Jodhpur, April 5
He can speak Hindi, and feels
every visit to India is like a homecoming. Turkish percussionist Gurkan
Ozkan, who is here for the Jodhpur Flamenco and Gypsy Festival, says he
almost had tears in his eyes upon landing in Rajasthan, where the
globally popular gypsy culture has its roots.
"This is the first
time I am coming to this land of Rajasthan, and when I came, I felt like
crying," Ozkan told IANS on the sidelines of the ongoing second edition
of the gala, which is taking place at the centuries-old Mehrangarh
Fort.
"We feel like we have come again to where we were born.
Around 400 years back, our grand forefathers, maybe kakaji or pitaji...
they came from here. We feel like we are in our family place. We are not
feeling that we are in another country. Yeh desh hamara desh hai (This
nation is ours)," he added.
Surprised by his hold on Hindi, one asked where he picked it from?
"Aati
hai Hindi thodi thodi (I know a bit of Hindi). My guruji is a tabla
payer in the Akashvani. He played the tabla last year at this festival
and I am lucky that after him, I am playing in this festival. I have
been coming to India since 2006 and every year, I visit guruji for just
practicing together," said Ozkan.
His guruji is India's government broadcaster All India Radio's tabla artist pandit Sandesh Popatkar.
Ozkan,
following his musical training with Okay Temiz, has performed at
various national and international festivals with diverse percussion
instruments such as bendir, darbuka, daf, conga, pandeiro, djembe and
tabla.
He had performed during the 11th Istanbul International
Jazz Festival in 2004 and in 2005 as part of Askin Arsunan's "Down to
Earth" project.
Ozkan even performed Indian classical music at
the 2006 International Caucasian Cultures Festival by request of the
Indian consulate general. In 2007, he participated in a South Indian
Percussions Workshop, organised by percussionist Subash Chandran and
Ganesh Kumar.
In 2011, he gave a presentation on the subject of
'Tabla and Rhythmic systems (tala) of the music of North India' to the
members of the faculty at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University,
Ethnomusicology Department.
Asked if he has gypsy blood, he said "yes".
"I
come from Central Anatolia region (a region of Turkey). My grandparents
were musicians and I have little bit gypsy blood," he added.
So how does he relate with Indian instruments?
"Here
it is Shehnai and in our country, we have Zurna. It has very similar
sound. Besides, the beats come from the heart," he said.
(The writer's trip is at the invitation of the festival's organisers. Nivedita can be contacted at [email protected].)
