{"id":56316,"date":"2012-09-01T07:30:52","date_gmt":"2012-09-01T04:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=56316"},"modified":"2023-04-06T15:23:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T12:23:24","slug":"turkey-tough-on-rules-for-drummers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2012\/09\/01\/turkey-tough-on-rules-for-drummers\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Tough on Rules for Drummers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Miss a Beat and Get Drummed Out; &#8216;We Don&#8217;t Want Amateurs Here&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/live.wsj.com\/public\/page\/embed-33411FA9_306E_47FC_A1E3_E236DBF79B64.html\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By JOE PARKINSON<\/p>\n<p>ISPARTA, Turkey\u2014In most countries, shouting songs and banging drums through residential neighborhoods at 2 in the morning could get you arrested. In Turkey, it is a way to earn a little money.<\/p>\n<p>Every year, during the holy month of Ramadan, which ended this month, Turks are roused before sunrise daily by an army of drummers noisily celebrating the arrival of the Sahur: the last meal for pious Muslims before they begin the daylight fast. At the end of the holy month, the beat-makers collect cash donations from residents eager to show appreciation for the rigor of the rhythm and the soulfulness of the song.<\/p>\n<p>Turkish drummers have been facing a call to up their game in order to be able to get a license to drum on the streets in the wee hours of the morning during Ramadan. WSJ&#8217;s Joe Parkinson reports from Isparta, Turkey, on the exam potential drummers must pass.<\/p>\n<p>But residents of one drum-loving town, believing that standards for this 500-year-old tradition have been slipping, are demanding a better beat for their buck.<\/p>\n<p>The western Turkish city of Isparta, famed for the production of rosewater, is in the vanguard of a movement that calls for drummers to qualify for an official license. It is a response by local authorities to complaints that unqualified percussionists were ruining things with poor rhythm, bad melody and aggressive demands for payouts.<\/p>\n<p>In preparation for this year&#8217;s festival, which began July 19, about 60 of Isparta&#8217;s wannabe drummers faced off at a sort of boot camp where they played traditional rhythms and recited religious couplets called Manis to stone-faced judges to prove they were qualified.<\/p>\n<p>The 50 candidates who passed the July exam each got a license: a laminated card emblazoned with a picture and identity number designed to stop maverick drummers from claiming the certified drummers&#8217; rewards.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-56318\" title=\"OB-UJ790_TURKDR_G_20120831002508\" src=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/OB-UJ790_TURKDR_G_20120831002508.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"553\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/OB-UJ790_TURKDR_G_20120831002508.jpg 553w, https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/OB-UJ790_TURKDR_G_20120831002508-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Eleven hopefuls were rejected by the five-man judging panel of local officials and professional musicians, who cited &#8220;substandard rhythm,&#8221; &#8220;poor knowledge of traditional songs,&#8221; and &#8220;an inability to perform under pressure&#8221; as reasons for failure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not as simple as just banging the drum; you can understand the quality of someone&#8217;s rhythm even by the way he is holding the instrument. If he can&#8217;t maintain the rhythm while singing the poem, he isn&#8217;t a professional and we don&#8217;t want amateurs here,&#8221; said Cinar Helioglu, Isparta&#8217;s police chief, head of the judging panel.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Across Turkey, we&#8217;re seeing many of our traditions diluted and we won&#8217;t let that happen. This year we&#8217;ve had no complaints about the drumming and everyone says the quality has improved dramatically,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>via Turkey Tough on Rules for Drummers &#8211; WSJ.com.<\/p>\n<p>more : https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/SB10000872396390444230504577615062052946478<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Miss a Beat and Get Drummed Out; &#8216;We Don&#8217;t Want Amateurs Here&#8217; By JOE PARKINSON ISPARTA, Turkey\u2014In most countries, shouting songs and banging drums through residential neighborhoods at 2 in the morning could get you arrested. In Turkey, it is a way to earn a little money. Every year, during the holy month of Ramadan, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":56318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[8317,2164],"class_list":["post-56316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-drummers","tag-ramadan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}