BURSA'NIN UFAK TEFEK TAŞLARI / KULAKTAN KULAGA EPISODE 10

EPISODE 10 / Bursa-Trilye / 5 Jan 2013

In this episode, we'll see the Marmara Sea from a pretty town on a different shore: Bursa-Trilye is a town in Bursa Province, Mudanya, situated 12 km west of Mudanya on the southern coastline of Marmara Sea. The history of the area dates back to 5th century and the town was formerly known as "Trigleia". The area was inhabited by the Greeks, Genoese, Thracians, Mysians, Ancient Romans, Ottomans and even the pirates. Ottomans have started settling here from the beginning of the year 1303. 

Ferman and Hasan Özata in Trilye

Ferman is with Hasan Özata getting some information about the town. There are several legends about the origins of the name. In the first story, the priests Aya Yorgi, Aya Satri and Aya Yani were in disagreement with the archbishop during the First Council of Nicaea (Iznik Council) in the 4th century. As a result of this, they were excommunicated and exiled to Trilye. "Tri" means "three" and "ilya" means "priest". In another story, the area was famous for red mullet and those fish were the main course of the Byzantine emperors' tables. "Trigleia" is a word in Hellenic Greek for such fish. The last legend comes from the Genoese. There were three Genoese villages around here. These villages were distressed by the looting of the pirates. Therefore, they combined their power and decided to live together. The name "Trilye" is said to be derived from those three villages.

Just when he was telling the legends, a dog comes by and tries to play with the cables of the KK crew. Ferman is a little anxious about this. :)

The ancient Genoese harbor is still here. It dates back to Roman era; it was the most important harbor for exporting the goods produced in the fertile lands to the center of Byzantine Empire. The ancient harbor is still a shelter for the fishermen in a bad, stormy weather. The storms are not so rare here at all. Ferman says that it's very cold just like a Northern European country. Trilye has an interesting air current which makes asthma patients breathe more comfortably. It's like a natural air conditioner and one needs a sweater even in the summer nights.

Trilye is famous for its special olives. This town was an important source of olives for Ottoman royal kitchens. The characteristics of succulent Trilye olives are smaller core, thin skin and higher fat ratio.

Ferman explains the purpose of KK to Hasan Bey. He asks him what the people sing in a gathering. Hasan Bey says that in old times, when the Greeks lived here, there were lots of pianos in the town. But now somehow those pianos got lost in the course of time, just one left.

At Fatih Mosque

Ferman visits Fatih Mosque. This was a 8-century church and in the 16th century it was turned into a mosque. This mosque is also known as Aya Todori Church and constructed in the 8th century. This building is the oldest Byzantine building around Bursa. After Turks conquered Trilye, it was turned into a mosque. The mosque is entered through a portico covered with a wooden roof which is standing on 4 columns. The mosque was used as a church during the Greek occupation in 1918 and was turned into a mosque again in 1922 after being liberated.

 

A street in Trilye

Hasan Bey continues to explain: This was a all-Greek town once with a population of 6.000 people. 40 families were brought here from İstanbul-Uskudar by the Ottomans. There were 7 churches, one stone school and a monastery. The legendary 3 priests built 3 more churches. The Greeks and the Turks lived happily in a peaceful environment without any hostility. But when the church was considered to be turned into a mosque, the Greeks reacted severely. They complained about this to a noble man from the capital. He was a smart man. He asked to them: "How many churches do you have now?" They answered, "6". "And how many do the Muslims have with this?". "1". The noble man soothes them saying, "Look, you trade your goods all the way to France with the Ottoman permission. They let you trade. You have now 10 churches. They don't interfere with your beliefs. You can just present one of your churches to them, can't you?"

There is a Ottoman hamam (Turkish Bath) near the Fatih Mosque. It was built in the 16th century. It's also known as "Hamam with a Courtyard". 

Stone School

There is also Stone School. The construction of the building started in 1904 and was completed in 3 years. This is Hasan Bey's school. The building was first an orphanage, and then served as a boarding school, a primary school and a secondary school later on until 1989.

Dündar House

Ferman is now in front of Dündar House. This was also a church once and has been transferred to private property after Greeks abandoned the region due to population exchange. It's currently being used as a residence and 3 families live here. Probably we might see it as a boutique hotel years later.

The history of Trilye continued from Byzantine Era through the present day and one can track the remains of Early Christians, Ottomans, Turkish Independence War and the bitter population exchange in almost every building in the town.

The last stop of Ferman's history walk in Trilye is Kemerli Church (Church with Arches). It was built in the 13th century and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. According to the hearsay, the columns of the church were sent from Alexandria.

Ferman visits Hasan Bey's small olive oil shop. He is the Sunay Akin of Trilye (for Sunay Akin, please see episode 2 of KK). He gives some information about processing olives and some tips about them. Olives don't like plastic bottles and sunlight. You need to keep your olive oil in dark places far from sunlight. And always keep olive oil with the lid closed.

Ferman with Kumyaka Women

Ferman goes to Kumyaka Village nearby. He introduces us to the famous hard working housewives of the village. They are famous because they appeared in a bunch of magazines and TV channels before. He is with the members of The Association for Solidarity and Assistance of Kumyaka Village Women. They started to make traditional local pastry collectively. Ferman specifically asks how they make pastry since he is curious if they make it as his aunt does.

He asks them his favorite question: "Do you sing when you cook?". "We sometimes sing, of course". There is even a lady with a beautiful voice among them. Ferman turns to a lady who is sitting silently at the table. She is a Dutch-Canadian who settled in Turkey 20 years ago with his Turkish husband and has been living in Kumyaka for a year. She likes Turkish pastry very much.

