amtaha
Oud Junkie
Posts: 342
Registered: 1-30-2006
Location: Canada
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Mood: beginner's frustration ...
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Istanbul in June: Where to go?
I'm heading to Istanbul mid-june. I've read in the forum that Tünel Street should be on my visit list, but are there workshops or places that one
should go to see?
At the moment, I have no inclination to buy a turkish oud. (Still, something tells that I'm bound to buy one ..  )
Also, does any one know of musical events going on in that time?
... Appreciated.
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
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Location: California, USA
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Hi Amtaha,
The street with the music stores is called Galip Dede. It runs westward from Tünel Square, passing near the Galata Tower. I remember a very good CD
shop near the top of the street, just off Tünel Square. The uds in the shops on Galip Dede are of medium quality. The sazes are generally much
better.
By reputation, Cankaya Muzikevi is the best maker on Galip Dede St.:
Cankaya Muzikevi - http://www.cankayamuzikevi.com/
Galip Dede Cad. No: 33/a Tunel - ISTANBUL
Tel: +90 212 243 56 89 - Fax: +90 212 243 59 16
However, I suggest getting a recommendation from a Turkish oudist. The best luthiers are located elsewhere, I believe. I went to Istanbul in 1998
with no local connections. I have no luck on Galip Dede St. but found a beautiful used ud in a rug store (!).
Good luck,
John
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aytayfun
Oud Junkie
Posts: 201
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Location: Türkiye
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Hi Amtaha.
Istanbul is a good city for turkish ouds.
You must try to find the luthiers below.
Faruk Türünz.
Mustafa Copcuoglu
Cengiz Sarıkus
Ramazan (sory for the last name dont remember)
Have a good luck. İf you want more detail send me your mail.
Dr. Tayfun AYDIN
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Thanks John and Aytayfun.
I always wondered if there's a proper etiquette that one should follow when visiting an oud maker in his workshop. Although I know it would be quite
an experience watching some one at work, I can't shake the possibility that I might be viewed as pest ...
Thanks again.
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1470
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Location: California, USA
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Hi Amtaha,
You certainly won't be viewed as a "pest" if you can get a local "ustad" ("master") to take you there. Or you can try calling the workshop first.
Younger oud players like Yurdal Tokcan and Sinan Erdemsel seem to get good marks from foreigners for their willingness to share information and help
people find oud builders, teachers, etc. You probably can get their e-mails by surfing the web.
Good luck,
John
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ktb711
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Hello Amatha,
I live in Istanbul and bought an oud from Cankaya Muzik Evi, which Jonh Elrich has recommended, and would like to sell it for a lot less than I paid
for it. I bought the oud new, and have had it for less than a year. It is in mint condition and has a really nice warm sound.
I frequently go to Tunel looking for ouds, and can say that apart from Cankaya, there is very little there. If I were you, I would take aytayfun's
advice and check out the shops he suggests.
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Ktb711, Thanks for the offer. However, I'm not sure at the moment whether I'll actually buy a turkish oud. If I do change my mind, however, I will let
you know.
Thank you John for further response.
I'll try making visiting arrangement before I head to there. I'm getting quite excited about this trip.
Appreciated.
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Lampros
Oud Admirer
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Registered: 4-27-2006
Location: Athens
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Hello...
I joined this forum just yesterday and I'm happy for it, cause already I have found people and information very useful to my love for the ud.
I'm a violinist, but for the last two years I started playing the ud. Two instruments that let you dream you're on magic carpet while playing them!
Yesterday I posted a message named: "travel to Istanbul" in the buy & sell" forum.
Today I saw amtaha's message and I noticed we are actually having the same plan and questions.
Though, my travel to Istanbul is not touristic, but a music mission. I am going to buy an ud.
So far I've mostly been playing on a kind of a "souvenir and practicing" model ud. It is definetly time to move on a better construction and more
(allow me the word) "original" instrument.
One more thing I'd like to ask is about the price ranges someone can meet in those workshops suggested. (eg. Faruk, Dr. Sarikus, cankaya muzik evi
etc.)
My budget doesn't meet the highest quality of an ud. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle range.
Could anyone give a hint on the different price ranges?
Ofcource it is very important to me (like amtaha has pointed out I think), that I speak to people and makers who will realise my personal requirements
and budget for buying an ud.
Thanx in advance
Lampros
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eliot
Oud Junkie
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Location: The Gorges
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Prices, in Turkey, for new playable ouds range from the $300 something range (Haluk's lower-priced ouds, and some other makers in Unkapani, Istanbul)
to $2000 (or so) for a customized Mustafa. Ouds from some good makers will not be available to you if you're coming for a short time - they require
custom orders 3-6 months in advance and perhaps repeat visits. Others have inventory of completed ouds you can test and purchase.
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Lampros
Oud Admirer
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Thanx Eliot for your responce.
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Galip Dede Cad.
Last night in Istanbul, and a feeling of distress is abound as I only managed to squeeze two hours to pass by Galip Dede St. in Istanbul. The
conference and some obscure flu managed to eat most of my stay here, dismissing the plans I made to visit different workshops.
Anyhow, the visist to Galip Dede St. was quite an informative trip, to say the least. I had the chance to hold for the first time a turkish oud, a saz
and a cumbus. (Dare I say that for the life of me I can't understand the difference between the old and the new cumbus - is it just the
decorations?)
