This film stems from our encounter with two musicians in a tavern in Beyoglu, where every night a group of recent immigrants to the city gathers for an evening of intense and emotional respite from the hardships of life in Istanbul. The patrons of the tavern are Alevis, a religious minority of 16 million people in Turkey.
They follow a set of beliefs that has its centre in the sacredness of the individual, as indicated by Haci Bektaş, a Turkish mystic who in the XIII century preached a philosophy of equality and respect for one's fellow human beings.
With our camera we were allowed to enter the atmosphere of the tavern, during several stays in Istanbul over a period of three years. We thus came into contact with Alevi music, a tradition with roots that go deep into that of Central Asian troubadours. In the course of this time, the two musicians introduced us to their life beyond their nights at the tavern and to the Alevi community in the outskirts of Istanbul, where they live.
This film is a glimpse at the lives of the two musicians and their different relationship with the music: their individual goals and the contextual background of the Alevi community. It is also a film about a special friendship, sustained not by intimacy, but based on mutual trust, respect and love for music.
Text by: Paolo Colombo
Still: Mehmet and Mehmet, 2003
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