TAKSIM Collaboration Ongoing work for a collaboration between Murat, Azure Carter, Maria Damon, and myself: ============================================ Murat Nemet-Nejat Alan Sondheim created a text out of my memoir essay "Istanbul Noir." Here it is. At the end, I am appending the first three paragraphs of the end to give a hint of Alan's process. He can explain it better. ============================================ TAKSIM . . awake. in . . jet.lagged. my . . I FRIEND . . AM MEL . . sitting kenne.s . . in apartment . . my room . . friend on . . mel awake. . . kenne.s jet.lagged. . . apartment i . . room am . . on . . sitting . . horoz near . . .rooster. yksekkaldirim . . street .street . . near of . . yksekkaldirim steep . . .street steps. . . of it . . steep is . . steps. horoz . . it .rooster. . . is . . street . . pitch suddenly . . dark hear . . outside. the . . suddenly booming . . hear sound . . the azan . . booming prayer. . . sound soon. . . azan pitch . . prayer. dark . . soon. . . outside. . . sound. to . . as be . . if repeated . . echoes. from . . begins other . . to mosques. . . be my . . repeated seems . . from sound. . . other as . . mosques. if . . my echoes. . . seems . . begins . . oblivious keeps . . and sleeping . . keeps next . . sleeping room. . . next wondering . . room. this . . wondering startling . . THIS CHORAL . . STARTLING OBLIVION . . choral . . and . . outburst dark. . . out every . . dark. pre.dawn . . every morning. . . pre.dawn happens . . morning. any . . happens metropolis . . any world. . . metropolis outburst . . world. . . out . . islamic not. . . or know . . not. that . . know calls . . that happened . . calls nineteen.fifties . . happened when . . nineteen.fifties lived . . when islamic . . lived . . or . . istanbul they . . a loud . . teenager; seem . . but now . . were or. . . they an . . loud inhabitant. . . seem part . . now istanbul . . or. a . . an teenager; . . inhabitant. but . . part . . were . . rhythms his . . city. bed . . his now. . . BED WAS . . NOW. IMPERVIOUS . . was .unless . . impervious devout . . .unless moslem. . . devout rhythms . . moslem. . . city. . . sublimeness past . . walking galata . . past tower . . foot go . . galata mel.s . . tower house. . . go sealed . . mel.s sublimeness . . house. sound. . . sealed . . walking . . at time. . . time. tower . . tower forbidden. . . forbidden. untouchable . . untouchable place . . place childhood. . . childhood. tonight. . . tonight. its . . its . . at . . conical with . . top lights. . . lit sign . . with having . . lights. become . . sign important . . having tourist . . BECOME SPOT. . . IMPORTANT CONICAL . . tourist top . . spot. . . lit . . see sea . . multiple gulls . . sea crossing . . gulls recrossing . . crossing circular . . recrossing halo . . circular lights . . halo create . . lights see . . create . . multiple . . disappear not . . into only . . reappear bird . . not paradise . . only .for . . bird first . . paradise time . . .for perhaps . . first disappear . . time into . . perhaps . . reappear . . guts. paths . . realize birds. . . lies more . . migration than . . paths where . . birds. east . . more meets . . than west . . WHERE GUTS. . . east realize . . MEETS LIES . . west . . migration . . byzantium islam. . . fuses both . . islam. which . . both certainly . . which true. . . certainly central . . true. location. . . central point . . location. byzantium . . point . . fuses . . passage. been . . natural going . . movement for . . has millions . . been years. . . going the . . for silk . . millions road . . years. passage. . . the natural . . silk movement . . road . . has . . nearest nearest . . human human . . reflection. reflection. . . destroyed destroyed . . rebuilt. rebuilt. . . more more . . precisely. precisely. . . re.imagined. . . re.imagined. . . innumerable innumerable . . times. times. . . creating creating . . history history . . rich rich . . melancholy; melancholy; . . underlying underlying . . these . . these . . changes changes . . deep. deep. . . inescapable inescapable . . continuum. continuum. . . experienced experienced . . JUST JUST . . BELOW BELOW . . consciousness. . . consciousness. . . this healing . . dialectic unity . . between heart . . chaos city . . healing born . . unity grew . . heart up . . city etched . . born this . . grew dialectic . . up between . . etched . . chaos . . consciousness . . consciousness . . soul soul . . ever ever . . since. since. . . struggle struggle . . change change . . .experienced . . .experienced . . destruction . . destruction . . memory many . . and. ways. . . many holy . . ways. places. . . holy ghosts . . places. reclaiming . . ghosts their . . reclaiming REALITY . . THEIR MEMORY . . reality . . and. . . visibility . . experience visibility . . personal experience . . biography. personal . . mselles biography. . . .triangle. mselles . . apartment . . .triangle. . . blue front. . . china avenue . . tiles once . . front. called . . avenue tozkoparan . . once .the . . called blower . . tozkoparan dust. . . .THE BLUE . . BLOWER china . . dust. . . tiles . . thoroughfare third . . about mile. . . one officially . . third known . . mile. avenue . . officially refik . . known saydam . . avenue .a . . refik thoroughfare . . saydam about . . .a . . one . . mysterious gentleman. . . gentleman. joins . . joins two . . two better . . better spots. . . SPOTS. EXTREMITY. . . extremity. sisane. . . sisane. today . . today . . MYSTERIOUS . . BUSINESS which. . . roundabout intersection . . which. streetcar . . intersection