The lavta
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| 10 € / ermäßigt 5 € |
| Please book your ticket in advance online or at the box office in the Foyer. |
| Duration: 60 min |
| English, German |
| 2nd Floor, Room 217 |
| Part of: One Object, Many Questions |
The lavta or politiko laouto is a unique musical instrument from Istanbul. Claimed as a national instrument by Greeks, Armenians, and Turks and played in classical as well as in urban and folk music – the lavta’s hybrid character refuses any attempts to be ethnically, nationally, or even musicologically categorized.
Starting from this central example, in this tour we will use a musicological, anthropological, and historical approach to explore music and musical instruments from the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East, and South and Central Asia. We will learn how musical culture is more than melodic charm or a means of aesthetic pleasure – music has been a way of forging and dismantling divisive identities throughout modernity, and it has simultaneously been a universalizing culture of resistance against identities of division.
The tour will include live demonstrations and performances of select instruments by the guides.
participants
Omar Sadik has been studying sociology and anthropology for over ten years. In his youth, he roamed the underground music scene of his hometown, San Francisco. In 2011, he moved to Istanbul and began learning the local music soon after.
Uli Eberhardt has a degree in Anthropology and Comparative Religion. As a musician, he has been studying modal traditions of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East extensively for the past eight years.