Mystical Tinklings: Flower Room
Authentically exotic, psychedelic folk music group Flower Room’s art is digged!
“Along with timbers arising within us against commotion, society and time, we reflect our...
Luxembourg Philharmonic & Yuja Wang at the 47th Istanbul Music Festival
The 47th Istanbul Music Festival, organized by IKSV, has come to an end (and now starts the Jazz Festival). This year, the festival really...
Yabangee Travel Blog: A Week In Georgia (The One Near Russia)
Article and photos by Louis Herman
My trip to Georgia (known locally as Sakartvelo) this January started with a quick flight to Trabzon from Istanbul,...
8000 Years of Istanbul: Review of ‘Again, and New: World City...
Artifacts have been found in Istanbul (previously home to some of the world's largest empires, the city has also been known as Byzantion, Nea...
Review: Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists @ IKSV Music Festival
Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists: For the past several years, I have been coming across this ensemble again and again. They've become regulars...
A Mid-Gezi Night’s Dream with the Baltic Dance Theater
The Muhsin Ertuğrul Theater Hall is a ten-minute walk from my place. So, a venture there is normally no big deal, but a nice...
“Girls of Hope”: Education and Gender in Rural Turkey
You might have already noticed that Istanbul is a place that can be hard to comprehend. Thousands of years of history, millions of inhabitants,...
Persian Tunes in an Old Schoolyard: A Summer’s Night with Mahsa...
It is a perfect Istanbul summer night after a hot July day. The Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat enters the stage and tells the audience...
Review: Gaye Su Akyol @ Babylon Bomonti
A snowy Saturday night in Istanbul couldn't be spent any better than with 200-something fellow music lovers at a Gaye Su Akyol concert, courtesy of Babylon Bomonti....
The Last Round: Boxing, Martial Arts, and a Social Conscience
In the dead of this past winter, I ran into a friend in Cihangir who seemed uncharacteristically ecstatic. I told him as much and...
Open Studio Days: A Non-Profit Art Organization
Open Studio Days is a yearly art event and the most comprehensive open studio activity in Turkey where artists open their studios for three...
RX: Istanbul’s Central, Electric Nightclub for ‘Rhythm Xposure’
In a city buzzing with nightlife, the electronic music scene is a changing tapestry as the nightclubs of Istanbul past ebb and evolve into...
Weekend Getaway: Gökçeada
Sometimes the sights, sounds, and smells of Istanbul get a bit too overwhelming and an escape is needed from this “City of Cities”. For...
Review: Forever Tango @ Zorlu Center
Forever Tango has finally come to Istanbul preceded by its worldwide fame: the show has captivated audiences on Broadway and has been nominated for...
Book Review: The Time Regulation Institute
There’s a moment in The Time Regulation Institute, the novel by acclaimed Turkish author Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, where the protagonist Hayri Irdal explains the...
Cihangir Yoga Sessions with Chris Chavez
"The more you know, the more you see there is to be known.” Tucked away in the Istinye branch of Cihangir Yoga studios on...
Berlin Konzerthaus: European Delight at the CRR
The Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall is hosting quite a program this year, and it finished October off with impressive performances back to back. Among...
Klarnet Festivali: Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra and Ivo Papazov & Trakia...
After a year of exploring Istanbul and getting to know the locals, two things became very clear to me – Turkish people seem to...
Let the Child be Named Peace: E-refugee.com Review
You have no home.
You have no address.
You are a refugee.
With those words we enter a dystopian universe, a black comedy in which the owner...
Escaping the Rain as Com Truise Returns to Salon IKSV
On a rainy Wednesday night in Şişhane, Istanbul, I walked into Salon IKSV for the second time in my life. It was for the...
The Stories Behind reflect’s ‘Collection Zero’
Well over a year has passed since we first sat down at ATÖLYE with reflect co-founders Ece Altunmaral and Edipcan Yıldız to discuss their...
Escapist: Real Escape Room Fun for English Speakers in Istanbul
I'd be hard pressed to think of a more wholesome group activity I've taken part in these last few years, than when a group...
Piano Legend Murray Perahia with BIFO
What makes a piano superstar? Two Grammy Awards in the classical music genre? Numerous Gramophones? Honorary doctorates from highly heralded universities like Duke and...
Honoring a Diva: Leyla Gencer
It is said that opera is the ultimate manifestation of art, that it is the pinnacle of artistry: it requires ultimate mastery of music...