Turkish Waits

14 September 2012:

Waits Further East

The drum and shawm groups found all over Turkey are essentially town waits. Here’s a very recent example, a local municipality bringing them out to welcome an Olympic champion:
http://www.aktifhaber.com/milli-guresci-memleketinde-davul-zurna-ile-karsilandi-648843h.htm
(Google Translate will tell you what it’s about; I think I have been through Yozgat once but it wasn’t a very memorable experience).

Even the tiniest town in Turkey has a “Ramazan davulcu”, a drummer who gets people woken up during Ramadan in time to prepare their breakfast.

This one is another nice example of how current the Turkish tradition is – call in the davul-zurna band to mark the signing of a labour agreement by the city council and the municipal workers’ union:
http://www.antakya.bel.tr/tr/index.php?okod=305

Searching “davul zurna” on YouTube will give lots of examples. It’s an uninterrupted tradition going back to the Middle Ages and surviving on a much larger scale than anything in Western Europe.

That is, your list of waits around Europe needs a few additions.

Cheers – Jack
Jack Campin
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