Sivas' Lament from Karin by Vardan Hovanissian & Emre Gültekin

/ In 1993, hundreds of artists, musicians, dancers, writers, poets and journalists across Turkey attended the Pir Sultan Abdal festival in Sivas. This Alevi festival offers a mixture of cultural and intellectual activities including music, theatre and conferences on democracy and human rights. One of the participants, the atheist writer Aziz Nesin, had translated several passages from the book The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie as a call for freedom of expression.

Some 500 religious fundamentalists used this as an opportunity to create an opposition movement. In one day, the number of their supporters reached 10,000 people. They laid siege to the Hotel Madýmak, where some guests were staying. Without any intervention by the government, the police or the army, the hotel was set on fire and 37 people died.

The Sivas massacre, in which several friends of his father Lüftü were killed, had a lasting effect on the young Emre. "As a child, it’s difficult to understand how someone who you were only teasing at the dinner table the previous week has suddenly disappeared.”

The Sivas Lament, inspired by a melody by Lütfü Gültekin, is not only a tribute to the dead, but also a protest against intolerance and violence towards "deviant" spirits.

Since he was introduced to the duduk by his master Khachik Khachatryan, Vardan Hovanissian has become one of the most talented ambassadors for this ancient double-reeded instrument whose melancholy tones reflect the Armenian soul. He found his musical soul-mate over ten years ago when he met Emre Gültekin, who learned the art of the Turkish saz from his father Lütfü Gültekin and from Talip Özkan.

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