Wednesday 5 October 2011

Bodrum, Bodrum, So Good They Named it Twice

Post Ramazan was carnival time in old Bodrum Town. Sadly we missed most of it because of an extended visit to Blighty and La Belle France to celebrate the half centuries of my two oldest friends. The inaugural festival adopted the slogan Bodrum on the Streets, and included a choice selection of international artists, musicians and street performers, all milling around the streets of central Bodrum and adding a splash of colour to the busy, buzzy town. Each evening, the cornucopia of culture culminated in an on-stage performance in Castle Square. Good-humoured, generous crowds were serenaded on sultry evenings by an eclectic mix of music – from classical to rock, jazz to hip hop. The artistic extravaganza stretched over five nights. We caught day four which began with a small parade of painted performers as they bopped and danced, sauntered and strutted their stuff along the promenade. Hey, it wasn’t Rio but it was fun nonetheless.

We followed the procession towards the main mosque and happened upon a small band of barefooted Turkish musicians, pouring out some great jazz. Locals and tourists alike, clapped along, whistled and applauded; ballooned and candy-flossed kids danced around the band, clearly having a ball.

We made our way to Castle Square and managed to squeeze onto a crowded table at a restaurant along the side of the sardine-packed piazza. We settled down to soak up the party spirit and to watch the free concert with a glass or three of red. The headline act was Oojami. We’d never heard of them and had no idea what to expect. The leader of the group, Necmi Cavli, is a native of Bodrum who now lives in London. They were amazing, melding traditional Turkish folk riffs, Irish fiddler’s reels, rock rhythms, rap and exotic belly dancing to create an extravagant whirling Dervish of sight and sound. It may sound like a dissonant mess to some but it was powerful and hugely hypnotic.

 

Regrettably, we weren’t around for the final day and a finale that featured a performance by three of Bodrum’s favourite sons, MFÖ. They brought down the house with their most famous song, Bodrum, Bodrum. Not heard it?

 

 

The Festival was a great success and rightly so. Plans are afoot to make the festival an annual fixture to promote a modern, progressive, cross-cultural and non-jingoistic image for the town. Şerefe to that.

More on Perking the Pansies, a comical narrative of expat life.

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