Hidden Spaces of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar

Alleyway

İstanbul's Kapalı Çarşı, or "The Grand Bazaar," has taken on many faces with each time that I return to Turkey. Recently, I returned with camera in hand to explore some of its hidden pockets, backstage infrastructure, and peaceful courtyards.

 Like many newcomers to Istanbul, I initially found the Grand Bazaar to be an exciting and vibrant space with exotic wares and opportunities to bargain over a glass of tea. Ottoman antiquities, carpets, lamps, spices, jewelry, and more are on display, seemingly unchanged since the bazaar opened in 1455.

Kapılı Çarşı's Main Streets

 A few years later, I came to understand the bazaar differently. It started to appear not as an authentic shopping experience, but as a kind of interactive renaissance-faire performance for tourists.  Indian jewelry is rebranded as Turkish. Imitations of old items are passed as one-of-a-kind antiques.  Apparently unique Ottoman detritus mysteriously reappears all over the city.  Visitors arrive with certain expectations of Turkey, and, in turn, the shopkeepers perform what is expected of them. They are character actors in an oriental marketplace that crowds seek in the hopes of experiencing something exotic. This is not where locals come for a deal. 

Küçük Çebci Han

Recently, however, I have taken interest in the Kapalı Çarşı once more. Exploring the surrounding areas and the bazaar's hidden spaces has given me a huge appreciation for the backstage infrastructure that keeps the bazaar alive. In the center of this infrastructure are the "hans," hidden courtyards which once served as inns during the spice trade but now serve as quiet pockets of recess from the chaotic bustle of the bazaar's main streets.

"Cezve" for Turkish Coffee

The hans are home to storage depots, workshops, and restaurants that cater to shopkeepers. They also contain studios that specialize in refurbishing items in preparation for sale. Stores specialize in labels for clothing, empty boxes for jewelry, mannequin parts, and so on.  Intercom systems allow for the quick delivery of steaming hot tea to the shops, a key technique for facilitating sales. A whole secondary layer of trade exists here: a bazaar within a bazaar that functions to support the Kapalı Çarşı behind the scenes.

Murat (Polisher). Çukur Han. 

Tea Intercom at the Bodrum Han Çayocağı

Ahmet. Owner of Bodrum Han Çayocağı

Polisher. Astarcı Han.

High above the Kapalı Çarşı

Seating Raid

Today I read a good description of what is going on in Beyoğlu on the great blog Istanbul Eats. The municipality has confiscated all street-side seating without warning, something that surprised me upon returning from my travels. As I was sitting having a tea at my street's "Börekci" the Zabita, a kind of civil police, came in a big parade down the street with a few journalists trailing them to document the event. They looked at me and gruffly ordered me to stand up and then violently toppled the table where I had been sitting and threw it in the back of a truck in a manner more reminiscent of a dramatic child pornography warehouse raid than that subtable for a café. I was left, startled, clutching my tea standing on the street as confused as everyone else around me.

Later in the week I saw cafe owners clinging to the back of Zabita trucks refusing to abandon their tables. Istanbul's cafe culture is entirely outdoor and the raid has made a huge, and negative, impact on the city. I've heard several rumors about the reasoning behind it. The first is a secret religious agenda to block drinking from the streets during Ramadan. The second is that the prime minister was recently in Istanbul and made an offhand comment about a crowded street and that the municipality is subsequently reacting.

It's important to realize that although this is really hurting bar owners, like Bade who is mentioned in the article, it has a broader impact. There is a whole economy around Beyoğlu's sidewalk bars and many people depend on it for their income by selling snacks, souvenirs, napkins, or playing music for people drinking. 

Read the Istanbul Eats article about it here.

Busking in Istanbul

Recently a band I'm in, Ivır Zıvır has shifted from playing in bars to performing on the street. Playing on İstanbul's famous "İstiklal Caddesi" pedestrian street is exhilarating: we play to an estimated audience of 4 million people who pass through the street daily. Playing there has given me a new sense of the street and especially an appreciation for the community of people whose professional livelihoods depend on it whether they be musicians, fortune tellers, beggars, street-kids, caricature  artists, and so on. One thing that I'm struck  by is the number of self-identified "photographers" who take our photo seemingly thinking they're invisible to us despite their less-than-subtle presence. While so many people photograph us without consent or any monetary donation (which I personally don't particularly mind), Istanbul is a surprisingly good city to busk in and if the weather is right we make more on the streets than we did in bars. Here's are 2 videos. . .





Many thanks to James Burliegh Morton for the videos.

Ciguli!

Jeremy and Ciguli, both looking a bit crazy...

