Modern Istanbul Part 2: grotesque parallel worlds

2010, Istanbul was one of the European capitals of culture. The Turkish metropolis at the Bosporus attracts many people and connects orient and occident. An impressive proof of that fact is the vivid Turkish pop music culture which has also been subject to the digital revolution.

Plattenhändler Ibrahim Zeytinkaya

If you take a stroll in Istanbul and walk beyond the trodden tourist paths, you will find exciting and strange things. In the Unkapani district, you enter another world. Years ago, records, MCs, CDs, and DVDs were produced, distributed and sold here – for example, Berlin was provided with Turkish music from here. But now, the centre of the music industry has become a sort of ghost town.

The good old record shop couldn’t keep up with the triumph of digital media and the file sharing structure of the internet. But some of the long-established exporters and dealers are still in business: maybe, the once popular MC will have a glorious comeback one day, you never know…

Plattenhändler Taner Sayacioglu

So, Ibrahim Zeytinkaya still has his record shop, and Taner Sayacioğlu distributes music on old data media, preferably on MC. And Haci Hamdi who exported a lot in the old days, sits on his goods today.

Text: Boris Alexander Knop