Ney Concerto “Hezarfen”

Fazıl Say has composed a thoroughly ‘Turkish’ work for Mannheim: he has not only chosen to inclued the solo instrument and the rhythmic structures from the culture of his native land, but also the subject matter which has its origins in Istanbul. ‘Hezarfen’ is the first name of the Osman aviation pioneer Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi who in 1632 succeeded in covering a distance of over three kilometres with the aid of self-constructed wings. He began his flight from the top of the Galataturm in Beyoğlu and flew eastwards over the Bosporus where he landed nine minutes later – a more than perilous adventure, not only for the seventeenth century.