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2013

Walking with Çelebi

1572878584.Captura-de-Tela-2019-08-03-às-18.56.38
Multiple locations
60 minutes

Belgrade

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Geert Vermeire

Belgrade

Collection · 5 items

field recordings

Collection · 43 items

Islam

Collection · 1 items

Public health

Collection · 5 items

Related

Sound walk

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This 18-minute stereo sound walk, set in a snowy field north of Hebden Bridge, UK, combines field recordings, ambient drones, and 1980s pop loops with a spoken monologue linking cultural figures like Leon Trotsky and Ian Curtis. The piece centers on photographer Charlie Meecham capturing the snowy scene used for Joy Division’s single "Atmosphere" cover, incorporating contributions from Paul Rooney and others.

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Stepping Out by Red Herring Productions is a coastal walking performance featuring field recordings from the North Devon coastline. The project, in partnership with the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, may offer downloadable sound files and encourage local visits to recording locations.

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A Meeting Place | 会议地点

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Hayley Suviste
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Geert Vermeire
Walking piece
No longer available
This sound walk, created by Geert Vermeire, Enrique Tomás, and Stefaan Van Biesen, is inspired by Evliya Çelebi’s 17th-century travels across the Balkans and blends historical geography with contemporary soundscapes recorded on location. Presented as part of the a Balkan Tale exhibition and produced by the Goethe Institut between 2013 and 2016, it combines poetic compositions and field recordings to evoke both the documentary and imaginative aspects of Çelebi's journeys.

A sound walk for mobile devices by Geert Vermeire (musical scenario), Enrique Tomás and Stefaan Van Biesen (sound artists).

A contemporary sound walk inspired by the world traveler, Evliya Çelebi, an Ottoman Turkish gentleman adventurer who travelled far and wide for over 40 years, visiting over 250 cities. He described everything he saw on his journeys, and left a record of his wanderings in 10 large volumes, the Seyahatname, or Book of Travels, “the longest and fullest travel account in Islamic literature, perhaps in world literature.” His book is full of fantasy, imaginary landscapes and invented itineraries in a world where travelling was still magical and mysterious. On the other hand Çelebi is a great geographer in the tradition of Strabo and Ptolemy. Historians have cross-referenced his descriptions of Balkan mosques, public baths and Sufi lodges with the actual sites that still stand today, and found Evliya Çelebi to be highly accurate.

The sound walk refers to the magical and to the documentary side of Evliya Çelibi’s travels, situated within the Balkan of today. An atmosphere of past wonder blends with the sounds of contemporary Balkan. Poetic soundscapes, composed for this sound walk, and field recordings of street music, city life and nature, made on location in the Balkan.

Another aspect of the traveler Çelibi that inspired us to follow Çelebi ́s footsteps in this journey of sound is his usually friendly attitude towards non-Muslims. Meetings with many persons are an essential part of his Book of Travels. As Çelibi said many times when he was far from his home, he was perfectly happy to be a nedim (intimate fellow) to strangers, a musahib (boon companion) to other travelers and “a friend of all mankind.” Sounds of human presence and sounds of life are the thread of our sound walk, always in the light of the joy of living together. As Çelebi wrote from his heart, “Most important is the companion, then the road.”

Made for the exhibition a Balkan Tale, as a travelling sound walk in Athens, Skopje, Pristina, Belgrade between 2013 – 2016.  Produced by the Goethe Institut as an European project.

An extended version as a staged sound walk with live actors was realized during the Analogio Festival in Athens, September 2017.  Directed by Sissy Papathanassiou and Geert Vermeire.

APA style reference

Vermeire, G. (2013). Walking with Çelebi. walk · listen · create. https://walklistencreate.org/walkingpiece/walking-with-c%cc%a7elebi/

slew

A short walk or stroll, as in “I’ll take a slew around the harbour before going to bed.” from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English (University of Toronto Press, 1982).

Added by Marlene Creates
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