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Corridor sounds at ITU

İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi,
Taşkışla, Saturday afternoon.

I have spent the last three Saturday afternoons at the ITÜ Taşkısla campus. This is where the architecture department is, apparently, as there are some sketches and models on display on the corridor. I’m waiting my friend to finish her choir practise. Walking in the corridor, sitting at the benches, drinking tea at the campus cafe, or strolling at the court yard catching up with the cats.

Inside the stone, concrete and marble give the hall corridor an echoing charachter, the cool whites and greys add to the place an air of calmness. The corridors are almost empty on week-ends. This Saturday the weather was sunny and beautiful so I decided to wear my high heel shoes for the first time after winter (the symbol of summer for me). Listen to the sounds me walking around with my ‘clip-clops’ and the choir practising türküs at the lecture hall on the right:

Here’s some ambiance from the courtyard. A lonely construction worker.

Teachers’ room

Kuzguncuk primary school,
Wednesday morning.

I had an opportunity to talk to the students at Kuzguncuk primary school about the sounds they like and dislike. I visited three classes, thanks to their wonderful teacher, Aslı hoca. She has the most adorable students. We had a lot of fun together talking about different kind of car horns, sounds of water and differences between washing machine and hoover sounds.

The teachers’ room had a beautiful view over the Bosphorus. The school itself is an old yalı with high ornate cassette ceilings made of painted leather. I spent the recesses at the room, drinking coffee while a teacher next to me read a newspaper and another one read his email on the shared computer. On the other room there was a man talking on the telephone, at the hall there was a woman’s voice, I heard a word here another there. But on the third floor there was a true riot going on. The building, old and wooden, creaked and clattered under the feet of the upstairs students as if it was alive. It was presumably a math class (poor teacher… one sympathizes). Listen to the ambiance:

Traffic lights

Kabataş, Saturday afternoon.

There was a small man inside the traffic light post. He was looking after us pedestrians very keenly.

‘Lütfen bekleyin’ (Please wait)

‘Şimdi geçebilirsiniz’ (Now you may cross [the road])

‘Altı, beş, dört, üç, iki, bir’ (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

‘bip – bip – bip – bip’ (him talking to the cars that answered)

Listen to his directions:

All we hear is… radio gaga

Kadıköy, August 2009, afternoon at an apartment flat.

Last August I was feeling a bit bored one day. It was raining and there wasn’t really that much to do. I thought that maybe there would be something on the radio and I was right. Everything was on the radio…

Here’s a six minute potpourri recording of all the FM radio channels audible at Kadıköy rolled slowly from the lowest kHz to the highest:

And here’s a list of words that caught my attention while listening:

— Konuşmasam taş olsam genede oynarmısın benimle (Bülent Ortaçgil sings)
— İstanbul kiyilarinda, sen gittim ben gidemedim, sen unuttu (song)
— Operatörleri özel sifreleri, onlara hiç gecmicez, şarkilarını
— bazi dini — sormuştum ve ikide kahkaha
— send me a card oh friends are (song) — ayakkabiniz tertemiz — tat makarna (commercial)
— sulama sistemlerini — when ever you’re ready (song) — gercek
— aşık olur — işte bir — dialog ha ha — başıma neler geldi
— razıyım yapayanlız — in the midnight hour — öyle sevdim gidiyorum — güzel bir şarki radyoda
— istanbul fm (radio jingle) — yani — babasinin rizasina — allahda razi olur

If your attention grasps anything more from it please write a comment.

Emirgan mosque

Emirgan shore, midday.

I was going to the Tulip festival and just got out of the ferry, when I heared the öğle (midday) ezan from the Emirgan mosque. The mosque itself is a beautiful and delicate wooden building painted in white, very much in tune with the other old buildings on the shore. The traffic on the shore had a lingering rhythm, too.

Listen to the recording:

At 0’19 of the track there is a sudden sound of a concrete element crashing down at a restoration site next to the mosque (nothing severe happened, though, fortunately) and at 1’00 you can hear the muezzin turn off the minaret speaker. Tship!

PS. Also, some very nice ezan recordings from different parts of the world (Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey) and the five different makams to be listened to here (comparing the different styles made easy).

