NYC Turkish Day Parade And Festival 2011
Turkish Day Parade on Madison Avenue in NYC
The NYC Turkish Day Parade will be on Saturday, May 28th, 2011. The parade will start on 51st Street at 11:00 am and follow Madison Avenue down to 47th Street, ending in the Dag Hammarskjold Park near the Turkish Consulate. A stage will be set up in the First Avenue side of the Dag Hammarskjold Park, where there will be speeches and singers from Turkey. There will also be food vendors selling Turkish food. This year, Turkish singers Ferhat Gocer and Linet will be coming from Turkey for the festivities and will be the heavyweights of the festival. In last year’s Turkish post-parade festival, the Turkish pop singer Kenan Dogulu, the Turkish national soccer team and the Ottoman military band (Mehter Takimi) were the special guests from Turkey. The Annual Turkish Day Parade is the largest Turkish American event in North America and has been organized in NY by the FTAA, the Federation of Turkish American Associations, since 1981.
As usual, there will be the Turkish Day Ball the night before the parade and this year’s ball will be held at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel on Friday, May 27th. Singers Ferhat Gocer and Linet will be taking stage as special guests at this year’s ball.
NJ Turkish Day Parade And Festival
As part of the Turkish festivities in May, there will also be the Turkish American Day Parade and Festival in Clifton and Paterson, New Jersey on Saturday, May 14th. The parade will start at noon from Madison Avenue in Paterson and follow the Main Street ending in Clifton Park in Clifton. The post-parade NJ Turkish festival in Clifton Park will feature vendors selling Turkish food and other products and there will be surprise singers, prizes and a raffle.
Additionally, there will be Turkish flag raising ceremonies in front of Paterson City Hall and Clifton City Hall at 10:00 am and 12:00 noon respectively on Thursday, May 12th, and the Balo, the pre-parade ball, in Victor Chateau at 7:30 pm on Friday, May 13th.
Turkish Music in NYC: Istanbulive 3
Turkish music in New York Central Park
Turkish music will be showcased in New York third year in a row on Friday, June 17. The concert will be held in Central Park SummerStage and this time, unlike the first two concerts in 2009 and 2010, it will be an evening concert starting at 6:00 pm and ending at 10:00pm. The admission will be free and music fans are advised to arrive early, as crowds are expected.
Turkish music: From Istanbul to New York
This year’s Istanbulive concert will feature the renowned Turkish singer Zulfu Livaneli and the Turkish alternative rock band maNga from Istanbul, joined by New York’s own NY Gypsy All Stars that recently returned from a very successful tour in Turkey. Zulfu Livaneli has been singing traditional Turkish folk rhythms for four decades and is also a political figure in Turkey. This will be maNga’s first New York appearance, although the Turkish band has loyal fans in both Turkey and all across Europe. 2009 and 2010 marked two consecutive successful years for maNga’s music career and the group extended its fan base outside of Turkey with the Best European Act Award by MTV Europe in 2009 and the impressive second place ranking at the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest in 2010. maNga successfully blends Anatolian melodies with rock and electronic music.
Serdar Ilhan and Mehmet Dede, the two founders and producers of Istanbulive concert series, showcased Turkish music in New York very successfully in 2009 and 2010 and approximately 12,000 New Yorkers combined attended the first two concerts. The first Istanbulive concert in 2009 featured the all time favorite Turkish band Mazhar Fuat Ozkan and the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest winner Sertab Erener, and over 6,000 music fans stayed till the very end of the hours long concert despite the pouring rain. The following year, Istanbulive 2 featured the Turkish pop singer Kenan Dogulu and the Turkish rock band Duman from Istanbul. The success of the first two concerts promises Istanbulive 3 to be a good showcase of Turkish music and culture in NY this year as well.
Nevruz shows in New York
Nevruz Show in the Town Hall
Two Nevruz shows were performed in New York this week. The first performance was held at the General Assembly Hall in the United Nations Headquarters at 6:00 pm on Thursday, March 24th. There was a press conference before the show at the same location and the show was followed by a reception at the Turkish Mission (Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations). The second performance at the Town Hall on Saturday night was attended by fewer dance troupes as the stage wasn’t big enough to accommodate all the dancers. Over 150 musicians and dancers represented 11 countries and regions, including Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Crimea (Ukraine), Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Gagauzia (Republic of Moldova) and several republics from the Russian Federation, in their colorful costumes.
