Hope to find the world a better place tomorrow morning..
Just kidding, but if you really want to change your life, it’s as easy as deciding to be happy and getting rid of the stupid burdens you carry in your back, so let’s hope everyone finds the strength to tackle life better in 2007.

With that said here’s a Turkish tune called “Kadife” (actually Kadifeden Kesesi meaning Velvet Pouch) that’s bringing tears to my eyes ever since I first listened. It’s a traditional song, this time performed by Omar Faruk Tekbilek the legendary Turkish Sufi musician who lives in Sweden and Richard Hagopian the American born Armenian singer and oud player. Hagopian sings the song in Turkish, but from pronounciations in a few places you’d see that he talks like an Istanbul Armenian.

The chorus goes “Send me to Beyoglu, Send me to Istanbul” which brings to mind sad memories of the multicultural / multiethnic Ottoman capital of Istanbul being swept by Nationalistic waves, many Armenian and Greek families fleeing or forced to leave Istanbul to live in diasporas outside Turkey (then later in 1980s lots of Turkish artists as well) resulting in a cultural/artistic vacuum only to be filled with trash pop-culture from rural Turkey (It’s still that way, mind you). I’ve watched many TV documentaries where old Armenian or Greek citizens of Istanbul are interviewed and almost all of them begin to weep when remembering Beyoglu or Istanbul in general, the way Hagopian sings makes me ponder on these incidents and I feel sorry for all that has happened.

Whatever the ambitions of the militarists and the politicians, it’s always the common people that get hurt. This song goes out to all the people who really want to put ideological & political differences aside and live peacefully, unfortunately much of the world hasn’t evolved to that point yet!

See you in 2007.

Richard Hagopian & Omar Faruk Tekbilek – Kadife