible must have happened!” <br />I start looking for clues. I see that his Dum Set is only half set up. “What does that mean? Why would he set up half of his Dum Set? Did he leave the house in a rush?” <br />Another hour goes by and I start seriously freaking out, so I called the Van Couvar police station. Here’s the conversation:<br /><br />Me: My friend is missing!<br />Police: How old is he?”<br />Me: 32<br />Police: When was the last time you saw him?<br />Me: Three hours ago<br />Police: (After some silence) He’s 32 and you saw him 3 hours ago and you’re reporting him missing?”<br />Me: But he would never just disappear like this! Something terrible must have happened!”<br /><br />At this point we hear the car drive up and Fishky comes upstairs throatsinging. <br /><br />Me: Never mind, he’s back<br /><br />It turns out he was at an ice cream parlour with 80 different flavors and it took him so long because he was having trouble deciding. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Drama #3 – Turkish Delight</span><br />Euphrates got me the best gift for the tour – a book called “Making Out in Turkish” about how to flirt and date and have relationships in Turkish, which I predict will prove extremely useful during my upcoming winter pilgrimage to Istanbul.<br /><br />As luck would have it, we happened to be double billing in Van Couvar with an ADORABLE Turkish DJ! Sooooo cute! He was gracious enough to only speak to me in Turkish although his English is perfect. It proved the perfect opportunity to try out some of the phrases from the book!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Drama # 4 – My Kemenche gets smashed on stage</span><br /><br />While I was in the dressing room before the show in Twisp Washington, apparently a lamp fell on my 12 string kemenche tarhu and crushed the bridge. Nobody who saw the fall realized that it had been broken.<br /><br />We began the show with drumming and then I picked up my kemenche to play a song, saw that it was broken and screamed in front of the whole audience. <br /><br />Some backgound about my kemenche. There are only two of them in the world. They are made by Peter Biffen in Australia, who now has a three year waiting list if you want to order a new one. The design is extremely unusual and complicated so any normal oud or violin repair man would be terrified to touch the thing.<br /><br />Fishky and I were stunned – I’ve often had nightmares that I’m on stage and my kemenche is broken. I felt like I was dreaming. We were just beginning our tour – what will we do for the rest of the tour?<br /><br />“Is there a Luthier in the house” Fishky desperately asked the audience.<br /><br />Suddenly one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen in the front row says, “I’m a Luthier, let me have a look!” He was like an angel sent from heaven with the most incredible eyes.<br /><br />He took the kemenche to the dressing room and proceeded to operate while Euphrates and I looked on hugging each other and weeping, In the meantime Fishky played some of his solo pieces.<br /><br />Miraculously this stunning man got the maker of the kemenche in Australia on the phone and with his advise put it back together so that I could use it for the rest of the tour! And I was actually able to go back on stage and finish the show!<br /><br />I’ll still have to send it back to Australia for a more permanent fix, but in the meantime it’s sounding better than ever and I have a new appreciation of my instrument.<br /><br />I can’t wait until I’m rich and famous enough so that I can bring the luthier from Twisp with me on all of my tours just in case!<br /><br />By the way , Euphrates and I usually have opposite taste in men and the exact same taste in food, making for the perfect friendship, but this was the first time we both agreed that the luthier in Twisp is absolutely dreamy!Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-86989875893723268382011-02-07T09:06:00.010-05:002011-02-07T09:28:42.578-05:00Istanbul Feb 7th 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWtO2pUn_mnQha9Zo9eft-sNC_IHG9tJzqaEeb7lY_sey8EuxiS9_jdOTM1CcQd6E2lLBQiharw1kcRBvrhMajwgKKrFo85bC3kGSdOsKbWJAlIIxYS6F9QxrwAvxDJQ1cFLDQsg/s1600/photo%252815%2529.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWtO2pUn_mnQha9Zo9eft-sNC_IHG9tJzqaEeb7lY_sey8EuxiS9_jdOTM1CcQd6E2lLBQiharw1kcRBvrhMajwgKKrFo85bC3kGSdOsKbWJAlIIxYS6F9QxrwAvxDJQ1cFLDQsg/s320/photo%252815%2529.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570952288911269154" /></a><br /><br />Well I’m almost halfway through the Istanbul part of my Middle Eastern Winter Adventure! I can’t believe how fast this trip is flying by! I still wake up every day thinking, “oh goody, another day in Istanbul! What a treat! <br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Poor Egypt!</span><br />For the past six years I’ve spent a good part of my year in Egypt. Last year was the first time I officialy had a dumbek retreat in the magical Sinai Desert, and it was such a success that I was planning to do it again this year. <br /><br />But now there is a revolution happening in Egypt. I hope that this revolution will lead to better times for the Egyptian people but in the meantime its a big mess and there’s no way I can bring a group over there. My friend Marjory is a journalist in Cairo for the AP. I just skyped with her and she is determined to stick it out and not be intimidated by Moobaraks thugs! She now refers to her apartment as “Revolution Headquarters”. Go Marjory!!!!<br /><br />I decided to make the best out of the situation and instead of canceling I moved the retreat to Istanbul! I’m actually getting really excited about bringing my students to my favorite city, introducing them to the greatest dumbek players on the planet and showing them the rich turkish culture! For more info about the istanbul retreat check out http://www.raquy.com/retreats/images/istanbulposter2011.jpg<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Pistachio Thumb</span><br />The best snack for practcing is dried figs and pistachios. SOmething about the combination of the sweet mushy figs and the crunchy salty pistachios is so addictive and gives amazing energy for practicing! <br />But unfortunately, Euphrates and I have both been afflicted with an ailement that I’ve named it “pistachio thumb”. It happens when you eat way to many pistachio nuts so that the nail on your thumb with which you pry the pistachios open actually breaks. In this condition, it’s almost impossible to open your own nuts so you need to have a friend open them for you (until the friend gets “pistachio thumb”!)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Going Away Party for Sam</span><br />The day be fore Sam left to go back home we had our first (and probably last) big party at our place! It was really fun. We had a few celebrities such as Okay Temiz, Emin (of Emin Percussion) and of course Bunyamin!<br />During the jamming I was experimenting with holding a throat singing droaning under someone’s solo. I thought it was working great, but for some reason every time I started throat singing, Emin would throw popcorn at me!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSUKkGLVMoceuwGvwzJ8N4x6wkIxgzZoJI_EgtfRoSccF6ZqzqL2SnYom29kRn1WpJu6nm9Y07qEe9S1FTs4enOr5y_s6an8QRVXgirAz4WUU5GgIVWDOcTnLmyTPEKfqjkpjGA/s1600/photo%252813%2529.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWSUKkGLVMoceuwGvwzJ8N4x6wkIxgzZoJI_EgtfRoSccF6ZqzqL2SnYom29kRn1WpJu6nm9Y07qEe9S1FTs4enOr5y_s6an8QRVXgirAz4WUU5GgIVWDOcTnLmyTPEKfqjkpjGA/s320/photo%252813%2529.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570952304988065666" /></a><br /><br />Here is some footage of us jamming at the party:<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUZRBzkpDj4<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Classical Music Gig</span><br />My friend David Kucherman was supposed to come to Istanbul to play this classical baroque concert with and orchestra. At the last minute he hurt his neck so he asked if I could substitute for him! So I find myself playing dumbek and frame drums in this orchestra with a conductor! What a flashback into my past! It was fine, but boy did it make me glad that I’m playing my own original music!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCEzdjoUVSKw_Q5PiOYlxegsMGdZt4erkCNMIdHutdv32bQ2n8LP0A-yUTuPVYL3-vWyRpTs1pCdXAx42art6l80M3Un7SdSp_hYCs3eNRKTxPGvaUvc25aA_qkA6ZcwFj91s_Q/s1600/orchestra.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCEzdjoUVSKw_Q5PiOYlxegsMGdZt4erkCNMIdHutdv32bQ2n8LP0A-yUTuPVYL3-vWyRpTs1pCdXAx42art6l80M3Un7SdSp_hYCs3eNRKTxPGvaUvc25aA_qkA6ZcwFj91s_Q/s320/orchestra.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570954048731572434" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Our Restaurant</span><br />Euphrates and I found the BEST restaurant! They have this thing called mixed vegetable platter and every day there is a different variety of delicious vegan vegetable dishes. The guy likes us alot so he gives us extra free food every time and tops off our wine glasses. And the wine glasses keep getting bigger and bigger! The last time we went there was like a half bottle of wine in each glass! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSA8kG1ncgowKWRHazZ2v1YwfCkjGLHJmSvCAlK5uvnDXfmIL38QtdtW-Gla3u4GZICnjAPea_sbjVrMTfa4z3ui89TlCZaslnFv11nlEg_6ZGZEU1hvqHhrCVmdNQdVMMISDc4A/s1600/photo%252816%2529.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSA8kG1ncgowKWRHazZ2v1YwfCkjGLHJmSvCAlK5uvnDXfmIL38QtdtW-Gla3u4GZICnjAPea_sbjVrMTfa4z3ui89TlCZaslnFv11nlEg_6ZGZEU1hvqHhrCVmdNQdVMMISDc4A/s320/photo%252816%2529.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570952288038437810" /></a><br /><br />Euphrates is doing great! Her Turkish split hand technique is getting really good! She's been taking privates with Bunyamin! She's also fallen in love with the yayli tambur. She composed a beautiful piece on the yayli tambur one day after she started playing the instrument!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYRZLsN54LGEZ7Gx_O8LDUHY9PzQ7nI6AJrMPn5vX26bFl3e-bKzmueOuvzCeRkMZr3MUrtra1JFqO4X2__-B5tM8BLfWDE9dqekRaxU55N6phLL4qvvMp3DUGyaBAGWSONVGOA/s1600/photo%252817%2529.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJYRZLsN54LGEZ7Gx_O8LDUHY9PzQ7nI6AJrMPn5vX26bFl3e-bKzmueOuvzCeRkMZr3MUrtra1JFqO4X2__-B5tM8BLfWDE9dqekRaxU55N6phLL4qvvMp3DUGyaBAGWSONVGOA/s320/photo%252817%2529.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570951560192079730" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Feb 6,2011 Istanbul!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Adama</span><br />Remember Adama from the 2009 Istanbul blog? Well look what happened! She had an adorable half Turkish baby! It is soooo cute! She lives in England now but she was visiting Istanbul so I got to hang our with her and her baby. What a cute family! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-C760FC7n7HpeE1xEhfKiJLW49isV_KCRzUhi09eSq-m3Mj_Ulu9SlB5lpLESbpteUS9Rnom4a-d8azM5WYNsH0VOmtE66Aw0-lt-CuKWS3dPjF9kJ5MenUOnWgw2-NojIY7dA/s1600/photo%252814%2529.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-C760FC7n7HpeE1xEhfKiJLW49isV_KCRzUhi09eSq-m3Mj_Ulu9SlB5lpLESbpteUS9Rnom4a-d8azM5WYNsH0VOmtE66Aw0-lt-CuKWS3dPjF9kJ5MenUOnWgw2-NojIY7dA/s320/photo%252814%2529.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5570952298149921970" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Stupid Triplets</span><br />When will my triplets ever sound like Bunyamin’s???!!!!????!!!??? Somtimes I feel like they are really coming along and sounding good but then Bunyamin walks into the room and I lose it completely. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on anything as much as I work on those stupid triplets. It is so hard to make them even and clear! If you are in the least bit tense it all goes to shit. I really hope that one day they will sound like Bunyamin’s and in the meantime all I can do is enjoy the process.Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-18670168145599477612011-01-18T13:03:00.021-05:002011-01-18T18:22:11.268-05:00Istanbul 2011Greetings from Istanbul!<br /><br />I’m back in the “Land of Antraman” and so far this is the best year yet! I have never been so in love with a city before. I wake up every morning with a huge smile on my face, so happy to be here in this beautiful exotic city that is home to the greatest dumbek players on earth and the sweetest people!<br /><br />This year I came with two of my friends/ student, Sam and Euphrates.<br /><br />Sam Tynker is an ADORABLE guy from New Mexico who makes his living as a circus performer. Some of you may have seen him at Pensic. <br /><br />Euphrates was one of the students in my university dumbek class in Cairo, Egypt. She is an incredible fire spinner who just finished college. What a welcome into the real world, coming to Istanbul for the winter to practice dumbek!<br /><br />We are renting two rooms at Studio Fabrica a music studio in the heart of the music discrict. I've been here for two weeks and have not had to take a single form of transportation other than walking. Everything is within walking distance - every music store, every music venue, all the great master musicians have their studios right around here. The building is full of music studios so we hear music all day long. Everyone practicing all day.<br /><br />The studio is run by two brothers, Hakan and Vulkan (thats another thing I love about Istanbul. Everyone has names from Star Treck!) Hakan is a great darbuka player and Vulkan plays Turkish clarinet. There are musicians coming in and out of the studio all day long.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxoXry6D0JdTfdyTH3b0VvE49aBCoY0xcdRI4LzpcXDwcZR4B-pKsihQMw_OY9zYxlIFygdXRUrpnrINf2pqd-LdHKVXvxrjBQ_w2geaudlRhNH9Gp2MkKKdDHGsddNLkWfG0Qcg/s1600/hakan%2526vulkan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxoXry6D0JdTfdyTH3b0VvE49aBCoY0xcdRI4LzpcXDwcZR4B-pKsihQMw_OY9zYxlIFygdXRUrpnrINf2pqd-LdHKVXvxrjBQ_w2geaudlRhNH9Gp2MkKKdDHGsddNLkWfG0Qcg/s320/hakan%2526vulkan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563663463843597458" /></a><br /><br /><br />Here is a typical day for us<br />We wake up at noon, read some yoga sutras and sit in group meditation.<br /><br />Then we go out for our morning excursion. First we have some pamogranate juice at a table outside facing the Galata Tower. Then we sit in a coffee place on a windy cobblestone street and study Turkish and then go to Emin Percussion the famous drum store/ drummer to hangout and practice with whoever happens to be there. Serdar works there. He used to study with Misirli Ahmet and he's very fun to practice with. He and I like to listen to Indian tabla rhythms and adapt them for dumbek.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfGV0HSLxRhiPta9pA8nE_9ms8W15UlAzVirZyv18AGfcSqYJiR5facQSfQ9Gdg1N7qPk3jlINpXpK96nQ9F0U7r5Kl4rT3PGCHPvPz_PrefuK_vGr5AaJJD-WR1YJukS4iRtTA/s1600/emin.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfGV0HSLxRhiPta9pA8nE_9ms8W15UlAzVirZyv18AGfcSqYJiR5facQSfQ9Gdg1N7qPk3jlINpXpK96nQ9F0U7r5Kl4rT3PGCHPvPz_PrefuK_vGr5AaJJD-WR1YJukS4iRtTA/s320/emin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563600093857656162" /></a><br /><br />Then we come back to the studio and practice. Euphrates and I begin by working on our Mongolian Throat Singing. Our friends here don't quite know what to make of it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUweEgqDJqg7ZsvRfXdxAa4_iayauLhot-CfFnvCnw8HLMnxwhXnzRw_lE4GVzjFbky6fawSuKMSzUm2HkcE37L-dyqguhU3vuUpImVoKxoQE1mXJXTknKAcFm6daBb5TA6GVtFg/s1600/throat.