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Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul: Review

CROSSING THE BRIDGE: THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL
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"In order to understand a culture, you have to listen to the music it makes." So says Alexander Hacke, bassist for German industrial-music pioneers Einsterzende Neubauten and a major contributor to the soundtrack of director Fatih Akin's celebrated 2004 feature HEAD-ON. It was while working on Akin's film in Istanbul that Hacke fell in love with the sounds of Turkey's ancient capital, and he vowed to return one day and explore the city's rich and varied live-music scene. Akin agreed to follow along with a camera, and this ear- and eye-opening film is a wonderfully rich record of Hacke's search for the soul of Istanbul through music. The sounds Akin captures include free-form psychedelic freakouts (Baba Zula), art-school skronk (Replikas), the raw busking of various street musicians, sentimental favorites by Turkish pop kings (Orhan Gencebay) and queens (Sezen Aksu), and soul-rattling ballads sung, daringly, in the Kurdish language (the extraordinary Aynur). The resulting film is a little like the journey Wim Wenders and Ry Cooder take through the musical heart of Havana, Cuba, in BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (1999), only fresher. With the possible exception of Erkin Koray, the Turkish guitar god who's only recently become a name to drop in western hipster circles, few of these superb musicians will be familiar to western listeners. Aside from a day trip to the town of Kesan near the Greek border to sit in on a frenzied Romy kesan with the clarinetist Selim Sesler, Hacke and Akin remain within the Istanbul city limits, and throughout, one is reminded of the truth of the title of the film: As traditional eastern sounds mixing with strong western influences, Istanbul truly does serve as a cultural bridge. One wishes that Akin and his cinematographer, Herve Dieu, had the resources to shoot on film rather than video, and the absence of any on-screen identification for such unfamiliar musicians is frustrating. Nevertheless, you'll feel lucky for such a comprehensive introduction to Turkish music, and will no doubt be scrambling for a soundtrack album the moment yo leave a comment --Ken Fox
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