The Emigrant by Dougie Maclean

Another musical interlude. Wrapped in the shades of night. Dougie MacLean’s The Emigrant. Played on one of my neys from Turkey.

Leaving Lochboisdale

I’ve been experimenting with how well I can play a wee Scottish piece on the Turkish ney.

Yeniliğe Doğru

I find as the years have passed that time teases me to tremble with needs, with desires, with fears, seldom allowing me to treasure a moment of true peace. But through a blessed heart, through the love of another, I have at least discovered how joyous such peace can be. It was in gratitude for this blessed gift of peace that I wished to share these videos and images I captured near Çeşme in Turkey, accompanied by the beautiful and hopeful sounds led by one of the greatest voices in Turkish music, Sezen Aksu.

It occurs to me that a translation might help, although I could never do justice to the verses of the master Mevlana:

Her gün bir yerden göçmek ne iyi
How good it is to move from a place everyday

Bulanmadan donmadan akmak ne hoş
How fine it is to flow unsullied, unfrozen

Her gün bir yere konmak ne güzel
How beautiful it is to come to rest somewhere everyday

Bulanmadan donmadan akmak ne hoş
How fine it is to flow unsullied, unfrozen

Dünle beraber
Along with yesterday

Gitti cancağızım
my love has gone

Şimdi yeni bir şeyler
Now new things

Söylemek lazım
must be said

Ne kadar söz varsa
However many words may be

Düne ait
they belong to yesterday

Şimdi yeni bir şeyler
Now new things

Söylemek lazım
must be said

Playing with the Wind

Not been easy, finding the right place to play my ney since coming back here to Turkey (especially here in Çeşme, such a windy location). Which is funny, since this is the homeland of my ney. In which case, what possessed me to play the ney in something like a Celtic lament? Ah, the mysteries of travelling. It’s not so much that you never know what you’ll find when you get there. Rather, you never quite know what you’ll find in YOU once you get there. That’s one of the things I love most about travelling. How it teaches you about yourself.

my love for thee

There is a lovely tradition among Celtic and Scottish folk singers of a cappella love songs and ballads. I’ve never written a song before, let alone recorded myself singing one. But having experienced such profound love, I find my spirit striving for new ways of expressing what that feeling is like. And sometimes my poetry is not enough, does not … sing as I wish it to.

The style of this song I’ve adapted from the sweet “My Faithful Fond One.” My recording I have uploaded here: AUDIO And here are the words. I only hope this may touch her heart. As she has touched mine.

on one fine morn she’s greetin’
a man she’d fell be meetin’
though time itself be fleetin’
‘tis time enough for thee

feel fair these winds a blowin’
o’er hill and vale a flowin’
so fine these flowers a glowin’
full with my love for thee

I see thy arms unfoldin’
thy grace of life so golden
pray kiss my lips, embolden
my heart with love for thee

though winter clouds are loomin’
bare not your heart a gloomin’
our path with petals bloomin’
ripe with my love for thee

unfair this world be seemin’
but faithful hearts are gleamin’
with joy and hope is teamin’
this home of love for thee

Salt Lake City 05 Jun 2012

Flowers along the shore of Ildırı, Turkey (05 Jul 2010)

Fulfillment

May it be said that of all the lessons I have learned as the years have passed, one of the most important is surely this: that while I value the time I have alone to spend as I wish – to write, to read, to enjoy the peace of my solitude – there is a far greater time. A time that has been a blessing to me. The time that I spend with those I love – in laughter and in song, in intense discussion and in childish play, in the eager exchange of ideas and in the simple sharing of a meal. To my friends, my family, and to you, Babe – I thank you all from the depths of my soul for reminding me how wonderful life can be.

Salt Lake City 27 May 2012

Jamming with Reha in Salt Lake City (27 May 2012)

Ney: Empty Nest

I’ve been watching the nest of sparrows outside the kitchen window, observing how quickly they grow. They were gone this morning. Which made me think of my daughter, and how quickly she is growing. How quickly time is passing. So I started playing. The beginning of this I adopted from a Rast Makamı, but then for the rest I just sort of … played whatever I felt like.

Nikriz Nakış Yürük Semai

This is a short bit from the beginning of the Nikriz Nakış Yürük Semai. A nice piece, I think, with room for variation … which I haven’t actually gotten to yet. İnşallah I will have it all worked out soon for a reupload.

Ney: Dancing in the Waves

I was looking through some photos I took from this last summer, relaxing in Bodrum and Çeşme, and I was thinking how much I wish I could be back in that water again, splashing, playing, dancing with my daughter.

Ney: Gazing at the Center

I’ve been listening to a piece a fair bit lately entitled Segah Peşrevi, and I would really like to learn how to play this piece. But not being able to read music is a bit of an obstacle. So this is about as far as I’ve gotten trying to copy the sounds while watching a neyzen’s fingers moving over the stops of his ney. And when I ran out of notes, when I couldn’t follow him anymore, I just started playing somewhat random notes, another tune that was going through my head. As for the images, they are photos I’ve taken at different mosques in Turkey. Seemed to fit my mood somehow.