Places: Izmir and Istanbul

Finally - Istanbul!

I wanted to visit Istanbul for many years, probably because it seems like I've been everywhere else except there - because of my job I travelled from st.Petersburg to South Africa, from Alaska to Australia and back but Istanbul somehow escaped me. Funny enough, growing up in Ex-Yugoslavia (back than) I learned about all the wars we had as historical wall that protected Europe from Islam and had apprehension about Turkey until people finally started to tell me that they had wonderful experiences there, so it made me curious - I've been to Kusadasi which was fine but that was just a small tourist port,Istanbul is something else.

Before Istanbul I visited Izmir that looks and feels very much like some nice elegant vacation spot on Greece - beautiful coastline,blue sea and high mountains on the horizon.

Somehow I never managed to move away from shops/restaurant district - probably because I work so much that I am basically exhausted and need just to sit in the sun and have nice coffee & lunch, maybe another time I will walk to historical centre. As for Istanbul I actually took taxy to centre (Sultan Ahmet area) and walked around Blue Mosque and famous Aja Sofia - did not bother to go inside because too many people were crowded around - also shops and restaurants around were delightful,I could spend at least a week there and still see new things. In my enthusiasm I planned different places for each time I visit Istanbul (Topkapi palace,Grand Bazaar and so on) but of course reality is different and look at me now,I am in Istanbul and needed to sleep & rest, "Starbucks" in front of the port might be furthest I will go this time.Hopefuly I will have time & energy trough next two months to see some more of this exciting city (I surprised myself thinking "I could live here" because it's a huge city and I always feel good in big cities).

Joan Baez 1960. debut LP

The Album-that-has-launched-thousands-of-imitations presents very young but already dead serious and determined Joan Baez in a sparse voice & guitar frame, singing traditional folk songs that in 1960. came as a breath of fresh air to everybody tired of heavily orchestrated pop music of the time.

In a industry still crowded with arrangers, big bands and session players, Baez album was in its way revolutionary - deceptively simple folk songs could be played in any student room, had a romantic appeal of old-time stories (all those "maidens" gone wrong like in famous "House of the Rising Sun") and in spite of humble origins, this music sounded far more arty & literate than any of the hits of pop charts. Just listen to "John Riley", "Mary Hamilton" or "Henry Martin" and it's easy to understand why audience all over the world swooned to this strange album full of stories - even today, this music sounds haunting and hypnotic but it's not a communal experience, like all the best folk albums it's best appreciated when listened alone and it might even inspire you to pick up a guitar.

Baez of course was fantastic from the very first moment - she was probably born to do this.

Some might say she was too serious but her refusal to play the business game and pose as smiley cheesecake was a very strong attitude against commercialism that at that time polluted music. She would milk traditional songbook for a few more years,than turn her attention to contemporary songwriters notably one "unwashed phenomenon" who rose to fame because of her support. Half a century after its original release album still sounds magical - if her later albums sound squarely placed in their retrospective decades by than-current music arrangements, Baez debut it timeless because voice-and-guitar music could be played anytime,anywhere and still sound appealing.

Personal favorite: "East Virginia". Loved it from the first moment way back and still do. The closing song "El Preso Numero Nueve" hints at the future - Baez would not only re-record it for her spanish-language album but use it in her anti-war crusades. It might have been fight with windmills but it gave her dignity and purpose.