In the Spirit of Ramadan

By Şule Kulu, "New album from Amir Ateş celebrates spirit of Ramadan" - Sunday's Zaman
Sunday, September 14, 2008

Turkish classical music composer Amir Ateş released his new album "Welcome Ramadan" on the first day of the Muslim holy month this year, Sept. 1. The album features 27 tracks, including Sufi hymns.

"Ramadan has a divine flavor. Everyone feels it, I think," says Ateş.

Ateş is a familiar figure to the Turkish audience, with his performances on holy Islamic nights broadcast on various TV stations from mosques. With his choir, he still appears on TV on such nights singing Islamic hymns and mevlid (a poem illustrating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad), along with recitations from the Quran.

Ateş was born in 1942 in the Marmara province of İzmit. He was sent to İstanbul during his early childhood to receive religious education. Once there he took religious Sufi music and Turkish classical music courses from prominent figures in the field.

After retiring from his job at the municipality as a civil servant at the beginning of the 1990s, Ateş has been able to concentrate more on his compositions. He is now among the few composers with over 2,000 compositions to his name. He is a member of Turkish Radio and Television Corporation's (TRT) repertoire committee. He also teaches students in the Üsküdar Music Society, for which he also serves as a member of the board of directors.

Ateş makes albums on request, with the latest one being "Welcome Ramadan," prepared for the Islamic holy month. All of the tracks on the album were composed by Ateş, and most of the lyrics also belong to him. His choir is made up of six musicians with whom he has been working for many years.

Although "Welcome Ramadan" is not the first hymn album from Ateş, he says: "I try to do my part whenever a service is demanded from me in this art. Our fathers used to say, 'Do not refuse to do what is demanded of you.' My previous album, however, was not as carefully prepared as this one. There was great effort put into this album."

The idea to make such an album came from Dağhan Baydur, the chairman of the Muzikotek music company. After being offered the project, Ateş decided to work with Baydur. "I have never sought self-promotion. I took on this project because I wanted to make a contribution to our culture and arts," says Ateş.

Noting that the current music market has been filled with a clamor of voices, Ateş emphasizes that Turkish culture has started to become too materialistic. According to Ateş, the figures we see on TV with the arrival of Ramadan all claim to be performing Turkish classical music. "Turkish classical music is above all genres in our cultures. Every genre has specific features, which should be paid close attention."

Although Ateş's album was released on the first day of Ramadan, he says he believes in the continuity of art and that he does not want his album to be restricted to Ramadan. Ateş says art should contribute to the culture that gave birth to it. "Art should give people peace in Ramadan, at home, in the car, everywhere and at all times. If it were intended to be temporary, neither the musician nor the listener would take pleasure in it," Ateş adds.

‘Ramadan has its own culture’
"Ramadan creates a unique flavor; everyone experiences it," Ateş says. "This is neither the flavor of pide [flat bread coated with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds] nor that of the kebab. This is a distinct, divine flavor."

Attending numerous iftars (fast-breaking dinner) and Ramadan activities, Amir Ateş says Ramadan has a distinct spirit with the hymns sang during terawih prayers. As a master Islamic hymn singer, Ateş says hymns with the theme of welcoming Ramadan are sung at the mosques, and from the 20th day of Ramadan onward, hymns saying farewell to the month are sung.

"All the words said during the prayer are followed by a specific maqam, a system of melody types in Turkish classical music. The congregation at the mosque does not even understand how the prayer ends. They almost move into a different world spiritually."

Stating that his album is also intended to contribute to the spirit of Ramadan, Ateş says it is not difficult to feel this spirit and tells of one his concert experiences in Berlin.

"The entire hall was full of Turks, Arabs and Germans. Through the end of the concert we gave, we were so focused that our kudüms [a rhythm instrument in classical Turkish music] went silent and our invocations accompanying the rhythm of the tracks replaced them. At one moment, I even saw one of our musicians, ney player Mahmut Bilgi, give up playing and lose himself in the spirit of Ramadan."

At the end of the concert, a group of German youths, deeply impressed by the performance, found the concert hall managers and said they wanted to do something for the audience, proceeding to hand out cold beverages, Ateş notes. "They cried for several minutes, embracing us. Seventy young German youth said they converted to Islam there," he says.

After the concert, Ateş and his group were hosted by a Turkish family in Berlin, from where they would head to the Netherlands for another concert. "After these positive reactions, we heard that a group of ultra-leftist Turks in Germany wanted to prevent us from going to the Netherlands by informing their group members in the Netherlands about our concert, suggesting that we are poisoning the youth," he states.

Ateş and his group waited for almost four hours at the Netherlands border. "However, we knew that the queen of the Netherlands was also a Sufi and we informed her about the situation. When we crossed the border and arrived at the concert hall, thanks to the order of the queen, we saw that not one person had left the hall. How can you explain this spirit?" Ateş asks.

[Picture: Turkish classical music composer Amir Ateş poses for a photograph at the Etiler Mosque. Photo: Today's Zaman].