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUweEgqDJqg7ZsvRfXdxAa4_iayauLhot-CfFnvCnw8HLMnxwhXnzRw_lE4GVzjFbky6fawSuKMSzUm2HkcE37L-dyqguhU3vuUpImVoKxoQE1mXJXTknKAcFm6daBb5TA6GVtFg/s320/throat.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563600089723116578" /></a><br /><br />Bunyamin arrives every day at around 4. For those of you who don't know, Bunyamin is my teacher. I've been studying with him for two years now. I can't really describe the experience of seeing this man play in words other than "miraculous". I can't believe I get to sit and practice with this gifted being every day. Sometimes Euphrates and Sam have lessons with him but most often Bunyamin and I practice together. Lately he has been channeling so many incredible new ideas which I'm trying to organize into a new duet for us to perform. His ideas are flowing so fast I can barely keep up writing them all down!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomVg6rlE6Xzcr7R5Bc1fjvpMeTQDGWy31FRIe2eXf8bqfJf398f40ro9Qzcbw_DUkctuN_dWrpddGp9bVsnAM9F5wh_GvX3X4GRivxku3y4VQDXRjZ96VR89v2rXZL-s1ZjL-hw/s1600/sam%2526bun.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomVg6rlE6Xzcr7R5Bc1fjvpMeTQDGWy31FRIe2eXf8bqfJf398f40ro9Qzcbw_DUkctuN_dWrpddGp9bVsnAM9F5wh_GvX3X4GRivxku3y4VQDXRjZ96VR89v2rXZL-s1ZjL-hw/s320/sam%2526bun.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563600106329699154" /></a><br /><br /><br />Every evening there is a stunning sunset which I can see from my window overlooking the Galata Bridge. I just never get tired of watching the sun set behind the mosques with seagulls flying around. <br /><br />I've shown Sam and Euphrates my secret Turkish Split Hand Technique Drill Series. They are obsessed and so the drills for hours every day.<br /><br />A few times a week we go out to hear live music. There is incredible live music almost every night of the week, within walking distance from our place. Our more popular hang out is a place called "Araf" that has great Turkish bands.<br /><br />We end each day with a late night yoga session starting at around 2am. Bedtime is around 4.<br /><br />I'm finding more and more options for great vegan food. There's really some delicious veggis here! My latest discovery is "mercemek kofte" - these delicious balls made of lentils made to look like meatballs. And the salads are gorgeous. I'm still obsessed with simits, the Turkish style bagels.<br /><br />As if it wasn't enough having two dumbek masters Bunyamin and Hakan practicing in our house every day, the virtuoso Suat Borazan has taken a liking to our place and also comes here to practice with us! We often end up all playing together trading off solos. What a humbling experience! But I'm happy to see that all the practicing has paid off - I can keep up much better that I could in the last trip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J_keXn-CPcIxkYVO0mjWMlbkC8vW6nRL0mQMXZYpuuw84mjPY35zubpbaOVIwId24YohnjtAy3OlYbMNL42K_4ab2_q10lQbkTgLgNaFvtPTiomqVPFG_MFsSi3xNgh5O6k88A/s1600/group.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J_keXn-CPcIxkYVO0mjWMlbkC8vW6nRL0mQMXZYpuuw84mjPY35zubpbaOVIwId24YohnjtAy3OlYbMNL42K_4ab2_q10lQbkTgLgNaFvtPTiomqVPFG_MFsSi3xNgh5O6k88A/s320/group.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563600096905669922" /></a><br /><br /><br />Also, Hamdi Akatay, one of the fathers of the Turkish Split Hand Technique, has his group class right across the hall from us once a week, so we get to jam with him and his students!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-uLc5ZFUer-t8nBorQhYBu2U8OBOMGyuokifJ25MVfLfija1CHanRsGF7OnzMmo9bwR1DznkHdynBhOBclujpJDxDOoE4Rt31dCgkVitopdBeylsiP_Jbt-sqKtEMzZYfdXBAg/s1600/akatayclass.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-uLc5ZFUer-t8nBorQhYBu2U8OBOMGyuokifJ25MVfLfija1CHanRsGF7OnzMmo9bwR1DznkHdynBhOBclujpJDxDOoE4Rt31dCgkVitopdBeylsiP_Jbt-sqKtEMzZYfdXBAg/s320/akatayclass.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5563600099494653314" /></a><br /><br />Misirli Ahmet's studio is a five minute walk from my place. He's not accepting new students into his school now but he did promise me that he and I will practice together Friday at 6! Wish me luck!<br /><br />So basically we are right in the heart of the Istanbul dumbek scene. I'm so grateful to be here and I can't believe the incredible opportunities we are having!Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-3438562810565854722009-04-06T17:08:00.003-04:002009-04-06T17:15:05.907-04:00Istanbul, phase IISo I decided to extend my stay in Istanbul until April 15th!!!!!<br /><h2>The Land of Antrenman</h2>My teacher Bunyamin has been practicing with me like 8 hours a day! The other day my lesson went from 4pm to 4am! I feel like I’m in the next phase, because I studied with him for one month and then I practiced on my own in Egypt for a month, so coming back now, I can keep up with him much more! We are composing a sick ass duet together!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5XcHwTcywiEdSBNHWpuT6uuyxNrXTv-Hkx6fYwMd8ru2BoBqopRnpNiCZppcrMFcNEOcuH0O85UYCzK-OkOFnChd0NcfWflDs4A1UpvSueJEvbhS-o1r4tczq_wHGxNqHESY/s1600-h/raquy&bunyamin.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-5XcHwTcywiEdSBNHWpuT6uuyxNrXTv-Hkx6fYwMd8ru2BoBqopRnpNiCZppcrMFcNEOcuH0O85UYCzK-OkOFnChd0NcfWflDs4A1UpvSueJEvbhS-o1r4tczq_wHGxNqHESY/s320/raquy&bunyamin.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321689563579536562" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Finally! Meeting Missirli Ahmet and Levant</h2>Yay! I finally got to meet Missirli Ahmet and Levant!<br /><p>So a few nights ago was our show in istanbul and a bunch of missirli ahmets students showed up! They were soooo sweet and nice and ever since I've been hanging out with them! I get them drunk and then make them show me the stuff they're learning, hee hee.<br /></p><p>So they had their lesson with him last night and they said they would tell him about me and ask if I could come meet him. So i was at Bunyamins and i get a message that I can come meet him!<br /></p><p>So I went over to the school and I got to hang out with with Missirli Ahmet and Levant. They were very sweet to me and invited me to a party at their school the next day.</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylAHRBdDWMQtG89twBZs9Ih0sGkNn0DaZuhbu_j_ePx3mUi1Fhx7JdPt46cej4WnfM8sCxaylDQ1DVeYQ5PjAS7Iqzyus-s0-Q8bO5z7HczLCIlxDEgCZ9JWTlqGKSul64l7L/s1600-h/ahmetstudents.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylAHRBdDWMQtG89twBZs9Ih0sGkNn0DaZuhbu_j_ePx3mUi1Fhx7JdPt46cej4WnfM8sCxaylDQ1DVeYQ5PjAS7Iqzyus-s0-Q8bO5z7HczLCIlxDEgCZ9JWTlqGKSul64l7L/s320/ahmetstudents.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321689553629583170" border="0" /></a></p><p>So I walked into the party and Levant was jamming. I must say, I’ve never seen dumbek playing like that. He was flying. I ended up staying until the morning and I had a nice bond with both Ahmet and Levant. Ahmet didn’t play but I got to jam with Levant. Everyone was very nice to me and made me feel welcome and I got compliments on my playing by Missiri Amet. Many of the students had seen my videos on you tube before so they really treated me like a celebrity!<br /></p><p>Levant is based in Paris but he wants to come visit me in NY. I told him he can stay w me at my apartment if he agrees to practice with me every day and he said okay., so I hope all of you new york messengers get to meet him soon. who knows, maybe he’ll come on a retreat. We both speak French, Arabic and English, so we switch back and forth from three languages! He is very handsome and charming!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1oBB8mIFGjOMK_Fe4SKYGAfS80BkjrvSvrQAf5LMALVeTsaeGaCCi9r9rY2hPMnQ_WsKG2czmngs47yc9jtukZXBabcSwBD8pfn4p_q_cD-sMpPcSu2qhomeGx6pKOU2_-DJU/s1600-h/levant.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1oBB8mIFGjOMK_Fe4SKYGAfS80BkjrvSvrQAf5LMALVeTsaeGaCCi9r9rY2hPMnQ_WsKG2czmngs47yc9jtukZXBabcSwBD8pfn4p_q_cD-sMpPcSu2qhomeGx6pKOU2_-DJU/s320/levant.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321689559852155442" border="0" /></a><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h2>Motorcycle trip to the Black Sea</h2>I was supposed to have a kemenche lesson the other day, and my teacher called me and said “it’s a beautiful day out – lets go on a motorcyle trip to the black sea instead” So I said yes, and he picked me up on his Harley and we rode along the Bosphorus all the way to the black sea stopping occasionally for tea and snacks. What a wonderful day!<br /><h2>My New Group of Friends</h2>I love my new friends, the students of missirli ahmet. They are soo nice to me and next weekend one of them is having a bon voyage party for me!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNiCAs4lVFnmWVVMQtI9mAJaFQRtjb7CUruDvDYOksJ_rQP8SinrwIVW12G0izZfkd5g8mvx5dIFQSPU81FeWEFP50OnKXwa51apmzPPyjIcg2rxxzFQEaLG-2P1o3Nilx9YI/s1600-h/new+friends.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjNiCAs4lVFnmWVVMQtI9mAJaFQRtjb7CUruDvDYOksJ_rQP8SinrwIVW12G0izZfkd5g8mvx5dIFQSPU81FeWEFP50OnKXwa51apmzPPyjIcg2rxxzFQEaLG-2P1o3Nilx9YI/s320/new+friends.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321689561021300530" border="0" /></a>Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-81212370104832846672009-04-06T07:47:00.007-04:002009-04-06T07:56:50.538-04:00Last Week in Egypt<h2>Sinai</h2>Right after our concert we hired a mini van to take us to Ras Hasatan in the Sinai Desert. I think that’s my favorite place on the planet. Nataia and I stayed for five days. She got tan, and I got burned and we swam and walked in the desert mountains and gazed at the amazing stars at night and most of all, PRACTICED! Sinai is the best place in the world to practice and we had some incredible sessions on a cliff overlooking the Red Sea with the pink mountains of Saudi Arabia visible on the other side. Paradise!<br /><br /><h2>My Egyptian Movie Star</h2>One day a very attractive Egyptian man tried to join Natalia and I as we were doing our morning yoga in the Sinai Desert. He gave up after 20 minutes, but we ended up hanging out. and it turns out hes a very famous Egyptian Movie Star named Sherif Helmy.. He offered us a ride back to Cairo in his fancy car. Usually when we drive back we are stopped at numerous check points along the way and it takes like eight hours but because Sherif is a movie star and all the soldiers recognized him we breezed through every check point and made it back to Cairo in the record time of 5:30 hours.For the rest of the week I hung out with Sherif and it was so fun getting star treatment everywhere we went! We got go to the Pyramids at 4am when it was totally closed, we got to walk in to a restaurant where you always need a reservation – everyone in Cairo bends over backwards to please him! And the scary thing is, I could totally get used to that kind of treatment!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQ8Gf20Dq1cQ943nw-7ygR14qJYgr0giOQOQx5tPhwxoy-9Y6OcEUbhoa9QioIUq_U2LRYSrZmTI-YQF-jA-YNwyQTdXUGoIwp4FzckH4adWNkkuCF73vBrWT7QgR3OLCoT_w/s1600-h/sherif.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpQ8Gf20Dq1cQ943nw-7ygR14qJYgr0giOQOQx5tPhwxoy-9Y6OcEUbhoa9QioIUq_U2LRYSrZmTI-YQF-jA-YNwyQTdXUGoIwp4FzckH4adWNkkuCF73vBrWT7QgR3OLCoT_w/s320/sherif.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321544687827206162" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Movie Set</h2><br />Sherif is making a new movie and me, Natalia and Marjory got to go onto the set and watch them filming the movie! It was so much fun! He’s such a good actor!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHp-PoXuJxVNfaC8JnnB0xRlQW0vFZq_tYQxUTirNgB3HnhLGAOxTNe5sZ2GG6r2WlTRNwBgQlQ4otYiyfvDHThdo5DCP3cKkRPPxnD2VCvZDvqfPXCIJaNLrG0MvyPbI4EQl/s1600-h/movie+set.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHp-PoXuJxVNfaC8JnnB0xRlQW0vFZq_tYQxUTirNgB3HnhLGAOxTNe5sZ2GG6r2WlTRNwBgQlQ4otYiyfvDHThdo5DCP3cKkRPPxnD2VCvZDvqfPXCIJaNLrG0MvyPbI4EQl/s320/movie+set.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321544680174298098" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Magic Girls Trio</h2><br />Now that Rami and Lara have left, its down to a trio – me, natalia and adama. I love trios! We are called the Magic Girls<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaoGfCLuu6m_Z5YG0qL32tTotLY5DZLZ0Jbo3B40qhOHxb-IzJc8jOTMfALTwcRj2ioBGRuDz3ISKLFialX2X07BfABUV67wZuX9-dQpMEqDQ7X8VTXd2GecasHc4-FEWkbKd0/s1600-h/charliesangels.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaoGfCLuu6m_Z5YG0qL32tTotLY5DZLZ0Jbo3B40qhOHxb-IzJc8jOTMfALTwcRj2ioBGRuDz3ISKLFialX2X07BfABUV67wZuX9-dQpMEqDQ7X8VTXd2GecasHc4-FEWkbKd0/s320/charliesangels.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321544676860881442" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Nile TV</h2><br />We had a really fun appearance on Nile TV. Check out how much makeup they put on me! Yuk!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQRgUChIMK1WiwvsvRNCZYPStYSRrghkLoeL9-0pQZhYDx8TO0sYCpzkCO9iX1AF5sZ-u-4aw6eaSdi1mj_aHibF38eanRhWjNeER-iHsAE31_Co7sedVEa1DMdOjWKLpXFOf/s1600-h/girlstvJPG.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQRgUChIMK1WiwvsvRNCZYPStYSRrghkLoeL9-0pQZhYDx8TO0sYCpzkCO9iX1AF5sZ-u-4aw6eaSdi1mj_aHibF38eanRhWjNeER-iHsAE31_Co7sedVEa1DMdOjWKLpXFOf/s320/girlstvJPG.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321544677281011762" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgomkTGxBAc2Ht-GJIpMP0KFFcs0EQBUb4xK6fk2TJsQmvcJTVhI9GAy7sjhcZ-W5HrJXsDXLua51YxR8XOH__G5CCjGCFxNC_bkJ1dznAdJIql-Fr0i-yC50MnvU02doBbI-bK/s1600-h/makeup.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgomkTGxBAc2Ht-GJIpMP0KFFcs0EQBUb4xK6fk2TJsQmvcJTVhI9GAy7sjhcZ-W5HrJXsDXLua51YxR8XOH__G5CCjGCFxNC_bkJ1dznAdJIql-Fr0i-yC50MnvU02doBbI-bK/s320/makeup.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321544677675388130" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><h2><br /></h2><h2><br /></h2><h2><br /></h2><h2><br /></h2><h2><br /></h2><br /><br /><br /><h2>Entourage to Airport</h2><br />Everyone came to the airport! All of the Newbian boyfriends, Dr Dave, my Movie Star boyfriend and Marjory were all there waving goodbye as we went through security. What a beautiful sight!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKt3yKVHcj2rFkHszBYDzeP4cuGUAdwT6nWAMfl6ENgBuMsVmUDkrSh6zBawggXjS61DDHzsWBjLnypX0fWGOJn4BznJ6KzbGoVTqRSj9ecWr4akREk7GSsr_GsxbVsWHANTk/s1600-h/sendoff.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKt3yKVHcj2rFkHszBYDzeP4cuGUAdwT6nWAMfl6ENgBuMsVmUDkrSh6zBawggXjS61DDHzsWBjLnypX0fWGOJn4BznJ6KzbGoVTqRSj9ecWr4akREk7GSsr_GsxbVsWHANTk/s320/sendoff.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321545001797741362" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2><br /></h2><h2>Plans with Said</h2><br />Said El Artist wants me to come to Egypt in the summer and play three concerts with him! Yay! Marjory has a beautiful apartment with a guest room for me, so I’m all hooked up. We will play in the Citadel in Cairo, the Citadel in Alexadria and in the Cairo Opera House, ein sh’alla. I’ve never been to Cairo in the summer, I bet it’s gonna be HOT!!!!<br /><br /><h2>Extending my Trip</h2>Back in Istanbul, I realized that I have nothing scheduled for the first two weeks of April and the guy who owns the apartment in Istanbul said I could rent my room for those two weeks, so I said , why the heck not? and so now I’m staying here to practice for another two weeks! Yay! Bunyamin is excited that I’m staying and he said we can practice together every day. Yay!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-53212499581588959952009-03-22T12:27:00.005-04:002009-03-22T12:41:30.651-04:00Third Week of Egypt!