As the last days of summer were approaching, one September evening filled with gentle zephyr, kemenche artist Mark Eliyahu delivered his deep notes to his audience with a light breeze in Istanbul's Harem Square of Üsküdar district, located on the Anatolian shore of the Bosporus.
There were nearly four hours for the performance, yet the place was overfilled with people already standing in the queue, to listen to Eliyahu and his ensemble, with the honor of Piris Eliyahu, Dagestan-born Israeli composer, educator and master of the long-necked, waisted lute, the tar.
Before the ensemble performed onstage, I had a chance to have a pleasant conversation with the congenial Mark Eliyahu, sharing his excitement over the performance he was about to have. "I was dreaming of performing in Istanbul. Now it is a dream come true. It is a big honor and pleasure to be here. I don't even have the words to express my feelings," he said.
Even though Eliyahu came to Istanbul countless times to perform, "It is never too much for me," he said, describing his admiration for Türkiye and the Turkish people. Also, Istanbul has a special place for him as he said "I love Istanbul. All about the people, culture, mixture, vibes," highlighting the city's endless variety that emanates from its being a meeting point of different civilizations, a melting pot that keeps tradition and dynamism connected.
Although he plays on a traditional instrument such as the kemenche, a pear-shaped bowed instrument, he ceaselessly succeeds to fascinate every walk of life in the world where "singles" are long forgotten after they are fastly consumed. There is one specific reason for that as he feels and executes the notes in the very depths of his soul, making his performance unique. Well, apparently also the ethereal artistry runs in the family blood.
Eliyahu was born in Dagestan, now part of Russia, a region heavily influenced by both Turkic and Persian culture over the centuries. Then he moved with his parents to Israel as the Soviet Union collapsed.
With a composer as a father, Piris Eliyahu, and a concert pianist for a mother, Larisa Eliyahu, Mark was born into a musical family, as well as later discovering that his great-great-grandfather was also a kemenche player. "I was listening to other genres such as rock when I was younger and I saw my father when he rehearsed with his band as he played bağlama. I thought that he had something of his own, an instrument. Yet I did not feel connected to that tradition at first," he said.
At the age of 12, Eliyahu senior took Mark to Istanbul and that is when Mark heard the tunes of bağlama, a plucked string instrument, for the first time, saying: "I heard the instrument in one of Ibrahim Tatlıses' songs as his music was everywhere all over the city, especially at weddings. I fell in love with the song." Then his father bought him his first bağlama when he was around 13 years old. He also picked up a classical violin education as a child before moving to Athens to study Turkish and Greek music.
Whatever instrument he aspired to play, Mark takes it seriously and takes it all the way. First, he went to Crete to take courses from Ross Daly, a world musician of Irish descent who does not fit any stereotypes. "He had a hefty music school in his place. I studied bağlama, tambour, delving into the roots of Turkish maqams," he said.
Going into the heart of the culture, Mark then went to Azerbaijan and studied kemenche with Adalet Vazirov who is considered an authority in the field of kemenche and is one of the leading names that introduced Azerbaijani music to the world. Blending the firsthand knowledge that he experienced with the masters Daly and Vazirov, Eliyahu's unique artistic style ripened as he sought to open up to the musical world seeking new forms of expression.
"Studying and learning always made me feel that I had something new to say inside of me to this world," he added.
"When I was studying tradition for many years starting first with classical music, then Turkish maqam, Ottoman melodies, peşrev (instrumental form in Turkish classical music), Azerbaijani Mugham (a complex art form that weds classical poetry and musical improvisation in specific local modes), I felt them all really deep in my soul. I was solely focusing on them and there was nothing else in the world," he said.
Deserts are the inspirational places for Eliyahu and his father, he said, as they find their muses amid savory stillness that helps to slow the mind. The video clip of "Journey" that he released in 2014, which also happens to be my favorite of Eliyahu's works, also takes place in a desert as well as in most of his video clips. The landscape stands as a symbol of his artistic inspiration and creation process in all his works.
As Turkish culture has always been a point of interest for Eliyahu, and he deeply feels connected to the people, he featured songs with many artists such as Fuat Güner and Cem Adrian. "We shot a beautiful video clip in Istanbul with Fuat Güner, just two days before all the world was in lockdown due to COVID-19," he recalled.
He also stated that he loves traveling and getting to know different cultures uniting them in their music saying, "We are all connected, we speak the same language."
As part of the Culture Road project, Eliyahu will take the stage across Türkiye, starting with his beloved Istanbul in Atatürk Culture Center (AKM) on Oct. 18.
