Cultural post 1 - Kolbastı

[David Mowry]

Kolbastı is a dance originating from Trabzon, a city on the Black Sea coast. There are a few differing interpretations about the meaning of the term kolbastı - one is that the dance is supposed to resemble a bird trying to fly after its wing or leg has been broken or stepped on. This comes from kol (foreleg of an animal) and bastı (basmak - to step on, to weigh down + tı - 3rd person preterit). The second interpretation is that it is a song by those caught in a police raid, as in kol (patrol) and bastı (basmak - to raid or surprise/bastırmak - to suppress).The English wikipedia article takes the second viewpoint, citing the lyrics "They came, they caught us, they beat us" (in Turkish: 'Geldiler, bastilar, vurdular'). No matter what the interpretation is, this dance is remarkable. There aren't any set moves per se, but there's a set style of improvisation. It's often in 9/8 time, which makes it harder for those of us in the Western musical tradition to grasp, but it really doesn't matter if you just move your feet and kick a lot. This is, of course, a simplification, but not too far from the basics.Here's a video of the most popular new version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLaDPjc61loAlthough the dance supposedly dates back to the 1930s, it has seen a revival (or maybe just an expansion outside of Trabzon) in youth culture. The dance is performed at weddings, festivals and on Turkish variety shows. In both formal and informal settings, people usually kneel in a circle and cycle in and out of the dance circle. Watch the videos, and remember the basics of any Turkish dancing - just keep snapping your fingers.University student collection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvkBYp9bkY0We might have to be friends on facebook to see this, but...http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=646904900232&subj=15805906