As our cruise went up and down the Bosphorus, and after the "bears were well fed" with Turkish exotica, it was time to take a peek into Turkish culture.
A lady performs a traditional Turkish dance with a tambourine...
This dance seemed to have gypsy origins...
Asuk Masuk, an imitation play of dwarfs...
A Hora dance...
People wait for the belly dancing to begin...
There she comes in, the belly dancing star people had been waiting for...
Neeti and I were amazed how people from conservative Middle Eastern countries were drooling...
These guys and a Pakistani guy next to us recorded the whole damn belly dance on their smartphones...
Wonder if they would really have the courage to do that back home?
But all said and done, the belly dance was indeed mesmerizing and sensuous...
Then she invites men to join her on stage, while women look on...
And this funny fat and elderly guy joins her on stage...
And we all break out in laughter as he funnily mimics the belly dancer's movements...
The focus of the audience shifts from the belly dancer to the funny old man from Kazakhstan...
He had us all in splits...
And this move had the men absolutely captivated...
An Anatolian dance usually performed for weddings...
They showed the bride being dressed up for the occasion...
And being adorned with henna...
There come the gifts for the couple...
This was quite an interesting dance and us all captivated...
The groom's friends...
The bride and groom now dance together...
Another short dance performance before the DJ came in with popular numbers from the region. These dances proved beyond doubt the influences that were assimilated in Istanbul - European, Islamic, Central Asian and those of the Romany gypsies. Indeed Turkey has an incredible historical and cultural heritage to nurture...
These two songs made the audience break loose, especially the women. They were all out on the dance floor, dancing as though no one was watching. And we were to soon figure out many of these people were from Saudi Arabia, where all this kind of stuff is unlawful. And Istanbul is probably their "play" destination where they break their shackles, albeit temporarily, for the duration of their vacation.
The songs were catchy and foot-tapping, the first one C'est La Vie by the famous Algerian singer, Khaled (remember his 1993 superhit, "Didi"?)
The other song that caught our attention was Abdel Kader. This is a traditional Algerian folk song, adapted for contemporary audiences by Khaled and two French performers of North African origin - Rachid Taha and Faudel.
As the performances drew to a close, we knew for sure that these two songs - C'est La Vie and Abdel Kader will forever remind us of Istanbul and this lovely evening on the Bosphorus...
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