Reviews

There is an old Turkish saying stating if you are bored with Istanbul, you are bored with life. Although Istanbul is rarely boring there...

Born in 1977 Pelin Batu is a Turkish actress, historian and a bilingual poet. She studied Literature and Drama in New York University and...

The year is 2019 and everything surrounding us is changing in a heartbeat. I often ask myself where the industry is going with these...

If you are into classical music at all, there is no chance that you have not heard of Yehudi Menuhin. He is the single most...

Living as a millennial in a cosmopolitan city, I know I’m not alone in admitting my smartphone is an extension of me. The selfies...

Music festivals are essential to the very fabric of a quality Istanbul summer -- a yearly reminder of the city's appeal to international artists,...

All 24 of the performances that took place last month as part of the Istanbul Music Festival were events not to miss, and several...

Camel wrestling is, in a word, raucous. Smoke permeates every inch of the earthen amphitheater, so much so that it is difficult to make...

It can be revealing, if moot, to compare an original series to an adaption, especially in terms of culture. But what stands out immediately upon...

Mitra Costume Design Vintage Shop has been providing costumes (both rental and sales) since 2010 and with a constantly evolving selection of over 2,500...

Many of us might not have known about pianist Rudolf Buchbinder earlier. However, we all learned his name well last month: He was the...

Anyone who’s lived here long enough has likely noticed a proliferation of high-quality music events around the city in the past several years generally...

The TIM Maslak Show Center is a venue that offers myriad alternatives, from ballet to modern circus to music of various genres. And several...

The stars twinkled overhead. Subtle waves lapped along the shore, caressing the rocks, sand, and the deck ever so gently. It was mid-summer, and...

It was another rainy, cold Friday night in Istanbul when Sofar Sounds Istanbul stars Lara Di Lara, Emre Akbay and Emir Yargin arrived at the...

Two of our contributors, Erin West and Will Dawson, had an epic day at Babylon’s Soundgarden on Saturday. Things got so crazy they even...

“O for a beaker full of the warm south,” wrote John Keats, capturing that almost marrow-level need for sun after a long time in...

“There are just three rules: No Racism, no sexism, and no homophobia.” Rules? I thought this was an open-mic event. There shouldn’t be any rules. “You...

Originally set up as a space for creative sustainability, over the past year, Closet Circuit has hosted a variety of projects including a unique...

The Water Diviner, or Son Umut in Turkish, is a film about a father traveling from Australia to find his sons lost in the...

Truly, we live in a golden age of tabletop gaming. A reactionary movement away from purely digital experiences and activities has combined with a...

With her Norwegian roots, amazingly unique covers and acoustic performances, Ane Brun took the audience to her somewhat sad but mostly peaceful musical world...

Saturday night belonged to the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The thought of a brass ensemble generally conjures up, at least for me, an image of...

Howling winds and frigid cold this past Saturday night did little to dissuade a group of us from attending the Pinhâni show at Kadıköy...