麻豆社

Galip Dede Street in Istanbul used to be famous for its antique, philatelic and book shops. But over the past 30 years more and more music shops have opened and now the street has more than 30. Esra Yalcinalp talks to the shopkeepers who sell instruments of all kinds, all the orchestral instruments. Here, too, she finds musicians who might buy a ba臒lama or saz, like a mandolin with a very long neck, and a kemen莽e or lyra, a bowed instrument, used in Ottoman classical and Turkish folk music. She gets a demonstration of the different rhythms a master can play on the darbuka, the goblet shaped drum used in Turkish classical music. She meets, too, a French musician seeking strings for her Syrian oud. Can she find these in Galip Dede? Of course. No problem.

There is a problem, though - tourism. It's driving up rents and driving out specialist music shops, which are replaced by hotels and T shirt shops.

Presenter: Esra Yalcinalp
Producer: Julian May