Trabzonspor supporters

İstiklal caddesi, afternoon.

Football. No way you can live in Istanbul and not stumble on it. You can try to ignore it but eventually you will hear about it. If not via television, radio or eavesdropping, then via the supporter groups that take the streets before the game.

Last week there was a game between Galatasaray (I guess) and Trabzonspor. The visiting team supporters, probably a few hundred of them, wearing blue and burgundy, walked through Beyoğlu chanting and clapping their hands. People stopped and watched them go by, smiles on their faces, taking pictures. Some of the fans have probably come a long way from the Black sea coast city Trabzon (we are talking hours and hours on the bus). Just to see their team play, and of course: to make some good supporting noise!

Listen to the fans pass by:

Constantinople Ecumenical Patriarcate

Fener, Friday afternoon

Last March, a few weeks before Easter, I went to hear a service at the Greek Orthodox Patriarcate, located at Fener. The walled complex has seen a lot of history, some of it very violent since the 17th century. To get to the Church of Saint George you must go through metal detectors that protect the clergy.

The congregation present that day was formed of elderly people, some local, some from nearby, some who came as a tour group from abroad (Germans is my guess). We all waited in silence for the clergy to enter, whispering, sitting at the creaking wooden benches. After the clercy entered, dressed in their black cloacks, the congregation stood up and the service could begin. The service consisted of a chanting dialogue between the clergy and the Psaltis Cantor (representing the people). Nothing was read in a normal speaking voice.

Listen to the very beginning of the service:

Tulips and a skipping rope

Tulip festival, Emirgan park,
afternoon.

There’s no sense in describing the Istanbul Tulip Festival to someone who hasn’t seen it. All I can say is that there are fragrant tulips everywhere, a lot of them. Some things you just have to see for yourself. (And the same goes without saying to sounds as well, to hear them with your own ears.)

The soundscape in the park however was quite different from the visual intake. Colourful, yes, but not as serene. The park is very popular this time of the year. Among the gloriuos and lush tulips there were teenaged girls skipping rope. Bir-kii-üç, haydi! “One, two, three! Come on!” The rope hitting the pavement is accompanied by giggles and laughter. On the background there are whistles of the park guards and families having a picnic, strolling around. One small boy is enjoying the thick, cool grass by rolling over it and patting it with his hands. He stops when he sees me, looking a bit shy, realizing he’s among others in a public park.

Kittens!

at home, Thursday afternoon

I was washing dishes today when I heard something unusual from outside the window. Kittens! Squealing kittens, tiny tiny meaows. Some neighbours were present, wondering what should be done with them. The mother cat was following the situation very closed from a few meters. (I hope they didn’t give the kitties any harsh verdicts. I am a cat person, you see. I’d prefer them to be left alone.)

This was no miracle as the cats in our yard have been fighting and mating fiercly for weeks day and night waking up the whole neighbourhood. There is something peculiarly funny about the sounds of some cats having a fight in our yard. Maybe it’s the sudden change in the dynamics. The nonintentional comedy. Some of them just have to most hilarious voices, accents or what ever you could call them.

I didn’t have the chance to take a close-up picture of the kitties so here’s a picture roughly pointing to their direction. With a tulip (it’s the Tulip Festival time, more on that later).

At the hairdressers – kuaför

S & B, Çengelköy,
Thursday, midday

Since I was a little girl I had realized that going to the hairdressers was something essential to the women living in Istanbul. In Finland we were used to cutting our hair by ourselves (I cut my friends’ hair, they cut mine ect), not to talk about the manicures and pedicures (what luxury!). So at the beginning of every summer my mother took me to the kuaför in Selimiye and I could choose the style I wanted. For me it was more of a chance to experiment something that couldn’t be done at home so the results were various. Very entertaining.

A few days ago I went to cut my hair, and recognised the familiar sounds and scents. The keynote sound of hairdressers, the fön, huffed most of the time accompanied by the radio and small chatter of ladies having their nails done:

The sound of scissors clipping my hair was something that maked me feel just a bit pampered. And while modeling my hair, Metin bey flattered me, admiring the looks of my face (as a good kuaför should, of course). The leasurely afternoon was well spent. Listen to the clip: