Mus2okur in the Press
Akşam newspaper, October 3, 2007
Click here to see a scan of the article.
The magic box of Turkish music goes on sale
By Ali Saydam
Some people embark on what no one else has done before and for this reason come to be known as a "nutjob" or "lunatic". Our dear friend Kemal Karaosmanoğlu is one of these people. A while ago, I received a box in the mail from him. On the box it said: Multimedia Encyclopedia of Turkish Music...
Kemal also sent a letter along the box. As if to say, "I've been frying eggplants for the last few days, here try this dish!":
I've been working on the program in this box for the last two years. Data-Soft is a company run by a friend of mine. The program was designed to teach Turkish music with a computer.
It uses audio, visual and even animated aids to introduce the concepts of usul, pitch, maqam, form and diapason. In addition, it can play any one of the 1000 musical works in its database with any instrument, in any tempo and diapason, thus allowing the user to sing or play along with these works, expand his repertory and learn to read music notation.
Pushing the limits of modesty, Kemal left out a few things. For example, for how many decades he has been collecting Turkish sheet music or how much time and effort he has put into IT and Turkish music since graduating from Istanbul University's Department of Mathematics...
Naturally one isn't concerned with the storms the ship has sailed through, only that it has safely docked in the harbor.
The only thing I can criticize is the name of the project: Multimedia Encyclopedia of Turkish Music... How un-sexy! If it were me, I would choose a subtitle such as "The Magic Box of Turkish Music".
For more information on the software, visit www.musiki.org. Slated for release shortly, the magic box will be sold in every music shop and major bookstore. Probably it will be sold on the web as well.
Well done, Kemal Karasomanoğlu. Where would we be, if it weren't for people like you?