<h2>Good Morning Egypt</h2>We just got back from being on Good Morning Egypt. For me it was my fifth time on that show! We needed to be at the TV station at 7:45 which was not easy considering we usually go do bed at around 6!<br /><br />I get a little silly when I’m overtired, and everything was striking me as funny when we were being interviewed, but I was doing alright until the moment when Rami was talking and there was a close up on his face and the biggest fly I’ve ever seen chose that moment to land right in the middle of his head. If it wasn’t for my ugai breathing techniques I would have been rolling on the floor convulsing with laughter and I was just praying that the camera would stay away from me, and thank god they didn’t show me until I regained some of my cool.<br /><br />But anyway the show was great! All of us got to be in the show -- Rami, Nataia, Adama and Lara. We played Debke and Newbian and I played “Ana Fintizara” on the rababa.<br /><br />Now we are back home. Everyone else has gone back to bed but I’m all hyper, so I’m working on my blog.<br /><br /><h2>Ewart Hall Concert</h2>When I was in Sinai last year I met this hot guy Ahmed who plays oud in one of the most famous bands here called “Woostel Baled”. So I was sitting with him at “Horeia” café and he offered to learn one of my songs to play with me in my big show!<br /><br />So he came over that night at around 4am and we stayed up till morning playing very very very soft. It was pretty magical. Anyway he learned the “Sexy Chiftetelli” and he also played on “Ana Fintizara” and the blend between the oud and kemenche was gorgeous and we had amazing chemistry together on stage.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7K_rFbZc7oUBkuvuMIx_T-M3QYww37QyG6fbnppoRcdtQ-RbkHW59Wu-G_rR-eIJoDam-lI9d8XLhBH4QQzZsctL32jODEv9lGxZo-9za8lu6HfBuRiCXeQQ-skqX4gGrQ5uN/s1600-h/ahmed.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7K_rFbZc7oUBkuvuMIx_T-M3QYww37QyG6fbnppoRcdtQ-RbkHW59Wu-G_rR-eIJoDam-lI9d8XLhBH4QQzZsctL32jODEv9lGxZo-9za8lu6HfBuRiCXeQQ-skqX4gGrQ5uN/s320/ahmed.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316049870767154802" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Said El Artist came to my show! I invited him and he said “ein sha’lla” so I didn’t really expect him, but there he was in the first row all dressed up in a suit! I was so touched! I made a little speech honoring him and he stood up and took a bow and everyone clapped. It was really touching. Then I said in English “Now I’m nervous!”<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeu9YZ8WQMiFz5qhxhVxmOxN_0csgnUDHZ6V34-gozk8sxEjmPZxsqZcOdi28YHCdyknO_6Dk-tx5tRIGC_SReV2BiUYsWA25Cnbs8HuEZMaxnWMJaHAQDbfwUXUWfGB_hUJ9O/s1600-h/said.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeu9YZ8WQMiFz5qhxhVxmOxN_0csgnUDHZ6V34-gozk8sxEjmPZxsqZcOdi28YHCdyknO_6Dk-tx5tRIGC_SReV2BiUYsWA25Cnbs8HuEZMaxnWMJaHAQDbfwUXUWfGB_hUJ9O/s320/said.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316050047376162386" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd90TWtWYILFTLQT8nnfrY_q2mjAHiuLBCJ3Jxfu8B-FjrYMmhjacOlLGUvua4KXucHA85jykTDfU3SNupkTBb6cnVr-UoxFyw8OkjlqIemMvomvFjR44vXFHJ-U7KRzN-Jggu/s1600-h/adama.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd90TWtWYILFTLQT8nnfrY_q2mjAHiuLBCJ3Jxfu8B-FjrYMmhjacOlLGUvua4KXucHA85jykTDfU3SNupkTBb6cnVr-UoxFyw8OkjlqIemMvomvFjR44vXFHJ-U7KRzN-Jggu/s320/adama.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316049865412681330" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzX-fmkspTbH8CKi8bcY3jxVag0YIUYcFTsj1a7jm8Qyg4HoEoVauzs7PQHHGsyp_LRZ7E4iTxFf_io3viTD_gU2sRlQrKIMYPPgN7Qg1GALofEr3M-NF_d7rnATnsMohGVLEE/s1600-h/kemenche.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzX-fmkspTbH8CKi8bcY3jxVag0YIUYcFTsj1a7jm8Qyg4HoEoVauzs7PQHHGsyp_LRZ7E4iTxFf_io3viTD_gU2sRlQrKIMYPPgN7Qg1GALofEr3M-NF_d7rnATnsMohGVLEE/s320/kemenche.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316050029707135314" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjReeFoOeotUMvoMfy-8BT3pMwtSuaaOrL9XeVG-_q-IVgy-e8wq_VSDKr1qwXPnzh7Lz2qSNykargcR0tLiyW2avec511wahpfro1X3dDULOau6inX-UKegxriwUKhdYQ44VDX/s1600-h/group2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjReeFoOeotUMvoMfy-8BT3pMwtSuaaOrL9XeVG-_q-IVgy-e8wq_VSDKr1qwXPnzh7Lz2qSNykargcR0tLiyW2avec511wahpfro1X3dDULOau6inX-UKegxriwUKhdYQ44VDX/s320/group2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316049912321376322" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcD8XtGxt1irP3zS22QgtdLN8KGOsxkOnlHR28pSpvXIkRr7fMHLeRUqYWwMD0MbQ0p2pux0y0ghNCK8hAeS4PG3jc1wCqTQPVwWpkH-Ac29CoSowZ6pZVeSqWKFLc6HERHR1/s1600-h/group.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVcD8XtGxt1irP3zS22QgtdLN8KGOsxkOnlHR28pSpvXIkRr7fMHLeRUqYWwMD0MbQ0p2pux0y0ghNCK8hAeS4PG3jc1wCqTQPVwWpkH-Ac29CoSowZ6pZVeSqWKFLc6HERHR1/s320/group.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316049902145743122" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixh5ugqBZoEm2ndZSiq3RxKe9ayyAxhDzGXeDtzbNYyCEViP8aMRYKHDYmHTrCOlDiAF4YpGcZAUGJqiM7RmR24Wg9tmIa-BOR0CC40I3TriqXq4M0Gfvrc652XKsoj_14aShi/s1600-h/audience.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixh5ugqBZoEm2ndZSiq3RxKe9ayyAxhDzGXeDtzbNYyCEViP8aMRYKHDYmHTrCOlDiAF4YpGcZAUGJqiM7RmR24Wg9tmIa-BOR0CC40I3TriqXq4M0Gfvrc652XKsoj_14aShi/s320/audience.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316049879628311698" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Marjory moved to Egypt just in time for my show! It was great to see her! She’s the editor of the middle eastern desk of the AP! She’ll be living in Cairo for 2 – 3 years.<br /><br /><h2>Surprise for Nubians</h2>The Nubian boyfriends complained that the song we call Newbian is not Nubian at all so to surprise them we researched Nubian rhythms and did an introduction to the piece that was really Nubian and Adama and I did this Nubian clapping pattern. You should have seen the boyfriends! They flipped out!<br /><h2><br /></h2><h2>Alex Show</h2>We got to spend a lovely couple of days in beautiful Alexandria. This time they put our show in a smaller theater that was the perfect size. I had a nice workshop before the show and we had a great turn out. All our Nubian boyfriends came all the way from Cairo to see the show and Jehan and Hana brought a bus full of very fashionable people from Cairo (designers and models and stuff). There are amazing cafes and restaurants and markets in Alex, so we had a great time walking all around. There is also my favorite pub in Alex – all these Egyptian men sit around and drink Stella beers and eat thermis beans and this oud player Said goes from table to tables singing Om Kolthum songs.<br /><br /><h2>NileTV</h2>Nile TV came to my apartment to interview me! It was a very cute interview and we all got to play a couple songs. The interview included the angry neighbors banging on the door cause we were making so much noise!<br /><br /><h2>1am shisha business meeting on Mohamed Ali street</h2>We had a meeting at the drum shop on Mohamed Ally street at 1 am over a shisha. They are making Raquy Riqs that are actually made in Syria! They are really good ones and I’m psyched about them!<br /><br /><h2>Spice Store</h2>The girls and I went absolutely crazy in this spice store! Now we have gifts for everyone!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvEdH6N0tCW2qvUKKax5fXfkghX-ejvD9NiRBax_0EiLk7YneFKdqNwguf7MbQv2zrPc-mXv2-r43vXt8AEnn0-VOku6nTFxW5gT6IQjpfhcCoT6_sFmktlttTpDDu8o0SCLx/s1600-h/spice.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVvEdH6N0tCW2qvUKKax5fXfkghX-ejvD9NiRBax_0EiLk7YneFKdqNwguf7MbQv2zrPc-mXv2-r43vXt8AEnn0-VOku6nTFxW5gT6IQjpfhcCoT6_sFmktlttTpDDu8o0SCLx/s320/spice.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316050054881684418" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We have one week left in Egypt and tonight we are off to chill and practice in one of my favorite places on the planet – the Sinai Dessert! I promise to take pictures!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-4230898085615846772009-03-13T12:07:00.005-04:002009-03-13T12:18:51.123-04:00First week in Egypt 2009The first week in Egypt has flown by!<br /><br />This was my first time in Egypt without Rami, and I was a bit apprehensive what it would be like. But it turned out just fine!<br /><br />First of all its been great for my Arabic, because when I’m with Rami, everyone addresses him because he is an Egyptian looking man. So this time I got to do all the talking, so it’s been great practice!<br /><br />I found a great apartment in the same building as last year on the market street! It’s the best building – on the second floor are the Sudanese princesses where we do amazing henna parties and on the first floor is the Nubian men's club where we can play pingpong, pool and bang on our drums as loud as we want until the wee hours of the moring! Also on the corner of the street is the best juice in Cairo – the carrot juice tastes like cream!<br /><br />Rami arrived after a week and its so nice to be with the big baby in Egypt again!<br /><h2>Our wonderful Nubian Boyfriends</h2>We have wonderful Nubian boyfriends and they are beautiful! Conveniently there are four of them and four of us girls. They take us anywhere we want! They take us on falukas on the Nile and to ahawas to smoke shisha and drink tea. They don’t let us pay for anything (not like cheap ass American guys) and when they play pingpong and pool they don’t really try to beat us (although they always end up beating us anyway cause we suck). They have the nicest smiles and the cutest dimples and they love to drum and sing and hang out with us until 6am every night!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCu8Nt9VLhbC_pkKEh34jZDOYZTMN7K-J_4qIwf7BcRD2n-lY8kGSTq48CmkuIeGttQO-yrvL1c53-hRp6F6_-iAbEUua6PBnEcx0OjV5o3XcjQiXvzO-9UmQfPsKDAcpGIAL/s1600-h/me&nubians.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOCu8Nt9VLhbC_pkKEh34jZDOYZTMN7K-J_4qIwf7BcRD2n-lY8kGSTq48CmkuIeGttQO-yrvL1c53-hRp6F6_-iAbEUua6PBnEcx0OjV5o3XcjQiXvzO-9UmQfPsKDAcpGIAL/s320/me&nubians.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312706502140310498" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Jehan and Hanna</h2>Jehan and Hana are here! They are so much fun – we've been hanging out with them and they’re planning to come to our show in Alex!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSqBU-Ei3wdvW_f99jK7ytA_qhMm9eLUL3Cz70dJz1E5fJ5WqKzKruP8nOrujecHnBerZ6HqetzKOaZ_kJbC136fm-v2vcK-qZUCyeXwFVfbWIaN0xFTJ8qr09YMv__x3jX2N/s1600-h/malfuz+restaurant.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJSqBU-Ei3wdvW_f99jK7ytA_qhMm9eLUL3Cz70dJz1E5fJ5WqKzKruP8nOrujecHnBerZ6HqetzKOaZ_kJbC136fm-v2vcK-qZUCyeXwFVfbWIaN0xFTJ8qr09YMv__x3jX2N/s320/malfuz+restaurant.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312706498279523026" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Pita incident</h2>We were sitting in an ahawa and we ordered some food. When it came the pile of pitas fell onto the mud street and the guy just picked them up and put them on our table! I actually ate the pita anyway cause it looked like clean mud, but the girls won’t stop making fun of me for doing that.<br /><h2>Lara’s Toe Massage</h2>Lara is here! She got a grant to come to Istanbul and Egypt and she will play with us in our concerts in Egypt!<br /><br />I must mention that I have a certain spot on my big toe that is soooo intense and I offered Lara 20 Egyptian pounds (about four dollars) to give me a foot massage, and nobody has ever got my spot so well as Lara. At one point she got both big toe spots at the same time! I had multiple toe-gasms!<br /><h2>Hanging w Said El Artist</h2>Even though it won’t work out to do a concert together, we’ve been hanging out a lot with Said. He is so sweet and as charming as ever and it’s really fun at his place – there are tons of drums and fun people. He lets us rehearse in his practice space and take over his whole place as usual. We are planning on making an album and a video together next year called “Erda and Magnun” (Monkey and Crazy) - I’m Erda (he calls me monkey cause I like to repeat back whatever he plays) and he is Magnun cause he’s nuts so he thinks that would be a catchy name for an album.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLBtYmms-HemAtfYhPQZxRzx_ocGFF9a36z0O-_O4VmnFUlj9WALL0eobT0OA-BF1T8bwjU-mx_WNyS8rBB1ibRMCAF4d_kWsqWGN0m5PetTrB1P9G2b-2ndBxPcrCIdIrQ1f/s1600-h/saidJPG.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLBtYmms-HemAtfYhPQZxRzx_ocGFF9a36z0O-_O4VmnFUlj9WALL0eobT0OA-BF1T8bwjU-mx_WNyS8rBB1ibRMCAF4d_kWsqWGN0m5PetTrB1P9G2b-2ndBxPcrCIdIrQ1f/s320/saidJPG.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312706513712769298" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1lwdDUt01RT5hG0Oo0VrTy9BEyqwhNkQjE3NS-5d2t2MRBZv8s5BAlzorbv2hyphenhyphenEefXLbqhMS0PUL1enQ_X-yrviuKtKbDdsqsWR3FK3uraiLSFLHlEGeGkWzWLXJL9bEbe9T/s1600-h/me&said.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_1lwdDUt01RT5hG0Oo0VrTy9BEyqwhNkQjE3NS-5d2t2MRBZv8s5BAlzorbv2hyphenhyphenEefXLbqhMS0PUL1enQ_X-yrviuKtKbDdsqsWR3FK3uraiLSFLHlEGeGkWzWLXJL9bEbe9T/s320/me&said.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312706504648997890" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Natalia in Training</h2>Nataia just got invited back to Columbia to play professional basketball next month so she needs to get some exercise. The problem is – where do you do that in Cairo? There is no chance of running in the streets and she’s having a hell of a time finding a basket ball court – so guess what she does? She runs up and down the stairs of our building for a half hour non stop! The neighbors are all wondering about her.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMVbDHOVZSJZ8P1bUsi5oumO7DtVnJiHhpFeRQy5bpw2QbYXb-XC7nxcCme1d7MuIwueH_q2S7SDobsCF0iigFPNXDgMVuHySFo40L3FKKn8OYDdrtBYdQv_Mypgz-xjMyeqO/s1600-h/nataiatraining.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMVbDHOVZSJZ8P1bUsi5oumO7DtVnJiHhpFeRQy5bpw2QbYXb-XC7nxcCme1d7MuIwueH_q2S7SDobsCF0iigFPNXDgMVuHySFo40L3FKKn8OYDdrtBYdQv_Mypgz-xjMyeqO/s320/nataiatraining.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312706508968504834" border="0" /></a>Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-13154692960091112712009-03-02T12:17:00.007-05:002009-03-02T12:32:10.375-05:00Last Two Weeks in Istanbul<span style="font-size:130%;">My Fabulous Teacher Bunyamin</span><br /><br />About six years ago I got an album by a group called Harem which is a Turkish percussion ensemble. I remember being blown away by this music, and I got a lot of new inspiration and ideas for my own compositions. I had a fantasy that I would go to Turkey and find those guys and play with them.<br /><br />After a week of studying with Binyamin, he was showing me some of his videos, and guess what? That is his band! My fantasy came true!<br /><br />I’ve been practicing with Bunyamin day and night! I’m learning a whole new style!<br />If somebody had asked me before I came here “Is your style more Egyptian or Turkish” I would have said “half and half”. But now that I’m studying the Turkish style from the real deal, I realize that my technique was 90% Egyptian with a tiny hint of Turkish. The Turkish style takes A LOT of practice! These guys practice between five and ten hours a day! The speed is incredible. I feel like I’m starting to get it, but I need much more practice. Bunyamin says that in one year I’ll have it if I practice five hours a day. Ein Sh’alla.<br /><br />Our practicing has several elements. We spend a lot of time on technique, we do some listening to Indian music (many Turkish drummsers get inspiration from Indian music) and we make recordings together since his practice studio is also a recording studio! Listening back to your own playing is a great way to see what needs to improve!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEime0dDPCuWsJ7SaO8ptahyphenhyphenhJknZDK4IRB1ifxsfn1oN3OeLKCfApRngRsOjMiScC24zwJleKXl3giaVuZWBra0Zfo-NPPnzeOrL0q0-HwEmaLa65k0oFd9sGAqqQNLptXqWh-x/s1600-h/bunyaminrecording.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEime0dDPCuWsJ7SaO8ptahyphenhyphenhJknZDK4IRB1ifxsfn1oN3OeLKCfApRngRsOjMiScC24zwJleKXl3giaVuZWBra0Zfo-NPPnzeOrL0q0-HwEmaLa65k0oFd9sGAqqQNLptXqWh-x/s320/bunyaminrecording.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308644091284826258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Also, Bunyamins studio seems to be the hang out for all the most amazing drummers! Hamdi Aketai, Suat, and many others hang there and I get to jam with all of them! I love the jams because I can take the new moves I’m learning and put them in context!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RIxigo_jmJULBy43x9WPjMqq5AH4030nwOJUoEJdGTbLmAmGdccNRd13XjIjx0Vy3RR_TjMo6IDpnXlRm-hyiaYLQNuC6JYr9BT6-aBLXnnA5EQaJF39yBVAgZt6B6sKmRMy/s1600-h/jam.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RIxigo_jmJULBy43x9WPjMqq5AH4030nwOJUoEJdGTbLmAmGdccNRd13XjIjx0Vy3RR_TjMo6IDpnXlRm-hyiaYLQNuC6JYr9BT6-aBLXnnA5EQaJF39yBVAgZt6B6sKmRMy/s320/jam.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308644093575363202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />By the way, those of you who have heard any Tarkan albums, that’s Bunyamin playing dumbek! He has toured with Tarkan all over the world!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Aydin<br /><br /></span>I was just thinking that I would love to find a real sufi trance ceremony with whilring dervishes, and I was getting a carrot juice, and I met violinist Aydin who told me that tonight he’s playing in a ceremony and that he will give me a ride! It was a magical ceremony, and the violinist was out of this world. Since then I’m giving him yoga lessons in exchange for makam lessons (Turkish modes).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Farouk<br /><br /></span>Omar Farouk Tekbilek played a free concert in the Topkopi Palace! It was the most beautiful place for a show I’ve ever seen! We got to hang out with him after the show!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hKWmahlHEpjv4fJ-vzAGQK7vyI3Ju3rV5HjIwENGhzN9NhR7P86SbAm6HSrcYppcRUzb6jTz0IYeyu5ETf12L55HoOTOA04QSb-tG8E4NvImXAA79-vHuhfWMYfgt0evLbfF/s1600-h/omar&girls.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6hKWmahlHEpjv4fJ-vzAGQK7vyI3Ju3rV5HjIwENGhzN9NhR7P86SbAm6HSrcYppcRUzb6jTz0IYeyu5ETf12L55HoOTOA04QSb-tG8E4NvImXAA79-vHuhfWMYfgt0evLbfF/s320/omar&girls.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308644100955400658" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">David Kucherman in Istanbul!</span><br /><br />David Kucherman the incredible riq player from Germany came to Istanbul for our last week there. He’s thinking of moving there so he came to check out the scene. It was wonderful to have him there. He also took a lesson from Bunyamin and some Turkish clarinet lessons.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Mehmet Akatay</span><br /><br />David told me there’s this guy in Istanbul who is perhaps the greatest riq player in the world. What he didn’t tell me was that he was sooooo cute! The guy came to our house to give David a lesson when I happened to be home and it was love at first sight! We spent the whole day together and may end up eloping and forming a riq and dumbek duet!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvbDILq9zUjyk7D77JeYZXKkB3830RkwEKs2QMNTnR9KhvvRrOufs9od5044sy7i703cYoKalR3OVuIHwwPkSzYka5B5MmqBEdNeiHhl6NT7sbPDqcGsym_0ruzefnN5ClB2h/s1600-h/mehmet&Raquy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuvbDILq9zUjyk7D77JeYZXKkB3830RkwEKs2QMNTnR9KhvvRrOufs9od5044sy7i703cYoKalR3OVuIHwwPkSzYka5B5MmqBEdNeiHhl6NT7sbPDqcGsym_0ruzefnN5ClB2h/s320/mehmet&Raquy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308644096613683202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Off to Cairo</span><br /><br />So we put away the Turkish dictionaries, got out our Arabic dictionaries, packed our bags and now we are in the airport waiting to fly to Egypt. We were only here a month but we made so many incredible connections! I can’t count how many times I heard “Ben Seni Seviyorum” (I love you) today from our new Turkish friends! This month in Istanbul exceeded all of my expectations (which were high to begin with). I’m so inspired!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-45196546007508741332009-02-15T08:17:00.015-05:002009-02-15T20:16:55.563-05:00Second Week in IstanbulIt’s been two weeks now since we arrived in Istanbul and there’s been plenty of action to report!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">TV appearances</span><br />Okay Temiz was going around the TV stations a couple days before the big show and he invited me to join him! On the first show I was interviewed and then I got to play a solo! On the second show me and Okay and a couple amazing drummers from Bulgaria traded fours! It was really fun! <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Concert</span><br />On February 11th I got to perform my composition “Karsilama” in front of 2000 people! It was Okay Temiz’s 70th birthday concert. This was a huge sold out event, and it was such an honor that he invited us to play in it! All of the girls (me, natalia, Amanda, adama and Veronique) did a great job and the piece was very well received!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaKGIR6osGb9yCBYSU4FzLlt7Anw8qQIDzEd6D5yscVkDt9Z8gSZpOxooXZs2i88yhcDw6g3VK_LQHvX51Yct2YTVIfVBk97x-ovIf8kKCEbRBwzC09l8XeXHH78OXtA5odx3Yw/s1600-h/backstage.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaKGIR6osGb9yCBYSU4FzLlt7Anw8qQIDzEd6D5yscVkDt9Z8gSZpOxooXZs2i88yhcDw6g3VK_LQHvX51Yct2YTVIfVBk97x-ovIf8kKCEbRBwzC09l8XeXHH78OXtA5odx3Yw/s320/backstage.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303013661486108882" /></a><br /><center>Us Backstage right before we played!</center><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeS79vVBHjF-VCD0cXfOp6H7LmHG27KiFBbxz0eeYOZkXdkI1E7A_cs4cezZARBbT70rOHexH5bMu5PKB27JQPWL4tiaKzO17rbAha0Mqu1BUfJLOHagVF1Ctc_JwhfF7KknrX4g/s1600-h/performance.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeS79vVBHjF-VCD0cXfOp6H7LmHG27KiFBbxz0eeYOZkXdkI1E7A_cs4cezZARBbT70rOHexH5bMu5PKB27JQPWL4tiaKzO17rbAha0Mqu1BUfJLOHagVF1Ctc_JwhfF7KknrX4g/s320/performance.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303013127327689122" /></a><br /><center>Our performance! The other musicians were on stage behind us</center><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv5MVNeURTRrGtkmD_EsBsIhGBCzgNsvfAdGI3YFpfTYrUgelY3ZUwKG-vsX2S9IAbThZlPkHdxksGN0iu1VHd49WDKYXSrbGDhgRqedkQRk3hoj_NI4saGxrYuQ05xsEDQ192g/s1600-h/closeup.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAv5MVNeURTRrGtkmD_EsBsIhGBCzgNsvfAdGI3YFpfTYrUgelY3ZUwKG-vsX2S9IAbThZlPkHdxksGN0iu1VHd49WDKYXSrbGDhgRqedkQRk3hoj_NI4saGxrYuQ05xsEDQ192g/s320/closeup.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303014145534800178" /></a><br /><center>Close up of our performance</center><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0GewBiRe3IZHlyBU9dxLVW-Ox2CZYRkrsI9XMv3JTR_XXAq3SRDzU3L0HREqcOMsxwOaOL358PU-Ulmdydcc3ZklH-V1GjYNATsujgB978Y9jnUmEln-2F2fcQ41z30h8Tm2oQ/s1600-h/okay&girls.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN0GewBiRe3IZHlyBU9dxLVW-Ox2CZYRkrsI9XMv3JTR_XXAq3SRDzU3L0HREqcOMsxwOaOL358PU-Ulmdydcc3ZklH-V1GjYNATsujgB978Y9jnUmEln-2F2fcQ41z30h8Tm2oQ/s320/okay&girls.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303014152598877442" /></a><br /><center>Us with Okay Temiz right after the show!</center><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Lessons w Binyamin</span><br />My lessons with Binyamin are going great! I have a six hour lesson every other day and then every other day I practice. My left hand is getting the workout of its life! <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv4XWaTHnVE8_DZmhUgYowd0qaOLp_AH0Q1MykpamfOSAOZZJxDAo0Tn9ZvvKh-Nax_PpuOdwuI1iCNFRQ9t_e4OMeS9WeTRzhEnCgQJUMuoCdtT_lBiMkp9sTmLKEylSy8ss8gA/s1600-h/left+hand.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv4XWaTHnVE8_DZmhUgYowd0qaOLp_AH0Q1MykpamfOSAOZZJxDAo0Tn9ZvvKh-Nax_PpuOdwuI1iCNFRQ9t_e4OMeS9WeTRzhEnCgQJUMuoCdtT_lBiMkp9sTmLKEylSy8ss8gA/s320/left+hand.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303014366441980850" /></a><br /><center>Ouch!</center><br /><br />Natalia and I have also been going to the studio every night from around 11 –3am to practice! Then we go out for French fries with sweet ketchup and carrot juice at 4am. (I love how when you’re abroad you do things you would NEVER do at home!)<br /> I don’t think I ever played so much in my life! Binyamin’s studio seems to be a hang out for all the greatest drummers in Turkey. All these cat’s that I’ve been hearing about (Suat, Hamdi Aketai, ect) hang out there so I get to jam with everyone! Many of the drummers here have seen me play on you tube, so they come around to the studio to meet me. Everyone is extremely welcoming and nice to me here.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlq9m1ciMPxiEoNQL32Qr6LWxL2vBG21fdB-LtNEyfKCXODaIRxa035xjvVcj8fLYeRl43DfBaBN3GIHyzCakY2EYhbe4ic8Xi3RV2d3LN8KE6u4jPh_DsDlXmL-75UCxDdxLKQ/s1600-h/binyamin2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlq9m1ciMPxiEoNQL32Qr6LWxL2vBG21fdB-LtNEyfKCXODaIRxa035xjvVcj8fLYeRl43DfBaBN3GIHyzCakY2EYhbe4ic8Xi3RV2d3LN8KE6u4jPh_DsDlXmL-75UCxDdxLKQ/s320/binyamin2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303014959728646626" /></a><br /><center>Binyamin plays the skin drum and puts a light in it to heat it up! It looks cool!</center><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />The Hamam (Turkish Bath House</span>)<br />Somebody didn’t pay the water bill in our apartment so they shut off our water a few days ago and it won’t be back for another couple days! So we thought it was a good excuse to check out the Hamam! The Hamam is a public bath house. In the old days people didn’t have showers in their apartments – they all bathed at the hamam. It was a beautiful ritual and a nice way to connect to your community and get pampered. So we checked out a small local Hamam (not touristic at all). it’s not the most beautiful one ive ever seen, but its cheap and the guy gives a killer scrub and massage. For the massage you lay on this warm marble block and he covers you in suds and then massages you. it’s really lovely! We’ve been going to all the neighbors with big buckets and borrowing water from them. We’ve been also using the bathroom at starbucks (I’m ashamed to say I use this situation as an excuse to get soy lattes)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Jam with Emin</span><br />Emin, the famous maker of dumbeks has his shop right down the street. There’s always people jamming there. He likes me a lot (maybe cause of that naked picture of me behind an Emin dumbek that he keeps in his drawer) . But anyway its always fun to go there and jam.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmOTC1HFHhpeSRotRHZsUs2H_9l2SaLv8-wzEt5e_OaSX2KkwI_aYFy6sDJPAwmcgrQ26LXJXBTVHUAZz8mkJdV1ST79rgDHrl9AqKVlrCpfjUE2RlCZVWz85nBKU-pyFS2AD3g/s1600-h/N&Remin.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUmOTC1HFHhpeSRotRHZsUs2H_9l2SaLv8-wzEt5e_OaSX2KkwI_aYFy6sDJPAwmcgrQ26LXJXBTVHUAZz8mkJdV1ST79rgDHrl9AqKVlrCpfjUE2RlCZVWz85nBKU-pyFS2AD3g/s320/N&Remin.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303191398085435378" /></a><br /><center>Us with Emin in his store</center><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />The Quest for Misirli Ahmet Continues</span><br />Still no luck meeting Misirli Ahmet but I’m determined to at least meet him once before I leave. It’s unbelievable how much I hear his name! He’s really a legend among drummers here!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />Dinner Partys</span><br />Okay Temiz came over to our house for a dinner party! We turned our ping pong table into a dinner table and made a feast. Fabio came too. We all had a fabulous time playing music, eating and drinking wine!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsUIpfBbjGJm0NbiHM_xuixAzZ9CVk99o0RvmQi4BbPxXT0b8-0hpYFGEuVVGNZqj1_NPalckY_AuTe5wDpJ5hiuHyN-LAfoZ4vfixfXIcVUzVGSXlE4MMVTPkP9-gMaQ0999hg/s1600-h/dinnerparty.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsUIpfBbjGJm0NbiHM_xuixAzZ9CVk99o0RvmQi4BbPxXT0b8-0hpYFGEuVVGNZqj1_NPalckY_AuTe5wDpJ5hiuHyN-LAfoZ4vfixfXIcVUzVGSXlE4MMVTPkP9-gMaQ0999hg/s320/dinnerparty.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303192240804074434" /></a><br /><center>Our fabulous dinner party!</center><br /><br /><br />Also our Italian boyfriend Fabio likes to come over and cook for us. He makes a mean pasta dinner!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJyxH-cX0MDNZ1Zra8SvZL57jH8vFQuZw3pR8gLIh3VK9TvOWmTAz_H0ee1aVG3HoT9zxJNsX-b3EhIxlEXCw5eMBRbtKjsZN54LXFyUcfHBvb4rC91qZSej0O0wcJ_awrk78zQ/s1600-h/fabio.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyJyxH-cX0MDNZ1Zra8SvZL57jH8vFQuZw3pR8gLIh3VK9TvOWmTAz_H0ee1aVG3HoT9zxJNsX-b3EhIxlEXCw5eMBRbtKjsZN54LXFyUcfHBvb4rC91qZSej0O0wcJ_awrk78zQ/s320/fabio.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303192648534996274" /></a><br /><center>Fabio making vegan pasta!</center><br /><br />Check out Adama's video blogs at <a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.showvids&friendID=446533977&n=446533977&MyToken=b27d90a3-d411-4ff2-9103-1cf0ef57201b">myspace.com/adamadrum</a>!Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-75736927248067367682009-02-06T23:06:00.009-05:002009-02-06T23:52:48.238-05:00First Week in IstanbulMerhaba! It’s been almost a week since we arrived in Istanbul so I thought it was about time for a blog entry!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKQRfSVIV0VPK3xAuGHppxpjtNQ4SOkTYG62FtKryYl8vgrF5CboWu1hSkMdu1X3AYFPqBkzV5uOcyooWu9j_7WCnyx_7vKyr_X0TXjfbGo6gaPsPBCOT1_MnyfwF_KxjsYJo/s1600-h/pic1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKQRfSVIV0VPK3xAuGHppxpjtNQ4SOkTYG62FtKryYl8vgrF5CboWu1hSkMdu1X3AYFPqBkzV5uOcyooWu9j_7WCnyx_7vKyr_X0TXjfbGo6gaPsPBCOT1_MnyfwF_KxjsYJo/s320/pic1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299909847121794626" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The apartment that we found on Craig’s list is a dream come true! It’s so comfortable and there is plenty of room for all five of us (me, Adama, Natalia, Amanda and Veronique). The kitchen is incredible and there are two bathrooms, wireless internet, central heating and all the comforts you could ask for! Natalia and I have the master bedroom with the nicest bathroom I’ve ever seen! We each have our own sink!<br /><h2>Galata Neighborhood</h2>And the Galata neighborhood – a musicians fairy land! We have not left our neighborhood this whole week because everything and everybody is within a ten minute walk from our flat! All the music stores, all the music celebrities, all the great teachers and all the live music venues are a short hop away! I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t leave this neighborhood for the whole month!<br /><br />All of the streets in our neighborhood are windy and cobble stone and there are tons of cafes , grocery stores , restaurants and plenty of great musicians playing on the street. There are very steep hills in the neighborhood. By the end of the month we will all have very nice butts!