Just curious. It was very well received here (WDC) and I was wondering what the reviews/reactions were in-country.

I saw it at some theater on Istiklal earlier this year, I think it was. It was good, I liked it, but it didn't create any special stirrings in me, probably because I'm about as hip as a lump of coal. It seems to get its share of critical acclaim here, but my impression was that foreign press thought it was a whole lot more worthy of commentary than local press.

Matt

It is an uneven documentary, spending way too much time on BLEEP like Ceza (who? Exactly), and those "kerazee" breakdancers. It is especially jejune when the former is given a platform to express his platitudinous ramblings on how his "music (BLEEP off, you BLEEP!)" is truly original and "urban(I told you to BLEEP off with this urban BLEEP, you annoying, little BLEEPing BLEEP)," and is in no way a hackneyed carbon-copy of Eminem at best, and Eminem-wanna-be wiggers at worst.

That said, the latter half of the picture is immense fun.

Yeah that was me

I liked the film - especially the Pera scenes. Not too keen on seeing that scary woman Aksu though.

You had me at BLEEP.

I agree that too much time was spent on ceza and the breakdancers.

Lucky I didn't start a thread about T****n or somebody.

I was very touched by the respect that the younger artists expressed for the old guard in this film, and vice versa.

The break-dancers weren't so great, and I thought they spent too much time with the drug-addled street musicians, but we found Ceza aka "Eminonu" hilarious. Hip-hop in languages other than English amuses me no end, but I have my reasons. More seriously, when I understand it often they are talking about social problems, politics, etc. bringing the genre back to a more conscious place. There's some very interesting rap coming out of Israel/Palestine right now, in Hebrew and Arabic for example. I can't listen to most of the new stuff in English, it's so offensive on so many levels. (I get the sense some of you hate all of it, but that's your thing.)

Also, I'm still yet a hopeful repeat visitor gathering courage, but even I could see that they skipped right over a thriving jazz scene.

"Jazz is the last refuge of the untalented. Jazz musicians enjoy themselves more than anyone listening to them does."

Ceza is a moron. Pure and simple.

How naive of me, to expect a respectful exchange of opinion here. Thanks so much for reminding me why I don't post much to this site. If this were a real-time face-to-face exchange, I'd extricate myself at this point, so I will do so virtually now. KQ out.


[quote user="Arikan" post="58376"]"Jazz is the last refuge of the untalented. Jazz musicians enjoy themselves more than anyone listening to them does."

Ceza is a moron. Pure and simple.[/quote]

Oh, come on. Give us a kiss.

Kebap Queen: You are joking right?? Perhaps if you took the time to look at other threads, you'd understand Arikans online 'persona'. Then again, maybe you have and your entitled to your opinion!!

But all the same, please dont take it all seriously. It's always nice to have different points of view, including yours from across the pond.