By Heidi Trautmann

The Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture made intensive and costly preparations to respectfully celebrate North Cyprus Republic Day. Twenty well known artists were invited to show their work for the occasion to open the festive event, with an exquisite concert to follow to which excellent musicians had answered the call and complied with the wish to contribute to the event.

We saw paintings by Bahar Çırali, Devrim T. Malyalizade, Emel Samioğlu, Erman Karagöz, Fatos Miralay, Feridun Işıman, Gökçe Şekeroğlu, Hare Ergen, Hikmet Uluçam, Inci Kansu, Ipek Karagöz, Ismet Tatar, Mustafa Hastürk, Osman Keten, Salih Cizel, Serkan Ilseven, Solmaz Ersöz, Şenol Özdevrim, Türksal Ince, Ülviye Karabaşak.

The party was well prepared but invitations were sent out very late so in the end there were some representatives from the Ministry and the artists themselves and some of their friends. It is such a pity to arrange an exhibition with good art for a single evening and those who should see the art could not be reached for lack of information. If we had a museum, people could go any day and we don’t have many occasions to see art work by so many of our artists in one sweep.

The same sad feeling overcame me when I entered the auditorium for the concert; I knew many of the musicians and I had greeted them while they were waiting, clad in beautiful gowns and evening suits, in anticipation of their performance. Especially my very young friends, the pianists Ipek Zorba (13 years) and Erol Emmioğlu (15 years).

Vasfiye Çakırtaş (Soprano) with Prof. Cevanşir Guliyev on the piano;  Eran Raman (flute) with Mine Sadrazam  on the piano; İpek Zorba (Piyano); Erol Emmioğlu (Piyano) Expromte Trio: Evren Karagöz (Bariton); Burcu Karagöz  (Violoncello); İlyas Abdullin (Violin); İrade Melikova (Piano); Gözdem Ilkay (Piano) and finally Demet George Mustafaoğlu with Rauf Kasımov on the piano.

As the exhibition was a feast for the eyes, so was each of the musical performances a feast for our ears and I will never understand why, right after the first performance, one of the official representatives left the concert, but…. perhaps he was sick.

But, as one of my artist friends said to me: I work for the sake of the arts and not for the people but still: artists want to share the beauty of their experience with others; the discoveries they make when painting or the high respect musicians feel for the music they play so that they all give their best any time.

Published in Cyprus Observer Nov 17, 2012