ISTANBUL — After days of being the target of tear gas and police water cannons, protesters in Gezi Park, in Taksim Square here, were tense on Wednesday night, girded for conflict. Instead they got a piano performance.
Davide Martello, a German musician in the new age, Paul Winter mold, arrived with a three-man team, hauling a grand piano in a trailer. After unloading the instrument and placing it inside the entry to the park, he began to play.
People stopped to listen. The restless crowd began to calm and organize around Mr. Martello. Soon photos and videos of the performance were zinging around the globe, ending up on blogs, online news sites and Facebook pages.
By the time Thursday night rolled round, word had gotten out, and according to estimates from those there, 1,500 people gathered in the park to hear this unknown 31-year-old pianist play again.
Speaking during a pause in the performance, Mr. Martello explained that he was on a self-directed world tour, hoping to play in major cities across the globe. He had been in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Wednesday morning and wanted to stop by Istanbul to witness the protests, which started as an effort to save Gezi Park from destruction and morphed into a broader expression of dissatisfaction with the authoritarian tactics of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The idea is to inspire politicians through music,” Mr. Martello said, wearing a fedora and dressed in red in honor of the Turkish flag.
The square has long been a destination for gatherings and performances, but Mr. Martello — who played for 14 hours straight, starting Thursday evening — had an unusual and mesmerizing effect.
“Police in the background and this grand piano in the middle,” said Zeynep Turkmen, a 24-year old protester who has been staying in the park for more than a week. “This guy is writing history here.”
Police officers, there to protect the nearby monument bearing the statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the secular Turkish Republic, joined the audience, resting on their riot shields.
No comments:
Post a Comment