A. R. Rahman’s marvel of light and sound – but where’s the music? (part 2)

I have so much to say about the AR Rahman Bay Area concert, a show that was stunning as a spectacle, but thin on the ground as far as music went.  You cannot have Benny Dayal, Neeti Mohan, Javed Ali, Shweta Pandit, and Blazee as showcased singers and get a good music program.  OK there was Hariharan, but he sang maybe three songs and was hardly present.  The one exception, and possible late addition, was Shaan.  But Shaan has not sung much for ARR so we did not hear any of his signature songs!

Missing were the whirling dervishes, and the feeling of being in the presence of something unknowable.  Kudos to Mr. Rahman for not introducing that element in a loud and crowded concert, no matter how missed it was.  But then just three days later I got to see the real thing! In Istanbul there is a Cultural Center called Hodja Pasha with a half hour every evening of the whirling dervishes.  We decided to go and see them live.  This entailed getting into a taxi and giving directions to the cabbie.  Telling us he understood perfectly and negotiating a fixed price with us (we thought it was a deal!), he left us near the Spice Bazaar and told us it was simply a couple of blocks inside there but it would take much longer to drive than to walk.

Spice Bazaar

So after giving him US$ in fare (it is absolutely standard in Istanbul to give 1 dollar for 1.5 Turkish Lira or 1 Euro for 2 Turkish Lira - so civilized, no need to change money and you even get change back in your own currency!) we set off briskly with plenty of time to spare.  No one on that street had heard of Hodja Pasha or of the dervishes - one of us even tried to twirl to demonstrate what we meant!  We asked directions of no less than six people, three did not know where on the map we currently were, and the other three did not know where the street we were looking for was!  We saw two policemen and thought we had finally found someone who would not only know how to read maps, but also to locate their current position on a map.  The two consulted furiously in Turkish pointed in various directions, then reached a consensus and sent us along up a hill (misdirections always take you uphill - Murphy's law).  Even our befuddled minds told us that we were on the wrong track.  So we walked back to the two policemen, told them they were wrong (got shrugs in response), and decided to criss-cross a section of 4 by 4 blocks on the map.  Finally dusty and weary we arrived at the Hodja Pasha Center.

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