As the time was limited, I first visited the two shops mentioned in this forum - Cankaya Muzikevi and Tekinler Muzik Evi. I played some instruments in
both places, and there some interesting models.
The two photos below are from cankaya. One is a kind of a lute (lufta is it?), the other is a display of uds.
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Mood: beginner's frustration ...
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lute at Cankaya
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Uds at Cankaya
As can be told from the website, the ud prices at Cankaya range from around 250YTL to 2000YTL. The Uds give a clean, sound of a Turkish ud. As I was
not interested in buying an instrument, I had only questions of discovery. But I understood that shipping to the overseas is quite feasible.)
The gentleman at the shop, Nazim Bolukbas, was kind enough to go over the basic mechanism of their electric ud. Quite interesting and, having tried it
, seems like an interesting instrument. (I still wonder whether there has been trials for using uds or ouds, and either electric or with pickups, with
distortion - but that's a story for another forum)
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Cumbus at Tekinler
Now, Tekinler was the second shop that I stopped at. Ilyas Tekin, owner and maker, is an interesting man. He showed me hte different uds and sazs, and
allowed me to go into his workshop. A humble and interesting man, and seems to put a lot of heart into his instruments.
The uds in that shop were interesting. A certain ud of his had quite a character that I can't describe as I still have a hard time trying to put my
hand on it.
The cumbus was an interesting discovery for me. Those familiar with the instrument now that the instrument is played pretty much like a regular
turkish ud, but the sound is metallic. I recognized the sound from some turkish songs I came across a while back. I'd imagine that utilizing this
instrument (with an adaptation to the Arabic setting, if need be) would be an worthwhile experiment. (Unless it's been done already and I'm just an
ignorat buffoon.)
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Cumbus at Tekinler (backview)
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
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Uds and sazs at Tekinler
A repeated scence, of course, in the different stores that had the reverberating sense of grapes in a vineyard.
(3al seera ya shabab, nefsy jayya 3a 6anjaret dawali .. )
or
(bel monasba, 7addesh ye3mellena 7allet wara2 3anab .. )
or
(any one from stuffed grape leaves?)
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
Posts: 342
Registered: 1-30-2006
Location: Canada
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Mood: beginner's frustration ...
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Interesting-looking Ud.
In the same street, I entered a shop that I didn't catch the name. It had this interesting ud hanging. The man said it's around 13 years old. The ud
is all ebony except for the face. (I couldn't understand theTturkish name of the woodfor the face.) Mother of pearl is used in the beautification.
The sounds showed the age, but nothing spactacular.
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
Posts: 342
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Mood: beginner's frustration ...
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Interesting-looking Ud.
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
Posts: 342
Registered: 1-30-2006
Location: Canada
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Mood: beginner's frustration ...
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Interesting-looking Ud.
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
Posts: 342
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... final remarks
Sadly, these are all the photos that I was able to get. I apologize for the quality of the photographs and their variety. Admittingly, I'm not that
good at taking pictures.
I managed to quickly go in and out of two other shops, but the time was scarce.
John, I did find the CD store you mentioned. It's called Lale Plak and it's at the very beginning of the street. (Its street number is actually 1). It
has the strong collection of all sorts of music from around the world - and the prices are not bad at all. This should be a definite stop by from any
one going to Galip Dede St.
Another note to make is about a shop in an obscure place called Oktay Bey. I can't recall the address, but it's in Sirkeci, right in front of the main
UPS office. There, I saw an oud with the warmest sound that can be easily be said be bearing on sympathetic. Its face had some very minor bruizes, but
oh it played so beautifully. The owner, Oktay, who also offered to give me a lesson for 50YTL, said that he made the instrument and use it in
concerts. He said he would sell it for 600YTL.
In the end, I must say that I'm no expert in uds nor woods no people. These are my impressions, and the possibility stands that I could be wrong. If
so, I apologize in advance for any errors on my part ..
Cheers,
Hamid
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1470
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
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Hi Amtaha,
Thanks for posting all the photos and impressions. You have infected me with the Travel Bug! I will have to take my family to Istanbul!
Best,
John
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maran
Oud Junkie
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I am travelling to Istanbul soon also. Does anyone know the best way to find out about concerts for classical Turkish music in Istanbul? I would
also very much like to hear some of the Rom musicians like Selim Sesler and Kemani Cemal if they are performing regularly anywhere.
Thx.
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amtaha
Oud Junkie
Posts: 342
Registered: 1-30-2006
Location: Canada
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Mood: beginner's frustration ...
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On the windows of the shops in Gelip Dede there seemed to be a lot of posters about various musical activities ..
I'm almost sure that the owner or staff at the CD shop can help you out in this part ...
You might cross your fingers and hope that the concierge or receptionist of the hotel is resourceful enough ...
Regards,
Hamid
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mjamed
Oud Junkie
Posts: 131
Registered: 2-3-2006
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Many thanks to the writters of this thread
I just came from istanbul. I went to galip dede cad.
the street is full of musical instrument shops. Yet, not alot of good quality.
Honestly, I did check all the ouds over there because many of them were commercial. I found a good one at a shop and the maker name (who actually
work at the shop) is Omar.
The best shop i found over there is emin percussion. I found great tamborine (req/Def) but the price was 250 euros 
Now, I found something else in istanbul. Another street with musical instruments shops on both sides of the street. Actuallly it's very close from
galip dede. I think the name of the street is "Ataturk Bulvari Unlu Is Merkezi"
You need to take bus 61B to get to there.
hope this helps
mjamed
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