A HAVEN OF FREEDOM FOR DANCE, DRUMMING AND ART The Galata Rhythm House, home of its founder Mısırlı Ahmet, the world renowned master of the "darbuka", is joyfully celebrating the fifth of its annual rhythm camp retreats this year. From 7th to 22nd July, we will be the builders of a village of rhythm and art, a place we can call our own, in the beautiful lovely island of Gökçeada, Turkey! Again, the tents will be set up hand in hand, tea and coffee will be made over log fire, rhythms will be played until the morning around the fire that we'll keep alight all night long. ... and when we say "village", we mean this literally! A life long dream of Mısırlı Ahmet, a new settlement completely devoted to music and art is in the baby stages of being formed within the area where our camp will be set to. A "village" retreat where you can purely concentrate on music and rhythm, be it with darbuka or any other instrument of your choice and where you can perform any sort of dance and art form you'd like... i.e. you will also be witnessing the actual birth of this 'village of art' besides everything! 'Ustad' Mısırlı Ahmet will be with us throughout the camp but also some leading ace musicians, dancers and artists from around the world will also be the residents of the camp some of whom will be giving workshops. WHAT DO WE DO IN THE CAMP? We basically enjoy a fortnight of this island's beautiful nature in a true spirit of personal and artistic freedom along with the chance of rubbing shoulders with master musicians and dancers. But to be more precise, our camps feature two distinct activities for the attendant: one, you can enjoy yourself with the company of many free thinking new friends and masters you'll be meeting, you can start on learning the darbuka or if you're already playing you can see the master in action seeing tips on his technique directly from him and you can attend the workshops (which are free unless stated otherwise); two, you can do all that plus, be a part of the show which Mısırlı Ahmet and his students slowly build up to be staged live before an audience at the end of the camp! It has become a sort of tradition where the master and his students put up a fantastic show of transcendental rhythms and dance to be staged to the residents of the towns where we set our camps. We have succesfully staged four shows like this until now to the delight of the welcoming people of Turkey's liberal Aegean region! DO I HAVE TO PLAY DARBUKA OR ANY OTHER PERCUSSION INSTRUMENT? Absolutely not. You can just show up any way you want. But if you do play a percussion instrument, you surely will be soaked to the skin with all kinds of rhythms and find the chance of catching up with the master's techique from him and from his apprentices. Anyone with any musical instrument is more than welcome. Bring your guitar, your oud, your flute, your Hang drum, anything you enjoy! If you're a pro or amateur dancer, a poi performer or a yoga freak, we are just waiting for you. This is the place to be this summer on this side of the planet! WHAT ABOUT ACCOMODATION? It will be in classic "camping" style, which means you will have to bring your own tent. If you don't want to carry it all the way, you can simply find and buy all sorts of tents in Turkey. No problem in setting it up; if you don't know how to, we will help you out. Don't forget to bring a sleeping bag with you. July, in Turkey, almost always tends to be rather hot so taking short day naps under the trees or long night sleeps out on the field facing the bright starry sky of Gökçeada is also very popular among the retreaters! WHAT TO EAT & DRINK? Your daily fee covers a free breakfast and dinner. All sorts of snacks, soft drinks, beer and wine will also be available for purchase at our campsite for very reasonable prices. Other than this, if you'd like to stretch out, we are quite close to the center of Gökçeada where you can find a nice variety of great Turkish and international food. Fantastic fish restaurants and Turco-Greek taverns are also scattered around the island. HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES? We will have some basic first aid kits but make sure you bring your own medication with you if you are ever using any and also please notify us beforehand if you have any allergies. Let's hope for the best but if in any case you face a medical problem, there are well stacked up pharmacies and good quality hospitals and polyclinics in Gökçeada. The island is one of the most peaceful settlements of the whole Aegean region with virtually zero crime rate and the whole campsite is on private land so the least of any bother is not expected. Also, our camp organization is supported by the Mayorship of Gökçeada so the gendermarie will be in charge of our security. HOW DO I GET TO GÖKÇEADA? Easy peasy. There are several ways on how you can reach the island and our campsite. Please contact us and we will give you instructions according to your preferences. WHAT'S THE FEE FOR THE CAMP? Fee is 75 TL (Turkish Lira) (apprx. 42 USD or 32 Euros) per day which covers lodging, breakfast and dinner. If you stay for the whole two weeks, you'll only pay a reduced rate of 950 TL. You can reserve your stay for any length of time within any date you'd like between 7th-22th July 2012. CONTACT CAMP SPONSOR
|
