Heidi Trautmann

604 - If we sing together – we can live together – 10 years Yiltan Taşçı and Adamos Katsantonis
2/15/2014

If we sing together – we can live together – Yiltan Taşçı and Adamos Katsantonis

10 years have gone by in fruitful cooperation for peace in Cyprus

 

By Heidi Trautmann

 

‘Two brave hearts’,  a book –published in English, Turkish/Greek and in Greek - written by Hasan Çakmak about the two bards Yiltan and Adamos who invited guests from both sides of the green line to come to the Atatürk Cultural Centre in Nicosia to celebrate with them the 10th anniversary of their working together for music and for peace.

The 2nd President of the TRNC Mr Mehmet Ali Talat opened the event on 12 February in the Atatürk Cultural Centre, the exact date of their first singing event together in the very same place ten years ago, says Yiltan Tasci in his introduction to the public, and he takes us through the exhibition of photos that represent important stations of the cooperation between him and Adamos Katsantonis.

 

The ‘two brave hearts’ have been active for peace over the years as we can see from the photos, for example the concert on the day when Lokmaçı Crossing was opened; events on both sides of the island, be it in Paphos or in Nicosia, at crucial moments, for example they sang together with the then two leaders Talat and Christofias the song ‘Dyllirga’; they went abroad to promote their peace course; and as they said, they are practically on the way to Korea for another peace concert.

 

The concert followed in two parts, first with musicians from the Nicosia Municipality Orchestra with rock music to accompany the two singers and in the second part with musicians from Turkish and Greek Cypriot Folk Music Groups with softer tunes with traditional songs. Yiltan and Adamos sang both in Turkish and Greek and many of the audience joint in. There were also quite a number of Greek Cypriot guests among the audience. The lyrics of the songs were partly by Yiltan himself, by the poet Bulent Fevzioğlu and Tayfun Atabey, and compositions were both by Yiltan and Adamos. In the traditional music part, a Greek Cypriot got up to expertly show the dance steps, others joined in, also a young boy not older than 8 years jumped onto the stage and danced forgetting all around him.

 

Looking at their curriculum vitae, they are about the same age, Yiltan born in Nicosia, Adamos in Famagusta, both are poets, musicians and activists. They prove – as so many artists do – that musicians know of no border and they teach us that if we look for common things that unite us we can live together, we must not look for things that separate us.

Here a comment by Adamos on one of his compositions for which he got a peace award:

“War, you are the obstruction of the Light” – In my song, I have put War on trial confronting it personally with its crimes against humanity, and eventually casting upon it in turn what it threatens us with: WAR…I will always curse you to be exterminated from the surface of the earth”











The 2nd President Memet Ali Talat opening the photo exhibition
The 2nd President Memet Ali Talat opening the photo exhibition


One of the photos
One of the photos


Cemal Tunceri and wife in the foreground
Cemal Tunceri and wife in the foreground


This is the bottle for the peace talks
This is the bottle for the peace talks


Another photo
Another photo


Mehmet Ali Talat with Yiltan and Adamos and Serhan Gazioglu on the left, I don
Mehmet Ali Talat with Yiltan and Adamos and Serhan Gazioglu on the left, I don't know the gentleman in the centre


One photo was a contribution by the caricaturist Cemal Tunceri
One photo was a contribution by the caricaturist Cemal Tunceri


The concert itself
The concert itself


A Greek Cypriot guest and friend of the cause
A Greek Cypriot guest and friend of the cause


Yiltan and Adamos have invited Bülent Fevcioglu to come on stage
Yiltan and Adamos have invited Bülent Fevcioglu to come on stage





A Greek Cypriot guest dances to the Cypriot tunes
A Greek Cypriot guest dances to the Cypriot tunes





A small boy dancing in front os us
A small boy dancing in front os us






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