Sunday, August 20, 2006

Opinion by Elif ŞAFAK

Every week Istanbul hosts myriad guests -- thrifty tourists, moneyed travelers, bohemian artists, fashion designers, exchange students, politicians, businessmen… a motley cluster of people, some of whom are here for a definite purpose, while some others seem to refuse to have any purpose in life. As numerous and varied as Istanbul s visitors are, few must have attracted as much attention and media coverage as Daniel Barenboim, who gave a wonderful concert in the old city. Barenboim came to Istanbul with the East-West Divan orchestra, which was founded by him and the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said in 1999. Overall, the visit has grabbed the headlines in Turkish papers. Yet at the same time, it was either the tittle-tattle or any potential scandals that some of the papers were more interested in. When it was heard that the Jewish community in Turkey had been disturbed by Barenboim s latest press release concerning Israel s bombing of Lebanon and had thereby refused to sponsor the East-West Divan Orchestra, the attention of the gutter press soared. After all, some newspapers in this country are more fond of “tension and thunder” than classical music, and the number of journalists who like to go for the jugular cannot be underestimated. To be fair, amidst this hullabaloo, there still appeared several decent articles and columns that looked into Barenboim s work, philosophy and art, and the coverage of some TV channels, such as CNN Turk and NTV, has stood out from the rest. With all this coverage and by the end of the week the Turkish society had gotten to know Barenboim better and perhaps managed to ask herself a rather unusual question: How would I feel about the ongoing events and atrocities in the Middle East and the world, had I been born or raised in Israel and ended up as a critical-minded Jewish citizen? Barenboim s visit was a golden opportunity to remember one of the most basic and yet frequently forgotten facts in international politics today: that despite the sweeping generalizations we make about each other, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians, neither the non-Muslim nor the Muslim world compose a homogenous entity in itself. Instead, there are scores of competing, clashing and coexisting voices in each and every side. Barenboim s work and life deserve a closer look and respect. He has regularly toured the Far East, Australia, South America, Europe and the United States; held positions in Berlin and in Chicago. His art has transcended national boundaries. Born in Buenos Aires, he came to Israel with his parents at age 10. He grew up loving Israel and yet at the same time has been highly vocal in criticizing the policies of the state and government vis-à-vis Palestinian Question. Though considered a “phenomenon,” a child prodigy, since age seven, his art and artistic career have never been fully stripped of moral and political concerns. Barenboim has not produced art for art s sake. “One can make music just for fun, or one can long for this unity, perfection, search the connections, understand a phenomenon not as something isolated, be it tempo, melody or harmony. Everything is always connected to each other,” he says. Perhaps it is this interconnectedness that helps him to comprehend how each and every one of us in this world is connected to the stories and pains of Others. Nobody and no country live in a social vacuum. In the age in which we live, whatever takes place in one part of the world directly concerns people elsewhere. Barenboim and Said strove to transcend the national and religious boundaries drawn in front of us via art and mutual empathy and courage. What Barenboim once said about the late Edward Said is also true for him: “He was not only at home in music, literature, philosophy, or the understanding of politics, but also he was one of those rare people who saw the connections and the parallels between different disciplines, because he had an unusual understanding of the human spirit, and of the human being, and he recognized that parallels and paradoxes are not contradictions.”