Nevruz is celebrated as a festival in many Turkish speaking nations all across Eurasia as the beginning of the spring. It is a major public holiday in several countries and a celebration of life, renewal and hope. Nevruz has a history of more than 5,000 years and has an important influence in Turkish music and literature. Also, the Turks all around Eurasia share the tradition of many different meals special to Nevruz. The General Assembly of the United Nations declared March 21st as the International Day of Nevruz and included Nevruz into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
This New York debut of the two Nevruz performances was presented by Turksoy, the International Organization of Turkic Culture. Turksoy, based in Turkey, is an international organization aiming to strengthen relations among Turkish speaking nations, and developing the common culture, literature, history, arts, customs and traditions in the Turkic World. Turksoy was founded in 1993 by Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Then, the Republics of Altai, Tatarstan, Sakha-Yakutia, Khakassia, Bashkortostan and Tyva from the Russian Federation, Gagauzia from Moldova, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus joined the organization as observer member states.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul in New York
Turkish President Abdulah Gul is in New York
Turkish President Abdullah Gul arrived in New York yesterday to attend the 65th session of the General Assembly at the United Nations between September 20-22. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan also came on the same plane yesterday for the UN General Assembly that will be attended by leaders from 150 countries around the world. This year’s General Assembly is particularly important for Turkey, as it just took over the rotating presidency of he United Nations Security Council and will be hosting conferences on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
Today President Gul met with UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon on the first day of his New York visit. Aside from Jose Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, and Amr Musa,the Secretary General of the Arab League, the Turkish president is expected to meet with 12 head of states on the sidelines of the General Assembly. There is no meeting planned at the moment with U.S. President Barack Obama, although President Gul will be attending the dinner hosted by President Obama at the American Museum of Natural History on September 23rd.
Turkish President Gul will also speak at the Council on Foreign Relations and Columbia University before flying to Boston on September 24. He will return to Turkey on September 25 after his one day visit in Boston.
Turkish Music Concert in Central Park
Summerstage in Central Park
The countdown has started for this weekend’s Turkish music concert at Central Park Summerstage. The concert, which the Turkish American community has been looking forward to after last year’s successful first concert, will start at 3:00 pm on Saturday, July 3rd and will feature some famous singers and bands from Turkey, including Kenan Dogulu, Duman, Ilhan Ersahin and Sukriye Tutkun. Last year’s concert was a huge success with close to 7,000 Turkish music fans and most people sang with Mazhar Fuat Ozkan for hours despite the pouring rain.
Istanbulive II, the official name of this year’s concert organization, presented by Serdar Ilhan and Mehmet Dede, is intended to bring the sounds and colors of Istanbul, the 2010 European Capital of Culture, and Turkey to New York. Please check out the below given website for more information on this Turkish cultural event:
29th Annual NYC Turkish Day Parade: No Parade in 2010
New York Turkish Day Parade
This year’s Turkish Day Parade will be held only as a festival in Manhattan’s Dag Hammarskjold Park on Sunday, May 23. Different than every other year, there will be no parade this year. The festivities in Dag Hammarskjold Park will start at 12:00 noon on Sunday and several prominent singers from Turkey will take stage during the festivities. Among the special guests from Turkey, there will be the Turkish national soccer team, Turkish and Azerbaijani folk dance troupes, pop singer Kenan Dogulu and the Ottoman military band (Mehter Takimi).
Turkish Day Parade usually takes place on the third or the fourth Saturday of every May, however, it was rescheduled to Sunday this year, as the Turkish national soccer team was scheduled to play against the Czech Republic team on Saturday, May 22nd. The parade part was then canceled, as Sunday, May 23 is the designated day for the Israeli parade, and it was instead planned as a full day festival in the Dag Hammarskjold Park in Manhattan. The city doesn’t allow more than one parade on the same day in Manhattan for security reasons.