I few nights ago I went to a Ciguli concert... Ciguli, who was visiting from Germany, is  a Bulgarian Turkish-speaking Rom accordionist\singer who made it big in Turkey in the 90's with his one-hit wonder "Binnaz." I've translated the lyrics below along with a video I took of him playing the song in the concert (he played it 2 or 3 times much to the delight of the audience). Because of his rather maniacal personality, and the comic content of his songs, a lot of Turkish people don't take him very seriously. This being said, I actually think he is a remarkably talented musician, a versatile accordionist, and actually has an impressive control over his voice. After the jump is a second video from the movie "Nerdesin Firuze" in which Ciguli covers a Turkish pop song in a Roman style... his version is better than the original.

Binnaz, tonight at least,
were you furious, crazy or surprised?
Binnaz, Binnaz...

[Chorus]
Binnaz the musicians mate
Binnaz the worker's date
Binnaz the gambler's mate

Binnaz, Binnaz...

Binnaz, they saw you're a brave woman
They saw, they saw
Everyone loved you!

Hıdırellez

Yesterday was Hıdırellez, a holiday celebrated throughout the Balkans and Turkish speaking places known by several different names according to nationality or religion. You may also know it as Đurđevdan or Ederlezi as the famous song goes. In İstanbul, it is pretty much known a Roma holiday that takes place in their neighborhoods. In recent years it has caught on a little and it was moved into a large park only to be "canceled" this year due to concerns of over-crowding. Luckily this cancelation  brought the festivities back to the streets as they had always been in the past, eliminated the attempt of institutionalizing the holiday as a commercial festival, and led to one hell of a party! The added benefit was that it wasn't overcrowded because there were only locals and people crazy enough to ignore the announcement of its cancelation (like me).

The party started in the back streets of Ahırkapı with a handful of local Zurna, Davul, and Clarinet players competing for the attention of the dancing public, taking tips. Meanwhile other people sold beer, sequined fedoras, and snacks to fuel the party in a very Turkish synthesis between New Years Eve in New York City, Carnivale, and a wedding.

Eventually after some time and without any warning or leadership, the party  transformed into an impromptu parade of sorts... The crowd danced from the streets of Ahırkapı, just a stones throw behind the touristic capital of Istanbul, Sultanahmet, to the shores of the Marmara. On the way we passed several budget hotels with confused tourists peering out their windows hopefully with the impression that every night in Istanbul is like this. Some appeared concerned, while a handful joined the party.

While the festivities resembled a mob of sorts, it was peaceful and celebratory and so when a power-hungry police man tried to silence the musicians everyone began to sing to him until he went away.

Photos from Karaköy & Santral

Silahtarağa Power Station. Santral, İstanbul.

Ahmet (Kapıcı). Maçka, İstanbul

İstiklal Cd. Beyoğlu, Turkey.

Chain Seller. Karaköy, İstanbul.

Dolmuş Driver. İstanbul, Turkey.

Silahtarağa Power Station. Santral, İstanbul. 

Kaptan. Karaköy, İstanbul.

Hardware Sller. Karaköy, İstanbul.

Tarlabaşı Market. İstanbul.

Turbine. Silahtarağa Power Station. Santral, İstanbul. 

Galatasaray, İstanbul.

Assorted Panoramas

Sanatkarlar Parkı, Cihangir, İstanbul

View of Galata from my apartment. İstanbul.

Boka Kotorska. Montenegro

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul. 

Lake Ohrid, Macedonia. 

Tarlabaşı Market & Other Photos

Tarlabaşı Market as dusk begins

On Sunday I ventured over to the Tarlabaşı Market, a mere 15 minute walk from my house. A blog focusing on the neighborhood can be found here, but in short Tarlabaşı is a mixed minority neighborhood that is under an urgent risk of government-influenced gentrification. I certainly plan on returning both to do my grocery shopping and to take more photos and meet more people.  The market itself, which is huge, offers a good cross-section of the neighborhood which is the most diverse place I've ever been in Turkey: a feature which makes me feel at home, approaching the diversity that I grew up with every day taking the subway in Brooklyn, NY. There's a surround-sound mix of Turkish and Kurdish conversation, bargaining, and hawking, accompanied by a wealth of African languages, Arabic, and the occasional smattering of English or German. The sellers all try to outdo each-other by calling out their wares, making animal noises, singing songs, or even breaking into a collective soccer hooligan-like hooting. Transexuals (of which Tarlabaşı has many) are buying henna and clothing alongside older conservative women. Many people were eager to engage in a conversation with me and have their photos taken, something that with a few exceptions I don't do without a conversation these days.

Most of the following photos are from the market, with a few exceptions...

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Octopus. Eyüp, İstanbul.

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul  

Üsküdar, İstanbul

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Üsküdar Ferry, İstanbul. 

Kosovar Man. Üsküdar, İstanbul. 

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Tarlabaşı Market, İstanbul 

Taksim Photos

Dönerci. Taksim, İstanbul. 

Garaj. TomTom İstanbul

Kestaneci. Taksim, İstanbul. 

Santa Bey. Taksim, İstanbul

Simitci. Taksim, İstanbul.