taksim . . streetcar took . . taksim sharp . . took left . . SHARP DELVE . . left busy . . delve . . roundabout . . descending. DEEP . . DEEP canyon . . canyon bankalar . . bankalar caddesi . . caddesi banks. . . banks. PROCEED . . PROCEED karakoy. . . karakoy. cross . . cross . . DESCENDING. . . bridge. istanbul. . . eminon. at . . old defunct . . istanbul. nightclub . . at novotni . . defunct used . . nightclub be. . . novotni may . . USED bridge. . . be. eminon. . . may . . old . . take right . . short tepebasi . . TURN top . . right hill. . . tepebasi onward . . top tarlabasi. . . hill. BACK . . onward entry . . tarlabasi. take . . back short . . entry . . TURN . . istanbul.s red . . main light . . RED street. . . light abanoz . . street. .ebony. . . abanoz street. . . .ebony. beyoglu. . . street. free . . beyoglu. istanbul.s . . free . . main . . buildings opposite . . opposite side. . . side. overlooks . . overlooks most . . most beautiful . . BEAUTIFUL views . . views golden . . golden horn. . . HORN. . . buildings . . skyline as . . mosques kid. . . southern floor . . as apartment. . . kid. would . . floor stare . . apartment. what . . would it . . STARE skyline . . what mosques . . it . . southern . . feels site. . . LIKE particularly . . HOURS fatih . . site. mosque . . particularly stood . . fatih direct . . mosque line . . stood vision. . . direct feels . . line like . . VISION. . . HOURS . . will twenty . . another years . . twenty least. . . years 1972. . . least. before . . 1972. entered . . before district. . . entered visiting . . district. will . . visiting . . another . . turan house . . oflazoglu while . . house translating . . while play . . translating deli . . play ibrahim . . deli .ibrahim . . ibrahim mad. . . .ibrahim turan . . mad. . . oflazoglu . . fusion . . TRANSPARENT. FUSION . . hallucinatory transparency. . . nearness hallucinatory . . REACHABLE. nearness . . almost UNREACHABLE. . . INTER . . FLESH . . PLANETary TRUE . . SPACE STORY . . true mystery . . story needs . . mystery EXPLORED . . needs understand . . EXPLORED HOW . . understand .by . . how planetary . . .BY . . SPACE . . DENIZEN . . GHOSTS. . . . . ============================================ from ISTANBUL NOIR I. Friday, May 29, 2009, 4:30 A.M. Awake, jet-lagged, I am sitting in my friend Mel Kenne.s apartment room on Horoz (Rooster) Street near Yksekkaldirim (Street of Steep Steps). It is pitch dark outside. Suddenly I hear the booming sound of the azan prayer. Soon, the sound, as if echoes, begins to be repeated from other mosques. My friend Mel seems oblivious and keeps on sleeping in the next room. I am wondering if this startling choral outburst out of the pitch dark, repeated every pre-dawn morning, happens in any other metropolis in the world, Islamic or not. I know that the azan calls happened in the nineteen-fifties when I lived in Istanbul as a teenager; but were they as loud as they seem to be now or, as an inhabitant, and part of the rhythms of the city, as Mel in his bed is now, I was oblivious or impervious -unless a devout Moslem- to the startling sublimeness of this sound? Friday, May 29, 2009, 12:10 A.M. I am walking past the foot of the Galata Tower to go to Mel.s house. Sealed at the time, the tower was a forbidden, untouchable place of my childhood. Tonight, its conical top is lit with lights, a sign of its having become an important tourist spot. I see multiple sea gulls crossing and recrossing the circular halo the lights create as they disappear into and reappear from the dark. Not only a bird paradise -for the first time perhaps in my guts- I realize that Istanbul lies on the multiple migration paths of birds. More than the place where East meets West or Byzantium fuses with Islam, both of which certainly true, Istanbul is a central location, a point of passage, in a natural movement that has been going on for millions of years, of which The Silk Road is the nearest human reflection. Istanbul has been destroyed and rebuilt, more precisely, re-imagined, innumerable times, creating its history of rich melancholy; but underlying these changes lies a deep, inescapable continuum, experienced just below consciousness. This dialectic between chaos and healing unity is at the heart of the city I was born and grew up in and which has etched my consciousness and soul ever since. The struggle between change -experienced as destruction of memory and, in many ways, holy places- and ghosts reclaiming their reality and visibility is my experience of Istanbul as personal biography. II. Traffic Patterns I was born and grew up in Mselles (Triangle) Apartment with blue China tiles on its front, on the avenue once called Tozkoparan (The Blower of Dust). This thoroughfare of about one third of a mile, officially known as the Avenue of Refik Saydam -a mysterious gentleman- joins two better know spots, at one extremity, Sisane, today a busy roundabout which, at one time, was the intersection where the streetcar from Taksim took a sharp left to delve into the descending, deep canyon of Bankalar Caddesi (The Avenue of Banks) to proceed to Karakoy, cross the Galata Bridge, to Eminon, on to the old Istanbul. At the other extremity, where the now defunct nightclub Novotni used to be, Tozkoparan may take a short and sharp turn right up to Tepebasi (The Top of the Hill) or proceed onward to Tarlabasi, at my time the back entry to Istanbul.s main red light street, Abanoz (Ebony) Street, in Beyoglu. ........ Like Follow Post 29 minutes ago Seen by 2 _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
