Monday

Istanbul Eats Drinks: Otantik Turku Bar

One night in Otantik, a Turku (Turkish folk music) bar in Beyoglu, delivers all the emotional peaks and valleys of life itself. As the saz strumming bard on stage moans out the first few bars of a familiar song of lost love, even the table of stony-faced, raki-drenched fellows in leather jackets melt with a sigh. Then a foot stomping number gets rolling and out come the handkerchiefs – if not to wipe a tear then to flap at the band in rapturous approval.  Before long everyone is dancing in a wide circle, pinkies interlocked, in a synchronized, shoulder-shrugging shimmy led by one fellow who is either waving a napkin or horsewhistling with his free hand. During a slow jam about a fair-haired bride, exhausted, they slump over a plate of fresh fruit and another glass of raki. Lovers canoodle and singles yearn to, as the electric saz twangs and thrums to the bard’s squinty-eyed lament. It is a traditional night out and a celebration of Anatolian culture that, for many, is just as culturally significant as the kebab. Continue…