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzPllor-A8gV9rMIMmASzZL591GyzLVLL2UXxDK186k-FpJ3NnAijOMcZCUBhNZxELV0EZM2ZvkXdvSZMadancQpfwutUYaHH0BTTL1cSug9ztl9MntCG94qI8s99rj3AghX5/s1600-h/pic2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFzPllor-A8gV9rMIMmASzZL591GyzLVLL2UXxDK186k-FpJ3NnAijOMcZCUBhNZxELV0EZM2ZvkXdvSZMadancQpfwutUYaHH0BTTL1cSug9ztl9MntCG94qI8s99rj3AghX5/s320/pic2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299909849153633010" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The Dumbek Chic Posse Walking Around Their Hood<br /><br /><h2>Celebrities in the Neighborhood</h2>So far anyone we hoped to meet happens to be right here in Galatta! Here are some of the celebrities we’ve been hanging with:<br /><h3>Okay Temiz</h3><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhud1K-j9zAd90r4wuyz4OYsm5pIHrdQk9deKNYdraq8l6IxT4UA_AUGTttKk6Cqwy-Huh4BfAUrZpL_48G8cVipXbA34FGw-E_WlNIzBzB6Al09k1mpgD0NN4RhiUZykSP2v47/s1600-h/pic3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhud1K-j9zAd90r4wuyz4OYsm5pIHrdQk9deKNYdraq8l6IxT4UA_AUGTttKk6Cqwy-Huh4BfAUrZpL_48G8cVipXbA34FGw-E_WlNIzBzB6Al09k1mpgD0NN4RhiUZykSP2v47/s320/pic3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299909851437060322" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Okay Temiz is one of the cutest people on the planet. He is a world known percussionist who has released countelss albums, one of which is my top five favorite albums of all time – Zurnas and Darbukas. I met him after his show at Lincoln Center several years ago and we’ve kept in touch. He has an amazing atelier right around the corner from us.<br /><br />The girls and I went to meet him and we performed for him a piece that we’ve been working on that’s actually inspired by a piece on his album Zurnas and Darbukas! He couldn’t believe it!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnZH76NhDUypwDISE7VZqi1vXjN_N_PIcirpxCB_6QaAyzSQs8J_QkPFmWX6jbMsKf-32KbqxW0JQofgwolFxDqDZ7iKIpmrYgOjwKLNnr0HXqtbkjyVu_Ahp1dc3S244Fm14/s1600-h/pic4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnZH76NhDUypwDISE7VZqi1vXjN_N_PIcirpxCB_6QaAyzSQs8J_QkPFmWX6jbMsKf-32KbqxW0JQofgwolFxDqDZ7iKIpmrYgOjwKLNnr0HXqtbkjyVu_Ahp1dc3S244Fm14/s320/pic4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299909858930236786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Performing for Okay Temiz<br /><br />Next week is Okay’s 70th birthday and he’s giving a big rhythm concert with drummers from all over the world to celebrate and guess who he invited to perform in it…….. Us! We will play the piece called Karsilama in the second half of the show! woo hoo! He’s being very nice to us and seems to want to hang out with us every night!<br /><h3>Selim Sesler</h3>Selim Sesler is one of the greatest gypsy clarinetists in the world and he plays for free right in our hood several nights a week! We’ve already seen pichim play twice. Every night we see amazing live music!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV340n6faxq9V0bd-haYsIgfgbshJoYB_4GteUqdrJdslMJZrcsUlqOTpmgc1HvlUzL6YVOjYor1Kg91dPJZHE2tGhk4tsYlInmPDmKpov1Wqj4fcZQrqhSyaxOfs-UvnSvz03/s1600-h/pic5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV340n6faxq9V0bd-haYsIgfgbshJoYB_4GteUqdrJdslMJZrcsUlqOTpmgc1HvlUzL6YVOjYor1Kg91dPJZHE2tGhk4tsYlInmPDmKpov1Wqj4fcZQrqhSyaxOfs-UvnSvz03/s320/pic5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299909863485470098" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h3>Missirli Ahmet</h3>Missirli Ahmet has a darbuka school right on our street! They have a very specific style. They only play on the clay and skin drums. They don’t let people join in the middle of their course, but it was nice to hang out there and see the beautiful school. They are very protective about their style – they don’t let the students record, video tape or even take notes! They won’t even let us observe the classes!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUHAlqS1tJTJkNwqsC-nfYAuBHxybxM7Yg01h8RfyH-MP-A8_J9lErdlC5eQQ68CVCeEpSe8gMkkPBClIVIU3uI96lAwxq9PlEcY3reR9DO03-mLOG5kfDiBQKpArAZAuhTfr/s1600-h/pic6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSUHAlqS1tJTJkNwqsC-nfYAuBHxybxM7Yg01h8RfyH-MP-A8_J9lErdlC5eQQ68CVCeEpSe8gMkkPBClIVIU3uI96lAwxq9PlEcY3reR9DO03-mLOG5kfDiBQKpArAZAuhTfr/s320/pic6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299910069147175314" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Missirli Ahmet’s Brother Hikmet Checking Out My Style at the School.<br /><h2>My Fabulous Teacher Benjamin</h2>I’m having the best dumbek lessons of my life! Natalia and I went to meet this drummer Binyamin who was recommended to us. We ended up staying there for five hours! He gave us so many exercises – I filled up eight pages of my notebek! I haven’t felt so pushed in a long time! It’s ALL about the left hand! I’m gonna take a lesson with him every other day and then every other day practice. Today it took me four hours just to go over everything we did in the lesson! He doesn’t speak a work of English but its okay and he sends me text messages in Turkish telling me to practice! How cute! I’m very excited about studying with him.<br /><h2>Hakan</h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpeMCgj6PvHU-KeJqWfSrWX-xmAAl74qMHnxwMRQlEsgG0rwPKozDYgkbzxAssqrhV1MB3mjAmlAzprPvaQ4U_4uKLwu0jIAYD1pyAsRV5GfS2xbV2Y01HXqkLm4MQkRsa3IS/s1600-h/pic7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpeMCgj6PvHU-KeJqWfSrWX-xmAAl74qMHnxwMRQlEsgG0rwPKozDYgkbzxAssqrhV1MB3mjAmlAzprPvaQ4U_4uKLwu0jIAYD1pyAsRV5GfS2xbV2Y01HXqkLm4MQkRsa3IS/s320/pic7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299910072483498034" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The girls found a nice dumbek teacher to give them group lessons. His name is Hakan and he has a cool studio in our neighborhood.<br /><h2>Other Friends so Far</h2><h3>David</h3>David is a sweet guy from Ohio that has been living in Istanbul for three years studying dumbek and teaching English. He’s been helping us acclimate here, taking us around, giving us advice and introducing us to good people.<br /><h3>Fabio</h3>Fabio is a nutty Italian percussionist working for Okay Temiz. We hang out with him a lot. He’s really fun as long as you don’t let him drink too much Raki.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzEIVCql5tNmGbcLPml0Qz3LPKEykMmUSxP7fr3i4dj2nyUa9VW6e7x0Stg2mKuCeSlW0NsxmmIkVA5jZPgohVF5ZjXiWvmEtljNJGV0D876kevPbzC4rgMjSWBQhWza73mud/s1600-h/pic8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpzEIVCql5tNmGbcLPml0Qz3LPKEykMmUSxP7fr3i4dj2nyUa9VW6e7x0Stg2mKuCeSlW0NsxmmIkVA5jZPgohVF5ZjXiWvmEtljNJGV0D876kevPbzC4rgMjSWBQhWza73mud/s320/pic8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299910072285068578" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Fabio Drinking Raki<br /><h2>Other Interesting Odds and Ends</h2><ul><li>I’ve changed my name to Raki (pronounced Rakeu) while I’m in Turkey because people remember that easily. Raki is the Turkish alcoholic drink.<br /><br /></li><li>I have a piece of garlic stuck in my ear cause I was trying a natural remedy to an ear infection<br /><br /></li><li>We've been smoking out of a potato (don’t ask).<br /><br /></li><li>We go to bed every night at five am and wake up at two pm.<br /><br /></li><li>I made Turkish Coffee in a frying pan (I don’t recommend it – it’s disgusting)<br /></li></ul><h2>Upcoming Shows in the Middle East</h2>Wednesday Feb 11th. 8:00pm<br />Okay Temiz Birthday Concert<br />(212) 231 54 97-8<br />CRR Concert Hall<br />CRR - Cemal Resit Rey Konser Salonu<br />Darülbedai Caddesi, Harbiye<br />Istanbul. Turkey<br /><br />Thursday March 12, 2009<br />Alexandria Library<br />Great Hall<br />Alexandria, Egypt<br /><br />Wednesday, March 18th<br />Ewart Hall<br />Cairo, EgyptScott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-49301805854937494142009-02-03T14:11:00.001-05:002009-02-03T14:14:12.756-05:00Istanbul, Ready or Not, Here We Come!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQaeo5dyzjlhqfQOcuLwDSrpIeHdB_vszGSMGJfv3sgmNbx5Npqui-Rr1TSZy7qhyvwVXhVpQzeKRJ31e4MY_7PuUhzuBMXJDMLFz1vWqdcN_ic3BVRLrwF0mTS745ELdfLxZIg/s1600-h/istanbul+girls.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: undefinedpx; height: undefinedpx;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBQaeo5dyzjlhqfQOcuLwDSrpIeHdB_vszGSMGJfv3sgmNbx5Npqui-Rr1TSZy7qhyvwVXhVpQzeKRJ31e4MY_7PuUhzuBMXJDMLFz1vWqdcN_ic3BVRLrwF0mTS745ELdfLxZIg/s320/istanbul+girls.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298651350168180162" /></a><br />We are about to embark on a wonderful adventure! Me, Natalia, Adama ,<br />Amanda and Veronique will spend the next month in Istanbul!<br /><br />We've already secured an amazing apartment in Galata which is the<br />center of the music neighborhood with all the music shops, studios and<br />night clubs!<br /><br />We've also arranged to take lessons with Misirli Ahmet, the inventor<br />of the Turkish Split Hand Technique!<br /><br />I got my dumbek, kemenche, poi, fake hair and all of my cutest<br />outfits. I plan to learn Turkish on the plane ride over with some<br />Turkish language books I got (it's like 12 hours so I'll be totally<br />fluent by the time I arrive). I already know how to say "Turk gem<br />choc boktan" which means "my turkish is shit" and a few other useful<br />phrases.<br /><br />So wish us luck! If you want to be notified when a blog is bosted,<br />sign up on the left of the screen.Raquyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03871368400985034986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-17865096718488645012008-03-26T16:59:00.005-04:002008-12-10T22:38:28.479-05:00<p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><h2>Sudanese Treasures Next Door</h2><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEaa2mYWKN2ncCv7PekWJqwBmLJRcn66xGdybrecjiOuLrbgk6vlH3fQlkVExaSd9pJkAQNjbsH-D6sT15LFgzQN27FJn-Jey-fF5O_Zy1vbjvEXvbIN1LxrPZ0xAugvEUBT4a/s1600-h/sudanese2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEaa2mYWKN2ncCv7PekWJqwBmLJRcn66xGdybrecjiOuLrbgk6vlH3fQlkVExaSd9pJkAQNjbsH-D6sT15LFgzQN27FJn-Jey-fF5O_Zy1vbjvEXvbIN1LxrPZ0xAugvEUBT4a/s400/sudanese2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184751218481948210" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><br />There are four beautiful women from <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Sudan</st1:place></st1:country-region> who live next door and I started spending lots of time at their house.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">It all started when one of them knocked on my door at 2am to apologize for missing one of my shows and she saw that I was in the middle of giving myself a henna design.<span style=""> </span>The next day I went over to their place and got the full henna treatment, Sudanese style!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">First we drank tea<span style=""> </span>in the salon and chatted.<span style=""> </span>When I finished my tea they took me into one of the back bedrooms and smeared henna all over the bottoms of my feet!<span style=""> </span>It felt so good!<span style=""> </span>They also gave me a clump to just grab with my hand!<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">It takes a few hours to dry and during that time I get the royal treatment, propped up with pillows on the bed.<span style=""> </span>These ladies love smoking shisha, and so while they are keeping me company, there is a constant shisha going.<span style=""> </span>They also burn amazing incense, and keep bringing in coffee and tea and treats.<span style=""> </span>And we have girl talk!<span style=""> </span>You know, girls are really all the same, no matter where, so the conversations always end up on that universal subject – BOYS!<span style=""> </span>They have some amazing henna over there – extremely dark!<span style=""> </span>Oh, and they also keep bringing me presents!<span style=""> </span>I’ve already gotten a bag of Sudanese henna to take home, some Sudanese perfume and a scarf from <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>!<span style=""> </span>By now I’m getting used the Sudanese Arabic which is a bit different from Egyptian, and I’’m having fantasies about going over there next year!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><h2>My Three Concerts</h2><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><h3>Ewart Hall – <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city></h3><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">Ewart Hall is a thousand seat concert hall in downtown <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city>, and, el humdelila, my show was packed!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">It was one of the best shows I ever had.<span style=""> </span>The band was so tight!<span style=""> </span>And the audience was incredible<span style=""> </span>- I kept on hearing<span style=""> </span>stuff<span style=""> </span>like “Raquy, we love you” and “Raquy Forever” coming from different parts of the audience.<span style=""> </span>I had a wonderful Canun player, ustaz walel mahalawi as a special guest for my samai!<span style=""> </span>He played it so beautifully!<span style=""> </span>I also did something with the bones and something with spinning glow poi in the show! <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">We got a standing ovation at the end and then my neighbor, eight year old Mustafa came up and gave me flowers!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">My friend and collegue Dr. Dave made a fine recording of the show, and I’m planning on releasing it to the public as either a cd or a dvd!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><h3>Alex Bibliotheque<o:p></o:p></h3></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The best thing about the Alex show was getting to spend the weekend in Alex!<span style=""> </span>Alex is so nice!<span style=""> </span>We got a hotel right on the corniche and spent hours walking around exploring the markets and ally ways!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The carrot juice in Alex is so sweet I could have sworn that they put sugar inside, but they didn’t!<span style=""> </span>I also broke my veganism for a day and tried some fish – sooooooo delicious!<span style=""> </span>My body was very happy!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">We had a group of our friends follow us from <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city> and we all had a blast.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">The show at the bibliotheque was nice but not as special as the other shows – it’s hard when your’e playing in a 1700 seat concert hall – even if a couple hundred people show up it sees sad!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><h3>Sawy on the <st1:place st="on">Nile</st1:place></h3><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF5qINLlI3v2c0h15rW3oLs2hzku_v1dBOp2Bj17EjhZt0CoteRjXnOfQak6-PfSkbn8PI7_LvWwO2N0xp1hiWXtkZXDgvp9txYvhFONIG7ajfwxsDNTaYT8t-2JVx1YOdDgLs/s1600-h/sawy.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF5qINLlI3v2c0h15rW3oLs2hzku_v1dBOp2Bj17EjhZt0CoteRjXnOfQak6-PfSkbn8PI7_LvWwO2N0xp1hiWXtkZXDgvp9txYvhFONIG7ajfwxsDNTaYT8t-2JVx1YOdDgLs/s400/sawy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182159274438288930" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><br />Last night was our show at Sawy and nice outdoor stage on the <st1:place st="on">Nile</st1:place>.<span style=""> </span>My students played as the opening act.<span style=""> </span>They were so cute and excited.