Tarkan

So, a long long time ago in June, I knocked on Rachel's door and said in a shy voice, "Um, do you have any interest in seeing Tarkan?"  We bought our tickets right then.  And last Monday, the day finally came:

The pictures may not suggest it, but the show was surprisingly tasteful.  I mean, of course it was totally over the top, but it really was more performance than spectacle.  Tarkan looked like he was having fun.  We had fun too.  Rachel and I sang along with the semi-Turkish words that we'd made up before learning Turkish (in my case at age 12), and the people next to us made it their mission to get us to dance and dance well.  For my first real pop music concert, it wasn't half bad.

The next day I got my kemençe fixed.  I somehow (I really have no idea how) found Yücel Bey's workshop in Şişli, the business district.  (After some emails, I have inferred that he prefers to be called by his middle name.)  Turns out he's mainly a violin maker, and walking in was like walking into Ifshin.  Except that at Ifshin people speak English and don't serve you tea.  But classical music was playing, and he gave me a violin to practice while I waited for him to alter the kemençe.