Ferman also wants to know how they cook red mullet. :) They have an interesting food that's a mixture of fish and spinach. Ferman thanks and wishes them good luck and successful activities and he hopes they will give inspirations to other women in Turkey. 

Ferman and İsmet Aslan

He meets İsmet Aslan. He is a descendant of the refugees from Crete Island during the population exchange. He was born in 1930 here and he started music when he was little. He took music lessons and entered in İzmir Radio House in 1956 as a performer of Classical Turkish Music. He says that he took interest in music because he grew up in a musical environment. They hold music concerts every year here in the village. He also played soccer in a tournament as the eldest player last year. He didn't suffer from any health problem due to soccer, because he thinks music is his medicine. He owes his good health to music. He is 82 years old now, he also can read sheet music. He says music gives him moral support and always cheers him up. He wishes that this will be a lesson for the young people.

And then he sings a song of classical Turkish music and they record it.

After that, they leave for Trilye. They are hungry. They get in a restaurant. There is Kulaktan Kulaga's episode with Ankara on TV. Ferman watches his program as an outsider as if he's not the maker but a regular televiewer. He thinks it's a good work.

Ferman and Sezer

He says that in this episode, he has the opportunity to get what he wishes the most. When they were on the way to Kumyaka to record some songs, young Sezer stopped them and said hello. He was wearing a Bursaspor soccer team jersey with the official colors of green&white. After a short chat with him, they left for Kumyaka. Ferman in fact wanted to record some traditional folk songs of the region and to achieve this, they tried to contact some people by phone. At last, they got an info saying "there is this young man named Sezer whom you had a talk on the road, the boy with the Bursaspor jersey". And they called him again and Sezer stopped watching KK and kindly came by to meet Ferman again to record a folk song called "Little Stones of Bursa".

Now it's time to go back home. Trilye surprises Ferman with its history, people, nature and beautiful music. But he is excited to meet his guest in İstanbul.

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Back in İstanbul. This episode's guest star is Göksel. MaNga duetted with Göksel years ago for their first album: On the legendary song "Dursun Zaman". We still miss her live voice in the concerts. 

Ferman and Göksel

In the briefing, Ferman asks Göksel if she ever thought that he would make a TV program and she would be his guest. No, she says, but adds that she expects anything from him, so she's not surprised at all. She feels a bit awkward because she thinks that it is a little weird to have an interview with him like two strangers.

Ferman explains her the purpose of this program and his intentions. He likes to work coincidentally, find some interesting songs on the spot without any planning on this program. That's how he would like it to be. They went to many places after having some preliminary preparations. He likes to have a chat at the coffehouses of the villages and to be led to proper persons from there. That's how it happened in Bursa as well. After they recorded a classical song from İsmet Bey, they coincidentally met Sezer on the road and decided on his folk song to rearrange for the episode's duet.

Ferman asks Göksel how she feels about Bursa. She'd been there several times for mostly concerts, but she has never been to rural Bursa. She likes Bursa with all its green nature. But she remembers something interesting about Bursa: Once she had a concert in Bursa and Ferman who was around for their concert came by and he duetted with Göksel on her song "Depresyondayim" (I'm depressed!) on her stage! This live duet was recorded by some fan in İzmir and it's on the below Youtube link.Take a look! How about that? His voice magically suits all kinds of styles.

Göksel feat.Ferman - "Depresyondayım" in İzmir

Göksel remembers the cities with the atmospheres of the concerts and this Bursa concert was unforgettable thanks to Ferman on the stage with her. And of course Bursa's unbelievable cuisine is worth remembering.

Göksel gave several concerts on the shoreline of the Northern Aegean Sea this year and between concerts she had time to see around the region. This was the best vacation she has ever had. Ferman says that he tries to pick places where he'd never had a chance to see around before.

Göksel says that it's very good that he finds out new folk songs in the villages and she liked the wonderful Yakma that Asli performed in KK episode 2 at Bademler Village in İzmir. Ferman tells her the story of the Yakma "Yarin Bağına". He found out that Trilye hasn't many folk songs, the people rather perform classical Turkish music. Interestingly, there was no old songs remained from the Greeks. Ferman doesn't understand that.

After that Göksel starts practicing on the song with a treble voice and tries to decide which tone suits the boy's voice more. Ferman can't resist and accompanies her! "We don't need Sezer! I'm gonna duet with her!". Göksel says that it's been a long time since they've last sung together. He gets excited at the end and shouts, "A new duet song is coming from Göksel & Ferman!".

Göksel and Çağatay

Göksel at the recording room

Göksel is curious about how they rearrange the song. Ferman and Cagatay explain this to her. They work a little more. She gets excited about the song, too and says "I wish we could duet with Ferman!". I wish, too! :)

At the end, we find Ferman sleeping on the floor of the studio. He asks sleepily, "Why am I in this situation?". Because the recording ended around 21:30. They are supposed to leave for Kütahya for the next episode, so he wants to get some sleep before they depart in one and a half hour. 

Bursa'nın Ufak Tefek Taşları (Little Stone of Bursa) /

Sezer Çetin - Göksel

This episode's song is from Bursa. It's "Bursa'nın Ufak Tefek Taşları" (Little Stones of Bursa). Göksel performed it nicely, wishing it was Ferman to accompany her. The magic and the chemistry between them is still there. In the future we'd like to see them singing together again.

Next week, we'll be in Kütahya-Tavşanlı with Erdem Yener. He's a funny guy. Looking forward to next week's episode! :)



The photos on this post belong to MaNga Greece Facebook Fan Page. Thanks very much for the photos, guys!


You can watch the full video of the episode 10 on the You Tube link below:

FOR FULL VIDEOS OF KULAKTAN KULAĞA, please visit TRT Müzik's KK video page:

http://trtmuzik.net.tr/Gallery/Video/47/kulaktan-kulaga