<span style=""> </span>For many of them this is the first and last time they will ever perform music on a stage, so it was a special night for everyone.<span style=""> </span>They also brought all their friends and family so once again the show was packed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3jTnGll_fsxJjQS1TXaGXGHRb1BrsCA7t1L4eO0mn7T39WcNWeSBng_nLbQahfSJnxFo2xjXoCZa446gSW25iC_wXSS4Tu4DOYNI4ROCr4UGx1Y2tnRb9QK4KX1l180VfbuQ/s1600-h/ferra.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF3jTnGll_fsxJjQS1TXaGXGHRb1BrsCA7t1L4eO0mn7T39WcNWeSBng_nLbQahfSJnxFo2xjXoCZa446gSW25iC_wXSS4Tu4DOYNI4ROCr4UGx1Y2tnRb9QK4KX1l180VfbuQ/s400/ferra.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182159270143321618" border="0" /></a><br /><span style=""><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-35080483280077257572008-03-16T20:21:00.006-04:002008-12-10T22:38:29.301-05:00Signs that I’ve been in Egypt for Quite a WhileOn the rare occasions that I see other foreigners walking down the street I have to resist the urge to yell “You are welcome in Egypt!”<br /><br />Instead of using an alarm clock I just rely on the noon call to prayer to wake me up in time for my class<br /><br />I call people at 3am for no good reason.<br /><br />I’m losing my "P” – even in English I’m saying things like “we can’t find a barking spot” or “I hope a lot of beoble come to my show”<br /><br />I can’t walk down my street without all the vegetable vendors in the market yelling to me about artichokes (by now they all know that is my favorite vegetable)<br /><br />Because I’m so covered up in public I can go for weeks without shaving or brushing my hair! I’m really starting to look like a cavewoman!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b83yWXQI3wZFcmTnjI2GT5HsyhfY8DChaQ2mnnB9K0PX9y_otpLpiAeSpT0XzlmcY6VRK0kB-zUxQXZinEWyyfKJq7OLCTL8ZL6u0bt7_O312xWW-tKwaYk7zLiXzHDTd6P-/s1600-h/cavewoman.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b83yWXQI3wZFcmTnjI2GT5HsyhfY8DChaQ2mnnB9K0PX9y_otpLpiAeSpT0XzlmcY6VRK0kB-zUxQXZinEWyyfKJq7OLCTL8ZL6u0bt7_O312xWW-tKwaYk7zLiXzHDTd6P-/s400/cavewoman.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178500418441627810" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />On a street that is racing with speeding traffic, I calmly strut across, knowing that Allah will divert the cars from my path.<br /><br /><h2>Finally Some Fame!</h2>By the end of last year I couldn’t walk down the street without somebody recognizing me from Television. At my favorite restaurant, The Blue Nile, I got celebrity treatment because the servers had seen me on TV. People were asking for my autograph and to have pictures taken with me wherever I went.<br /><br />When I arrived this year, I was suddenly just another person! Nobody seemed to recognize me. When I walked into the Blue Nile expecting my celebrity treatment, I found that there was a group of new servers who hadn’t the foggiest idea who I was! In fact we almost got thrown out because what we ordered didn’t meet a certain minimum!<br /><br />Finally last week I made some appearances on TV. I was on Good Morning Egypt for the third year in a row and immediately after we left the studio people recognized us, and ever since at least two people stop me on my walk to school to tell me that they saw me on TV. Wait till we go to the Blue Nile now!<br /><br /><h2>Escape to Desert Paradise</h2><br />I can’t be in Cairo for more than a month without a little vacation in the Sinai Desert.This year we decided to check out the scene at Ras Ha Satan which is a remote resort on the red sea where many great musicians from Israel and from Egypt hang out and play music together.<br /><br />I got a group together including one of my students from school, Hassan, Baraka who came to visit from Greece, and two Swedish guys – Fred who is studying drumming here and Johannas who is studying Arabic.The bus picked us up at our house and took us straight to Ras Ha Satan. We arrived just in time for sunrise over the mountains of Saudi Arabia! Stunning!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05TQSu0xqmYpvxUJV0MbuPopJ_pdDvPwtsYMRl5wc3UGwDIsXItZKHBu0-V3uW5klUoVTFbxxjpUAdAwEm8Qb5NczWhR4HAuIdwftNztR0LtzUWS5AcyiaGmNq_vtaFB4UuUU/s1600-h/sinai+3.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05TQSu0xqmYpvxUJV0MbuPopJ_pdDvPwtsYMRl5wc3UGwDIsXItZKHBu0-V3uW5klUoVTFbxxjpUAdAwEm8Qb5NczWhR4HAuIdwftNztR0LtzUWS5AcyiaGmNq_vtaFB4UuUU/s400/sinai+3.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178500427031562450" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUAhvYqEuXAsUjvZd-CQ5N38grMNq37XYBUWCn4runAXumu7tjEllwuZcrotsnqr2fJcmGtIg_iReh9jp-eY-udUJHb0dZV26x25d0gGXcnooQR7t9y12NWFaUw2HEyLTgYT-0/s1600-h/Sinai+2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUAhvYqEuXAsUjvZd-CQ5N38grMNq37XYBUWCn4runAXumu7tjEllwuZcrotsnqr2fJcmGtIg_iReh9jp-eY-udUJHb0dZV26x25d0gGXcnooQR7t9y12NWFaUw2HEyLTgYT-0/s400/Sinai+2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178500427031562434" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzEIjYvV2GDJ3aX1gZnXfBkaaQI8eYkpRdDO7yDnppDvwC9cqxKZv4xv8eW8BuP_ls6Q-yCH1WMHT7TCSPyFr8xO4X3LUGxiWw_6NTpOn53V5bErLUVcFEXm4Y_3Fkchk16sbV/s1600-h/sinai+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzEIjYvV2GDJ3aX1gZnXfBkaaQI8eYkpRdDO7yDnppDvwC9cqxKZv4xv8eW8BuP_ls6Q-yCH1WMHT7TCSPyFr8xO4X3LUGxiWw_6NTpOn53V5bErLUVcFEXm4Y_3Fkchk16sbV/s400/sinai+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5178503102796187906" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The place is run by an interesting couple – Ayash who is beduin and Segal, an Israeli woman. They have two adorable little boys. The young one is named Samai!<br />The accommodations are simple but quite comfortable. Each person gets a bungalow. Our bungalow had an indoor room with a nice hard bed, and two outdoor areas with carpets – one like a porch right in front and one like a garage on the side. And all this is RIGHT on the beach – about ten footsteps away from the Red Sea!<br /><br />There is one big communal bathroom that is impressively clean all the time with hot water. There is hardly any electricity in the entire place, but at night they light bonfires and candles all around.<br /><br />There were so many good musicians there! I met oud players, guitar players, other drummers, Beduin singers one amazing woman who sang Finnish folk songs and more.<br />The days were spend jamming, swimming, napping eating and talking to people. Every night we jammed around the big fire. My glow poi were a big hit – I got a lot of practice in!<br /><br />And the food was excellent. There is one dish that I highly recommend to vegetarians called Vegetable Matluba which is rice, tomatoes, peas, corgettes and eggplant all baked together and served in this huge pile with salad and tehina. But careful – it may take five hours from when you order it until when it arrives, so you have to plan in advance!<br /><br />We had to hurry back to Cairo for another television appearance – this time on the Nile Variety Show. I thought that we would all get to play but it turns out they didn’t have enough room on the set for everyone, so it was just me and Rami. But what an appearance we made – we came straight from the beach and a seven hour bus ride. My hair looked like birds may be living inside it, we were covered in sand and smelly (but I guess smell doesn’t matter for TV). I asked to go to the makeup department but there was no time. I’m afraid to see what I looked like.<br /><br />Tonight I have a meeting with Gwaret El Fan the company that makes my drums. They have this new design they want me to check out with copper on the bottom.<br /><br />Tomorrow is the last official rehearsal before the dress rehearsal!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-13026710718685234162008-03-01T22:52:00.006-05:002008-12-10T22:38:29.581-05:00<h2>Reunion with Said</h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRraENPuv7nS7QIcWyqoOKFq83h1Z_G6l7UuRiy_Yek4XcvlACR6lYXKHgP2HfxgAaEHAicHe2wMhkxmNgTTrx_ALjyFAc1q3KRrREodmfurou9UKWEtblKC2GuWaJBebnnMp/s1600-h/reunion.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRraENPuv7nS7QIcWyqoOKFq83h1Z_G6l7UuRiy_Yek4XcvlACR6lYXKHgP2HfxgAaEHAicHe2wMhkxmNgTTrx_ALjyFAc1q3KRrREodmfurou9UKWEtblKC2GuWaJBebnnMp/s400/reunion.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172988712606172546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Tonight we hung out with Said El Artist for the first time this year. He looked great and it was wonderful to see him. We brought him as a gift a Remo ocean drum and I think he really liked it. Within 5 minutes he figured out every possible sound you could get out of that thing!<br /><p>We both talked enthusiastically about doing a big show again next year, <span style="font-style: italic;">ein shalla</span>. We listened to his latest album which is great and then he took out a stack of incredible professional pictures taken of the rehearsals and the concert last year! My favorite was of me, Said and Osama blowing out the candles of a cake. I wish I had copies!<br /></p><h2>Midnight Poi Contest on the Streets of Cairo</h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYHVR7vcFwVc9QJ9XC64fBxFZGHlIVOJ-9SzKQvdaC71qkWbUo7wHWJyQuO9R_Mhv_PJX9nut17SaIZeey78r0ZUYNmEk6IE8DrVLbzZhaBBsb9WjsGkP8N4JEZfyX1DLpQzQ/s1600-h/poi.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYHVR7vcFwVc9QJ9XC64fBxFZGHlIVOJ-9SzKQvdaC71qkWbUo7wHWJyQuO9R_Mhv_PJX9nut17SaIZeey78r0ZUYNmEk6IE8DrVLbzZhaBBsb9WjsGkP8N4JEZfyX1DLpQzQ/s400/poi.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5172988974599177618" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We were walking around Cairo last night looking for a place where I could practice spinning my glow balls, and we turn down this ally and what do I see---- another fire spinner! I was like “what? I didn’t know that this was popular in Egypt” but when I took a closer look I saw that it was the boy from the <span style="font-style: italic;">ahawa</span> (shisha café), spinning the coals for the nargilas! It looks just like fire spinning! So I took out my poi and we stood face to face showing each other our moves.<br /><br /><h2>Mom Visit</h2> My mom came to visit! But she arrived with horrible flu and was in bed for a week! She had to extend her trip from five days to eleven days because she was so sick to travel! So we stayed home most of the time. I tried to bring Egypt to her while she was on the couch by having many people over such as my student for the free class, my Egyptian drumming troupe for rehearsals, my rababa teacher Ustaz Fikry el Ganawy who wanted to marry her and some of our dear Nubain friends who sat around the couch teaching her the Nubian language. <span style="font-style: italic;">El humdelila</span> towards the end of her trip she recovered and had a few nice days of being healthy in Cairo.<br /><br /><h2>Concert Dates</h2>I just found out I’m playing at the Alexandria Library on March 22nd!<br /><p>And the two big Cairo show dates are set! One is March 19th in Ewart Hall which was already booked last year. Then one week later on March 25th we are playing at the Sawy Cultural Center! I decided to have the Egyptian Messengers (my class) perform as an opening act and they are all excited to be playing in a real venue, not just at school.Last week I went over to Sawy and was very pleased to be able to read and fill out the contract all in Arabic!!<br /></p><h2>Rehearsal Update</h2>The second rehearsal was challenging. I decided to have this rehearsal at my house since my mom was still on the couch, feverous and semi- delirious. One of the guys was late and one had to leave early, so we were very rushed. And when everyone finally arrived for the rehearsal we realized that there was another funeral going on downstairs at the Nubian men’s club (there’s a funeral there like every other day) so we couldn’t play!<br /><p>One of the guys had an idea to call Makan, a gorgeous performance space around the corner that kind of looks like my living room – a beautiful room that’s empty except for carpets, pillows and drums. And the vibe there is so fine from all the Zaar trance ceremonies that happen there! This venue which usually has concerts booked every night happened to be totally free for our rehearsal! Yay!<br /><br />So we bundled up my mother and caravanned over to Makan where she lay down on some pillows while we rehearsed. This rehearsal was tough because I was showing them a new piece called Maracatu which is based on Brazillian style beats and there’s some tricky stuff. We worked on this one small section for like 45 minutes. So I was feeling frustrated at the end of the rehearsal.<br /><br />But then I worked with some of the guys individually, so the third rehearsal was great! We ran Maksum Madness, Maracatu and Newbian all through straight without stopping! And those are the three toughest pieces! I have Mustafa Abbas playing a bass drum with his foot, a simbati on his lap and a crash cymbal, kind of like what Fishky does!<br /><br /></p><h2>What to Wear?</h2>My guys here made it clear to me that they will wear neither a skirt with no shirt and makeup nor a loin cloth on stage, so that leaves me wondering, what should I have them wear for the shows? Any ideas?Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-69354425175657286562008-02-12T18:50:00.000-05:002008-12-10T22:38:29.709-05:00My Wonderful Troupe!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KlXpvyxKLWxuumQt5ir9Y8P798HZeQQcmIwfVvt8PgxwgCOBau8RKd987mnhIx-xLcbNEFFlE6lzkXHnJYeS_2LxwoOlgANM_CrXO6Cd9q7bH3Q5gB9o5d1IKkH9CDK3W5U0/s1600-h/raquy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KlXpvyxKLWxuumQt5ir9Y8P798HZeQQcmIwfVvt8PgxwgCOBau8RKd987mnhIx-xLcbNEFFlE6lzkXHnJYeS_2LxwoOlgANM_CrXO6Cd9q7bH3Q5gB9o5d1IKkH9CDK3W5U0/s400/raquy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5166245573075089730" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>I've found my guys here! Yay!</h2>They ROCK! This is going to be such an amazing show! I have one kick ass ric guy, Hane, Mustafa Abbas on dahulla, bass drum and cymbal, Medhat and Bahe on simbati and of course Rami on riq, dof and tabla. Today we met and I started showing them Newbian and Maracatu. It’s different stuff for them, but they all get it, and it sounded soooo great after just the first meeting!<br /><br />These guys are on time, they dress nice, they don’t ask to smoke cigarettes in the house, and best of all they don’t mind this pink lady telling them what to play! Oh, and did I mention, they are all hot?<br /><br />The first official rehearsal will be on Saturday. I can’t wait.<br /><br />I’m composing a new piece which I think is going to be the big hit of the concert. It’s called “Maksum Madness” and for this piece we will all play tabla in unison. The piece is crazy! I think I’ll save it till the end of the show.<br /><br /><h2>My Class</h2>We got upgraded to a bigger classroom because so many people signed up for my class. Now I’m up to 26 students! I think the word is spreading that they can get college credit for playing tabla!<br /><br />I’m still in the stage of trying to tame them. Put 26 Egyptians in a boomy room and give them all drums, and good luck trying to run a class! But it’s getting better every day – there is less tapping going on while I’m trying to talk, ect.<br /><br />I’ve started talking about chakras, channeling and meditation. I even started giving them one yoga posture a day. It does help your drumming to meditate and do yoga, so as far as I’m concerned it’s all related. I get some strange looks, but for the most part, they are interested.