An overwhelming success, Anadolu’nun kayip sarkilari, ‘Lost songs of Anatolia’, premiered last night at the Istanbul Film Festival. A marvelous and touching journey through Anatolia, based on old traditional songs from different cultures with roots on this soil. Village women singing from their hearts the songs they learned from their ancestors, little girls and boys listening and picking the songs up, groups of men playing music in the field or at village homes, dancing, working, making jokes. Very intense, very real. And as the icing on the cake, there was a concert at Babylon pop stage. The film and concert reminded me of Ebru, a beautiful photography book about cultural diversity in Turkey that I bought recently. It was published in 2006 and is still traveling through the country as an exhibition. It seems the interest and respect for this cultural diversity is growing, that there is more and more space for the notion that cultural diversity doesn’t make the country weaker, but richer and stronger.
In Turkey, Anadolu’nun Kayip Sarklari will be in the cinemas, but it’s not yet clear when. If it comes your way anywhere in the world, I recommend you go and experience it.
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