Cura saz

Sometimes it can be so hard to deal with bureaucracy, cultural differences, manage to communicate with others through a link language. In my opinion, to express ones emotions and being listened to in a patient manner is a fundamental human need. Feelings such as hope, sadness, loneliness, longing, homesickness, being away from parents, grief, hüzün, anger, vulnerability, resilience, recovery and care also needs to be manifested in some ways.

This untouched recording is my response, to a hard day, as I was trying to soothe and calm myself with a musical instrument - a cura bağlama (or cura saz) - from my home country, Türkiye.

In the evening, I decided to restring and retune my instrument. I was so tired to move away from my couch, my head was aching, and my fingers were moving across the fret board while this tune had emerged. The recording was done in an intimate setting, in my living room in Ljubljana.

I hope this recording may bring some peace in our troubled civilization, dire conditions, and most importantly to the ones who dare to listen.

Recorded by Görkem Özdemir.

Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. 

For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration

IMAGE: By Lukas007 - Self-photographed, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5725760