<br /><br /><h2>Strange goings on in the hood</h2>For the last couple days I’ve been seeing some strange things below my balcony.<br /><br />Yesterday I went downstairs and it looked like someone had spilled an entire bucket of red paint on the tiles in front of one of the stores.<br /><br />When I looked inside and saw a bunch of men chopping at some flesh on the floor inside, I understood. This was no paint, but BLOOD! It turns out that minutes before I came down the stairs, they had sacrificed some animal right there!<br /><br />An hour later when I returned there was barely a trace of the violent act.<br /><br />I woke up in the middle of the night last night barely able to breathe because of the strong smell of meat cooking (and it smelled fresh!) that penetrated my bedroom!<br /><br />Then today I could barely get out into the street because of piles of fruit in front of the building! And they were bringing in huge speakers! When night fell, I noticed that they had strung colorful lights all over the street. They started blasting music from the speakers, and they set up chairs across from the fruit stand. Families came and sat down to listen to the music and smoke shisha. It was a hafla, right there in the middle of the street in front of my building!<br /><br />I asked the baker what’s going on and he explained everything to me. All the above weirdness – the sacrifice, the lights, the music, the fruit – was in honor of a new fruit stand. This was the opening night, so the owners threw this party in order to get attention. And I imagine the sacrifice the night before was to bless the place.Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-23663889493077355782008-02-09T16:03:00.002-05:002008-12-10T22:38:30.142-05:00Helllo Again, You Dusty City!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenC79ceMSU5-nysZjSlOgUUWj9rgIAxd-pLnWcgRB1LA9oPHz3Dh7YfMX_gZWkVBm3O9uElZMNz_bKr_IuxKdcC7levz75sFrIzdxdDJceCBdQeYSRg6yEjhdJ9dm6p9YoHp2/s1600-h/raquy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjenC79ceMSU5-nysZjSlOgUUWj9rgIAxd-pLnWcgRB1LA9oPHz3Dh7YfMX_gZWkVBm3O9uElZMNz_bKr_IuxKdcC7levz75sFrIzdxdDJceCBdQeYSRg6yEjhdJ9dm6p9YoHp2/s320/raquy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165089208965216546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><h2><br /></h2><h2><br /></h2><h2><br /></h2><br /><br /><h2><br /></h2><br /><br /><h2>Apartment</h2></span>In a neighborhood near downtown Cairo is the massive tomb of Saad Zaghlool. Next to the tomb is a lively street with an outdoor market of vegetables, meat, clothes, textiles and household goods. On the market street in between a shawarma joint and a 24 hour bakery there are some stairs going up into an alley. The alley is lined with more vendors, and across from the fish stall there is a door. Inside the door and up the stairs above the Nubian men’s club there is an incredible newly renovated “super lux” three bedroom apartment. This apartment is home for the next two months.<br /><br />Sometimes when you rent a flat for a couple months in Cairo the apartment is full of dingy old furniture. What I love about this apartment is that it is freshly painted and relatively empty, with a minimal amount of tasteful furniture. Plus there are stained glass windows in every room! Small lights scattered about give the impression of candles. What a classy pad!<br /><br />And in case of boredom, all you have to do is look out of the window down to the market. About every half hour some screaming argument breaks out right below the balcony. There are certain characters who seem to be involved in every brawl.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXG33w4spiyTZep-Cb5xQQMcdfDRiTQ1OJW3hFyYbaykTTzIWwfLFvKBAj-HCHgpaupvHZJXwiwQeLNp58OEcV0U0R702TuLniSMr8bEMw2a5a3376q64t3pzflDoRm4UpGfa2/s1600-h/raquy2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXG33w4spiyTZep-Cb5xQQMcdfDRiTQ1OJW3hFyYbaykTTzIWwfLFvKBAj-HCHgpaupvHZJXwiwQeLNp58OEcV0U0R702TuLniSMr8bEMw2a5a3376q64t3pzflDoRm4UpGfa2/s320/raquy2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165089221850118450" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />I feel very happy, inspired and creative in this apartment. I stay up until 5am decorating fresh dumbek heads with colored markers at the dining room table, studying Arabic, composing and planning the shows. And I’ve turned one of the extra bedrooms into a meditation room!<br /><br />My walk to school every day is only ten minutes, and I get to pass my favorite juice guys. Also near my house is the beautiful music venue called Makan that houses the women’s zaar trance ceremony. I inquired today to see if I could have the free class there, and am waiting to hear back.<br /><br /><h2>My Class</h2>Once again I have a nice class. This year, there are many more girls than before, a group of six Egyptian girls who sit together in the back and giggle. Only a few of the students have dumbeks, but I’m hoping they will all have one by the end of the week. THANK GOD my class this year is at 1:30 and not 9:30 like last year. Even so, with jetlag and all, I can barely drag my butt out of bed in time.<br /><br /><h2>My Egypt Health Balance</h2>On the one hand I’m drinking fresh juices all day long, and eating almost all raw delicious fruits and veggis. On the other hand the air is dusty and polluted, I smoke all kinds of stuff here, and going jogging in Cairo would be ridiculous and counterproductive, so I figure it balances out.<br />We did bring pet scoby with us and chef Rami has begun the brewing process for the historic first batch of kambucha in Egypt.<br /><br />And for you raw foods people, how about this – sprouted foul! I’m serious! It’s good!<br /><br /><h2>Auditions for My Own Egyptian Troupe!</h2>I’m VERY excited because I’ve started assembling my new Egyptian drumming troupe!<br />As soon as I landed I started spreading the word that I’m looking for some young bright drummers and who can play stuff that’s not only Egyptian. Today I had two meetings from guys who were recommended to me, and they are both GREAT! The first guy, Mustafa Abbes, was wearing these fancy pointy shoes and picked up everything so fast! I had him play a challenging series of maksum variations and then I showed him my new samai with that part in 14 (3+4+4+3) and he got that as well! So this guy was on time to the meeting, he didn’t ask to smoke cigarettes in my apartment, he said he was on a diet, and he could play in 14. I was like, “Mustafa, are you sure you’re Egyptian?”<br /><br />The second guy Baha was also great and picked up everything. And he was sooooo enthusiastic and excited!<br /><br />Oh and did I mention, they are both hot? I even started imagining how I’m gonna dress them up for the show!<br /><br />Pretty sweet! After meeting those two, I have a feeling this is going to be a kick ass show and I’m really getting psyched!<br /><br />The first rehearsal will be at Mustafa’s studio next Tuesday.<br /><br /><h2>Jet Lag</h2>Jet lag is hilarious! I’m up every night being enormously productive at least until the morning prayer around 5am or so. Last night I ate an enormous meal at 2:30am. Today I woke up just in time for my afternoon class with a craving to smoke. I’ll probably adjust somewhat, but in the meantime I’m enjoying being on this crazy schedule!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-43586699457370862042007-03-28T09:06:00.000-04:002008-12-10T22:38:30.793-05:00Last Blog of Egypt Trip 2007<h2>Egypt Tour</h2>All the concerts went really well. We didn’t have one show that wasn’t packed and everyone was very excited! I posted footage from some of the shows on You Tube so you can check them out:<br /><br />Mageneen Part 1<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnFM4sYPN8w">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnFM4sYPN8w</a><br />Mageneen Part 2<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL6x7KQOt9M">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL6x7KQOt9M</a><br />And here's a clip from me and Fikry at the Cairo Jazz Club:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPK1x256dug">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPK1x256dug</a><br /><br />Here are some photos from them!<br /><h2>Alexandria</h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwXbiKuJVP-cw2WEHQilmCpftOU00HJ59DKhg6T_mflplW2hZiCZhqVTWJILsO9TIkwwOV0rebigLwgDX7i4aXw1lLePBijCNlPO9Jmdet7JAza1DnukYJTSxd0ivprsgSrq2/s1600-h/raquy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwXbiKuJVP-cw2WEHQilmCpftOU00HJ59DKhg6T_mflplW2hZiCZhqVTWJILsO9TIkwwOV0rebigLwgDX7i4aXw1lLePBijCNlPO9Jmdet7JAza1DnukYJTSxd0ivprsgSrq2/s320/raquy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046963250387130514" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Messengers backstage in Alex!</span><br /><br /><h2>Minia</h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEOjYa7Aw2vEC9y2wE_X_Wmi8UllKS3Z4Y-L-AV8fgVhZRCbQU1dK-OcwLm9hUilnUJZffVquBKstmDceS_DrwymsqfgoAHaKvDrDzZSIjdmR_Mc9QNPd2Aoc20oupdistw0gp/s1600-h/raquy2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEOjYa7Aw2vEC9y2wE_X_Wmi8UllKS3Z4Y-L-AV8fgVhZRCbQU1dK-OcwLm9hUilnUJZffVquBKstmDceS_DrwymsqfgoAHaKvDrDzZSIjdmR_Mc9QNPd2Aoc20oupdistw0gp/s320/raquy2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046963254682097826" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Drum and Dance Jam after the Concert!</span><br /><br /><br /><h2>University Student Recital</h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtn-tJxhd3WanMlzzfTzl9Yoi0c8qalSikaunNVZR2LlnutdxpyjJk9NBdi7YKcDSTncY-lQraZkTab9saqIWutikPJX5-hd99M9-FDTmSXxbF5PIZXDez_4M42ur68AslUkS/s1600-h/raquy3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidtn-tJxhd3WanMlzzfTzl9Yoi0c8qalSikaunNVZR2LlnutdxpyjJk9NBdi7YKcDSTncY-lQraZkTab9saqIWutikPJX5-hd99M9-FDTmSXxbF5PIZXDez_4M42ur68AslUkS/s320/raquy3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046963258977065138" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">They did GREAT!</span><br /><br /><h2>Television</h2>Altogether I’ve been on TV about 8 times so far this trip. Two TV stations showed up to the student show! One of them was the 8:00 news and we watched it the next day!<br /><br /><h2>Other Media</h2>So far there are three newspaper articles out about me and one beautifully done magazine article.<br /><br />Today I was sitting on the beach in Sinai (yes, again) and the waiter came up to me and showed me another article in the paper about some American girl in Cairo named Raquia Stevens, 28 years old, who plays tabla and rababa and teaches tabla at the University! The article said that after work she goes to play with her Egyptian band. I wonder why I haven’t met her yet we seem to be doing very similar things!<br /><br />Our show at the Cairo Jazz Club got rave reviews on Nile FM radio station!<br /><br />My University class is over! Teaching it was such an enjoyable experience, and a number of the students are truly inspired – they plan on forming a drumming band together!<br /><br />The other news is that I bought 37 beautiful raquy dumbeks – a bunch of 4 peg, several 6 peg and four simbati’s (big ones). Let’s just hope the shipment arrives soon!<br /><br />We had one last fling in the Sinai desert (this time five days) for INTENSE practicing. That’s all we did besides swim and eat. I’m actually sunburnt on my wrists from practicing in the sun so much! I came up with this gorgeous new roll that sounds like waves crashing!<br /><br />So now we have three days left in Cairo to wrap everything up and I’ll be back to New York this weekend! Soy Latte, here I come!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-20798739719589492042007-03-13T10:32:00.000-04:002008-12-10T22:38:31.872-05:00Concert in Ewert HallMy wish came true. We PACKED Ewert Hall – a THOUSAND SEAT HALL!<br />El Humdelila!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWebvCmtERy87MrVauOFJSb2lS67pSHbrIeLU2dCckK2dBPPRa_hlZE0HxUr9BcAXUHoHpbLdXbH6xaQYs6-hrk3rS_k7dSRVTQeaEXivEsYlK7Gaw6181FIr7mQ-gCXjR9Oco/s1600-h/raquy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWebvCmtERy87MrVauOFJSb2lS67pSHbrIeLU2dCckK2dBPPRa_hlZE0HxUr9BcAXUHoHpbLdXbH6xaQYs6-hrk3rS_k7dSRVTQeaEXivEsYlK7Gaw6181FIr7mQ-gCXjR9Oco/s320/raquy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5041395805787950770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The crowd was amazing. They were cheering the whole time. They adored Said, went crazy for Osama and were very excited about me and the Messengers. They also went wild for Pete’s beatboxing! Pete got to do a duet with Said playing on his mouth at the end of the show. It was amazing.<br /><br />After all the stress of organizing this concert (and believe me it was VERY stressful at times) I enjoyed myself so much on stage with Said! I was completely relaxed and appreciating the moment!<br /><br />The messengers did a great job. There was also a dumbek clown who did silly things with the dumbek, and an older man named Arabi Hannun who, it turns out, was Said’s first teacher! The sound was very powerful with thirty drummers.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3b25hQLm82PXC1IRQn0wfouRg_xSD5GqxycqoO7mkqgXaunEdhXq0nmLiycIjf7gpYLgjQmFiD15n4bNkEsMpbb6tU61EFZNoq6CpNnPyTIi-AZOHo1xPNZbV5HaPhq00P4e/s1600-h/raquy2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3b25hQLm82PXC1IRQn0wfouRg_xSD5GqxycqoO7mkqgXaunEdhXq0nmLiycIjf7gpYLgjQmFiD15n4bNkEsMpbb6tU61EFZNoq6CpNnPyTIi-AZOHo1xPNZbV5HaPhq00P4e/s320/raquy2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5041395805787950786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Said’s Troupe and Messengers waiting for Sound Check</span><br /><br />The funny thing is that Said and I both had really bad colds on the day of the show, but during the show we were both fine!<br /><br /><h2>Restoration in the Sinai Desert</h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrm1Yjgl-Gas-B7qs9rqOpmin_LsDVCfAhuqviCEt8HxOMuAIfDLWnMoWYpVxOSHbViZrDrRHFMjPyDK7BrFdGS65Ljlx1QD3zfzFxlxNYh37TXsG3LbQHY9RjgaeIb9d8dop/s1600-h/raquy3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixrm1Yjgl-Gas-B7qs9rqOpmin_LsDVCfAhuqviCEt8HxOMuAIfDLWnMoWYpVxOSHbViZrDrRHFMjPyDK7BrFdGS65Ljlx1QD3zfzFxlxNYh37TXsG3LbQHY9RjgaeIb9d8dop/s320/raquy3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5041395810082918098" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We all worked so hard for the concert that we all needed a vacation afterwards, so I rented a private bus for the morning after the concert and the Messengers plus a couple of my university students went to the Sinai Desert for four days! Ahhhhh! That was the closest thing to being in Paradise that I’ve experienced.<br /><br />We were on the Red Sea in a gorgeous hotel on the beach. The place was totally deserted so we took over the entire beach! We went snorkeling, swam, ate, drank, smoked and mostly PRACTICED! The Sinai desert is the most inspiring place to practice! We all played hours and hours every day!<br /><br />Every night after sunset the guys from the hotel would make us a bonfire and we would all drum until we went to sleep. It was very hard to leave there last night!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPYhODrrWHy8Mij3dqH1JeZupUGbBV4NTqvCROp1f2I4nI-rxoEMaipSYOKAT0X6y5qkHIgiOViIZK43hCXRFsGlJmAQt2Xid27-x9PL2gfdwNoeOxdHU8RweDgUrOloOssNg/s1600-h/raquy4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPYhODrrWHy8Mij3dqH1JeZupUGbBV4NTqvCROp1f2I4nI-rxoEMaipSYOKAT0X6y5qkHIgiOViIZK43hCXRFsGlJmAQt2Xid27-x9PL2gfdwNoeOxdHU8RweDgUrOloOssNg/s320/raquy4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5041395814377885410" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">From left to right – Ava, Veronique, Britney, Lex, Vlado, Beat List, Moi, Marjory, Rami, Dominic.