Whatup folks! Chris here. İt’s been a good whıle sınce any storıes so I thought I’d share a lıttle buskıng story. Quıck update before that: we are currently on the ısland of Büyükada, the largest of the Prınces’ İslands (Prens Adaları) off the coast of Istanbul. LOVING ıt! No motorızed vehıcles allowed (except utılıty vehıcles, ambulances, etc…) and somethıng lıke 6 square km bıg. A bıt of a releıf from the excıtement and busıness of Istanbul, where we’ve been couchsurfıng for about two weeks. Anyhow, hope to get some Istanbul and Cappadocıa pıctures up soon on flıckr, though ın the meantıme there are some fresh ones from England up. Anyhow, on wıth the brıef story on busking in Istanbul.

We’re busking for our 3rd time ever in Istanbul. Busking had been good, so far. The first time we busked, we made almost 30 lira ($20 USD) for around 80 minutes of playing under an overhang, in the rain on Istiklal (one of the main pedestrian areas and shopping/tourist zones of Istanbul). So here we are, about an hour before sun down, on an overcast but dry afternoon in December, again on Istiklal. Before we even started playing, someone threw some change in the bowl, “for good luck,” I assumed is what he said in Turkish. After about 5 minutes of playing, a young woman drops a 5 lira note in the bowl. (That’s about $3.50!) We’re on fiyah! We keep playing, but a plain clothes officer with a walkie-talkie tells us that playing there is a problem. We take a hike, but ask an officer in a car on the way if it’s a problem. “No, no problem,” he replies. So we confidently begin playing in a new spot around quarter mile down on Istiklal.

We begin the set from the beginning, starting with Azizah, a pretty well known Arabic piece (I think it’s popular for belly dancing). A woman comes up, excitedly listening. After a few minutes, she says, “I am Azizah!” along with many utterances in Turkish which I try my hardest to tell her I can not understand. “Adınız Azizah?” I say (I think that means “Your name is Azizah?). She shakes her head enthusiastically. So we’re playing HER song! She drops us a 10 lira note (almost $7 USD!) and sticks around for another song before bidding us adieu. Awesomeness! Shortly after another, officer tells us to stop, and we give up for the day. We chalk it up as a major win. We had good times and positive feedback from many passers by. And to top it off, we made around 20 lira in about 20 minutes of playing. Success!