Concluding IKSV’s Jazz Festival – An Evening with the Masters
By Julián Muñoz Villarreal and Elizabeth Stern
The final concert of the Istanbul IKSV Jazz Festival took place this past Wednesday evening against the lush...
Muxtar: A Documentary about Democracy in the Village
Democracy: A political system defined by the vote of the people and the service of elected representatives whose main duty is to meet the...
Review: Asian Dub Foundation `La Haine` Live Soundtrack @ Babylon Bomonti
An opportunity to reunite with Mathieu Kassovitz’s cult classic La Haine? Re-watching baby Vinz alongside a live performance from the talented Asian Dub Foundation? Babylon...
Review: Closet Circuit Drawing Classes
Originally set up as a space for creative sustainability, over the past year, Closet Circuit has hosted a variety of projects including a unique...
A Day Inside the World of Comikon Istanbul 2017
Last weekend I joined the Comikon Istanbul Manga Fest 2017 and here is a brief review of the biggest event for manga and anime...
Poetry Slam Istanbul: Paving the way for Poets & Performers on...
Poetry Slam Istanbul, the first open mic poetry slam event in Istanbul will bring poetry performers and an audience to Kaset Kadıköy on March...
Theatre Review: 3 Short Comedy Plays in 1 Night!
Under the direction of Kenny Laurie, comes together three half-hour comedy plays that tell the tales of transformation and rebirth. Come Again! is the...
Have a Reggae Christmas (Luciano the Messenger @ Nayah Reggae Bar)
What better way to spend Christmas Eve than getting down to the conscious reggae vibes bestowed upon Nayah Reggae bar by Luciano the Messenger,...
Benim Çocugum (My Child): A Must-Watch LGBT Documentary for Istanbul Pride...
It’s LGBT Pride Week in Istanbul, and with celebrations cropping up across Istiklal Street, I thought I’d review a very interesting documentary dealing with...
Review: “Andy Warhol: Pop Art for Everyone” @ Pera Museum
Over the past year, the Pera Museum has been featuring art from some of the twentieth century's most well-known artists. After featuring a diverse...
Review: Pinhâni @ Kadıköy Sahne
Howling winds and frigid cold this past Saturday night did little to dissuade a group of us from attending the Pinhâni show at Kadıköy...
Review: Ane Brun @ Küçükçiftlik Park
With her Norwegian roots, amazingly unique covers and acoustic performances, Ane Brun took the audience to her somewhat sad but mostly peaceful musical world...
Review: Oh Land @ Babylon Bomonti
I have to admit that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Oh Land... until last Tuesday when I listened to her perform live on...
Running the Istanbul Marathon
I never liked running. I grew up playing tennis and to me, the long and painful sessions on the track were part of the...
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...