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4MOsoz0bueFZ6xKZfeLHn-qsbtu4-w66E73evwJTgl2VMjhKnjsV7AFJdpt6-VNIoVofBcxwpJwOtW97MfNj8oxl4zFmYvZjPou-iXkAZ7p8RUFiU2lJEv2aatKfMAWRYak4/s1600-h/raquy5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4MOsoz0bueFZ6xKZfeLHn-qsbtu4-w66E73evwJTgl2VMjhKnjsV7AFJdpt6-VNIoVofBcxwpJwOtW97MfNj8oxl4zFmYvZjPou-iXkAZ7p8RUFiU2lJEv2aatKfMAWRYak4/s320/raquy5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5041395814377885426" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rami got the Red Sea all to himself!</span><br /><h2><br />Egypt Tour this week!</h2>Tonight we are playing at the Cairo Jazz Club. Wednesday we’re playing in Alexandria and Friday in El Minia! We’re traveling everywhere by train. Egyptian trains are really nice and comfortable.<br /><br /><h2>Egyptian Saturday Night Live!<br /></h2>Rami and I were on the Egyptian version of Saturday Night Live! It’s called “Leila Kebira”. Actually we had no idea what it was going to be. We were just told that we would be on Dubai Television.<br />We came straight from dress rehearsal with Said so I looked really shabby. I wasn’t dressed up at all.<br />We arrived at the station and the lady from the show looked at me and said, “You’re not going to wear THAT, are you”? so she sent me over to “Hair” and “Makeup”. After spending some time there, I looked like one of those announcers on MTV.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipq64T_VturLd10gagQTC6EwMwCAnCplg7IZK3iLxM0vLXFyxvZL18WdgAqPAmx3wMNY8DG01tf0RWTLCMwIqWUfEqOlJASewdLbB4CRmvS1pY-sF3zsti5lvts60aEIG3zW9S/s1600-h/raquy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipq64T_VturLd10gagQTC6EwMwCAnCplg7IZK3iLxM0vLXFyxvZL18WdgAqPAmx3wMNY8DG01tf0RWTLCMwIqWUfEqOlJASewdLbB4CRmvS1pY-sF3zsti5lvts60aEIG3zW9S/s320/raquy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046960664816818306" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Makeup – YUK!</span><br /><br />Then they said “you're on” and we were led into this room full of screaming young people. The set looked just like Saturday Night Live. There was a handsome young movie star type who was the host sitting at a desk and the back drop was the Dubai sky line and there was an awesome band there with a fantastic nai player.<br /><br />Whenever I’m on TV, there's an issue with how I sit, because I can’t sit on a normal chair and play! But when they are interviewing me it’s good if we are all on the same level, so everybody ends up sitting on the floor! It was hilarious when this fancy host came out behind his desk and joined us on the floor!<br /><br />So that was my third TV appearance so far this trip, and now Rami and I can’t walk down one block without people recognizing us! Even in the Sinai Desert people were recognizing me from TV!<br /><h2><br />Upcoming Tour!<br /></h2>Next on the agenda – Tour of Egypt with Raquy and the Messengers – Cairo, Alex and Minia! Stay tuned!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-377454090529945782007-03-07T23:55:00.000-05:002008-12-10T22:38:32.142-05:00March 4: Egypt Concert Tour!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOHDAuf6Qi7PiamvbHBtH2u9pmEqzgohXRQYXXW1lQ6xieBWonQJ7LSva-ZrTPHBxVp82Izb2JDBNZJ3DLZduVC5ePm8_OA7sj59sB1seC5-2bDh4FBx2SbIg4pN9GZUN29iG/s1600-h/raquyposter.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDOHDAuf6Qi7PiamvbHBtH2u9pmEqzgohXRQYXXW1lQ6xieBWonQJ7LSva-ZrTPHBxVp82Izb2JDBNZJ3DLZduVC5ePm8_OA7sj59sB1seC5-2bDh4FBx2SbIg4pN9GZUN29iG/s320/raquyposter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039415488107009218" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />So it looks like we will have at least five shows in Egypt!<br />Here’s the schedule so far:<br /><br />March 1 – March 6th rehearsals with Said<br />March 7th Concert with Saiid<br />March 8th 12th Go to Sinai Desert to practice for remainder shows<br />March 12th show at the Cairo Jazz Club<br />March 14th show in Alexandria<br />March 16th show in Minia<br />March 20th student recital at the university<br />End of March – possible show at festival near Aswan<br /><br /><h2>Rehearsals with Saiid</h2><br />Saiid’s troupe is bigger than ever! He has like 20 guys this time! You should hear it when they all come in for Nubian!<br /><br />There’s one piece that Saiid and Osama and I are playing the solo part. I must admit, playing that piece with the two of them and the whole troupe is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done!<br /><br />I was nervous about having the Messengers play for Saiid, because he is very picky! The messengers that are here so far are Marjorie, Veronique, Ava (from LA), Pete List and Dominic (from Canada). They worked so hard learning Yimkis Asess! We rented a falouka on the Nile for 2 hours and practiced a lot. Anyway, we played the piece for Said and he LOVED it! And get this – in the solo part, I’m having his whole troupe come in and hold Maksum for the Messengers!<br /><br />He’s making all the guys wear suits with pink ties. I’m glad about the ties because they match my outfit!<br /><br /><h2>Television Appearances</h2><br />So far I had an interview and played on Nile Satellite TV, and Rami and I made an appearance on Good Morning Egypt. Later that day, everywhere I went people recognized me! The interview was ALL in Arabic. I did ok with the first several questions, but when they got a little more philosophical, like, “what’s the difference between pop music and your music” and stuff like that, I started sounding like an idiot. When it got to the point that I started speaking Hebrew by mistake, they said, “you know what, why don’t you just play another song” so thank god we just played another piece and that was the end of it.<br /><br />Tomorrow some people from Dubai television are coming to the dress rehearsal to pick us up for another thing, and they also want to do an article about me in Egypt Today.<br /><br /><h2>My Mother in Egypt!</h2><br />My mother was cold in New York so she came to Egypt to visit me for the first time!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUa41CtGfksiZWjZUvZviRpHZL81muLk-WNEnBw43BZLJugjkkoBljVK8j_sfs9kmfwR7qyw8M8qUgUSeQl9GN4_dX_4ARx36KZZMo-AiPwRJMf7i9fHQbnF5C_CCLOq7KCcfZ/s1600-h/raquy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUa41CtGfksiZWjZUvZviRpHZL81muLk-WNEnBw43BZLJugjkkoBljVK8j_sfs9kmfwR7qyw8M8qUgUSeQl9GN4_dX_4ARx36KZZMo-AiPwRJMf7i9fHQbnF5C_CCLOq7KCcfZ/s320/raquy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5039413825954665650" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>My mother’s first rababa lesson</b><br /><br />She was only here for a week, but we managed to do lots of stuff.Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-62421056232947414392007-02-16T15:07:00.000-05:002008-12-10T22:38:32.384-05:00Feb 15: Dumbek Fever Sweeps CairoI thought people and New York had dumbek fever! But I’ve never seen such dumbek fever as I’m witnessing here in Cairo!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7-CHD4mEy0QKKovLSp15SyJ-SZKHl2f-6seB97ee5FoUck1oqE4urc1AetYQli3H73MPIIgRCltZA-DvG6CbAEe7tZ2XEN1p7mi_9qegceYmn2Y1poqjoMOSRUaqGL2kkfSut/s1600-h/raquy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7-CHD4mEy0QKKovLSp15SyJ-SZKHl2f-6seB97ee5FoUck1oqE4urc1AetYQli3H73MPIIgRCltZA-DvG6CbAEe7tZ2XEN1p7mi_9qegceYmn2Y1poqjoMOSRUaqGL2kkfSut/s320/raquy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032226915818971330" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Me and Natalia Perlaza Junior. Hey, who’s that on my drum head?</span><br /><br />My class at the University keeps getting bigger and bigger. Every day more people ask me if they can come sit in even though they’re not registered!<br /><br />My students adorable, and they are so into the dumbek! They stay after class to practice. I can’t get them to leave! One of my students came up to me after the class today and said, “Thanks so much, Ya Doktor! Most people come to University with books, but we get to come to University with tablas!”<br /><br />The free class is getting bigger too. The first week I had 2 people, the second week I had about 10 people and a bunch of people I don’t know called to ask about the class next week! Every week I need to find a bigger place to hold it! Because of this, it has the quality of some kind of clandestine meeting – I don’t reveal the location of the class until the last minute!<br /><br />I also have a private dumbek student and a kemenche student as well!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNP9fYJAhoEAA4WY9kENrXlzjxYIeGdZ22zZpHo3nD4BQ8ois_0X-GX-h7IlTIPyFUys31H-JUxJ-axg4RMu-iQZPXIYph3NQjHWSYfmSzlsCoCAQcypDdBcvUHJZaVIfkUlDv/s1600-h/raquy2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNP9fYJAhoEAA4WY9kENrXlzjxYIeGdZ22zZpHo3nD4BQ8ois_0X-GX-h7IlTIPyFUys31H-JUxJ-axg4RMu-iQZPXIYph3NQjHWSYfmSzlsCoCAQcypDdBcvUHJZaVIfkUlDv/s320/raquy2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5032226915818971346" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />2nd Free Class – Downtown Cairo at Nader’s apartment.</span><br /><br />I must say, I love the structure of having a class four mornings a weeks! I have a 20 minute walk through a lovely area of Cairo, past some beautiful mosques, parks, markets, etc. The people I meet on the way know me by now and they all say hi to me. Every day I stop at the juice place and have an orange juice on the way to school. Then I have a carrot juice at the same place on the way back. I get home with a carrot mustache on my face and Rami makes breakfast while I edit my book in the sun on the balcony. After breakfast I go back to bed.<br /><br />I had a meeting with some people from TV stations yesterday. They are planning to cover the show and do some interviews beforehand.<br /><br />Tonight we went to a concert of Bedouin music on an outdoor stage on the Nile. The percussion section was hilarious. It was a dumbek player, one guy playing a rusty gas tank and another guy who had an Israeli army artillery box with Hebrew on it and was playing on it with drum sticks! The gas tank sounded amazing! It has a great bass sound and the artillery box was almost like a riq!<br /><br />The three of them reminded me of me, Rami and Carmine at the Figaro!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10678468.post-28852409791098426952007-02-12T09:13:00.000-05:002008-12-10T22:38:33.388-05:00Feb 9th: Fish Offering, Concert Planning and New Dumbek Design!<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Meeting with Said!</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxjHfno7ZRcjME7fpUg4MUpnZyDC4-wQqTV017eAHeOJBfIs4CzMW6DkJ98vnv6huyW7pSTLw9kEep7NCUaWfaysOaO4p1TS06cV_Eiiml52_I53IZJKCCsRK5imGhyphenhyphenfd2Jua/s1600-h/raquy1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxjHfno7ZRcjME7fpUg4MUpnZyDC4-wQqTV017eAHeOJBfIs4CzMW6DkJ98vnv6huyW7pSTLw9kEep7NCUaWfaysOaO4p1TS06cV_Eiiml52_I53IZJKCCsRK5imGhyphenhyphenfd2Jua/s320/raquy1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030651800987672738" border="0" /></a><br />We went to Said’s yesterday and had a meeting about our concert!<br /><br />Rami, Dominique (the guy studying tabla from Canada) and I got to his place at midnight and he wasn’t there yet, so we got to practice really loud in his practice studio for a couple hours before he arrived.<br /><br />Saiid made up for being so late by bringing us about 30 medium sized grilled fish wrapped in paper. This is like at 2:00am! He put all 30 fish on top of the wrapping on the table and left the room. All for just the three of us! There was nothing else in the meal but the fish and some pita. Not even any silverware! It was a bit overwhelming, but they were delicious (I even tasted a little!).<br /><br />After the meal we went up to the “office” and talked about our plan for the show. I won’t give it away, but it’s going to be amazing.<br /><br />I told him about my students who are coming and he said that he needs to hear each of them play before he allows them to perform in the concert!<br /><br />He told us that Orbit TV has been rerunning footage from our last show again and again for the past two years, and that the show created a huge buzz!<br /><br />I haven’t hung out with Said in two years and the difference in my Arabic skills is noticeable! We had much better communication – I could understand almost everything he said, and I could express most of what I wanted to say. I still have lots of work to do with the language, but it was satisfying to see that all the studying is paying off and that I don’t feel like such an idiot as I did last time.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><br />New Raquy Dumbek by Gwaret Al Fan</span><br /><br />We met with Nasser from Gwaret al Fan and he’s all excited about a new idea for a Raquy Dumbek made out of wood and silver!<br /><br />I love the regular mother of pearl ones that he’s been making for me, but I’m open to new ideas, so he’s getting a couple ready for me to see and then I’ll decide if I like it or not. His idea is that if I like it, we will make the show in Cairo the “coming out” party for the new designer drum. He’s already made a bunch of the new Raquy drum heads – and they look amazing! Soon hundreds of people will be hitting my picture!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Yom Agaza ( day off) !</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8Cs7X_dEEYs412Hp_DzqeG-DYXHElsw2_3eQqAJIhsQliobmYt_JIwaf8v2vNZfWpQaNu9osi7X1h8tGumIuAwJ7OKOehmD6Hu-0pn675gP-NuVSrYhKUz21vb0YLC__IkHy/s1600-h/raquy2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd8Cs7X_dEEYs412Hp_DzqeG-DYXHElsw2_3eQqAJIhsQliobmYt_JIwaf8v2vNZfWpQaNu9osi7X1h8tGumIuAwJ7OKOehmD6Hu-0pn675gP-NuVSrYhKUz21vb0YLC__IkHy/s320/raquy2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5030651800987672754" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The view from my balcony!</span><br /><br />Today was my first day off from school! What a luxury! I slept till 2:00pm, went down to the outdoor ahawa on my street and read my book! Then we came back home and Rami made a delicious lunch of salad, cauliflower, green beans and rice! YUM! The veggis here are so delicious it’s hard to believe they’re real! All we have scheduled today is a lesson with Fikry my rababa teacher at night.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My University Class<br /><br /></span>My class is going great! It totally filled up! They called me from the department yesterday to ask if I would accept a 16th student even though the limit is fifteen students, so I said “Yalla – why not?” I got through the first week of school smoothly. The class is so fun – it goes by so fast everyday!<br /><br />I had everyone buy a copy of “Dumbek Fever” as the textbook for the class!<br /><br />The first quiz is gonna be the Time Exercise next week. Everyone will have to do the Time Exercise up to four and then go back down to one next Thursday, and I will grade them on it. Hee hee.<br /><br />It’s gonna take me a while to get used to them calling me “Ya Doktor”! Every time they call me that I look behind me to see who they’re talking to!<br /><br />Guess what? In the University in Egypt the janitor will make you coffee! Yesterday I was so tired when I got to class, so I got the janitor and said, “Mahmood – would you please make me a double coffee?” and he brought it to me in the class! Sweet!Scott Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02026671956504291790noreply@blogger.com1