5,000 watch concert by Red Army Choir and Ottoman Janissary Band

Monday night’s concert, broadcast live on Turkish and Russian state television stations, was part of the ongoing Year of Turkish Culture in Russia program, a yearlong series of cultural events that follows 2007’s Year of Russian Culture in Turkey. The Kremlin concert was the second in a three-concert series by the two ensembles. The first concert took place on Oct. 18 in Kazan and the third is scheduled for tonight in Krasnodar. The concerts are held with support from the Turkish-Russian Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group.

Concert presenter Korhan Abay, speaking in Russian, introduced the Janissary Band, billed as the world’s oldest military band, and the Red Army Choir, which is the continuation of an 80-year-old tradition that dates back to the Soviet Union. He said this was the first time these two world-famous ensembles had ever performed together in the Kremlin.

Fifty musicians from Turkey and 140 from Russia took to the stage at the Kremlin concert, which opened with the national anthems of both countries, with the two groups going on to perform well-known pieces from each other’s cultural heritage. Famous Turkish clarinetist Serkan Çağrı and his band also took to the stage at the concert, which also featured a whirling dervish performance, a solo kemençe performance and a Turkish folkdance show.

Some of the pieces performed by the Red Army Choir included "Solovi Rassii," "Balada o Saldate" and "Katyusha." A group of dancers performed traditional Caucasus folkdances. The Turkish and Russian ensembles’ joint performance of the Ottoman Janissaries’ "Ceddin Dede" at the end of the concert had the audience on their feet for a lengthy standing ovation. Oktay Ülkügüner, the head of the İleri Organization Company, which organized the concert, told the Cihan news agency that this concert had long been his personal dream. "The subject first arose in 2002 as a possibility. I invited the head of the Red Army Choir to İstanbul to talk about the details. … The fact that Russia is hosting a year-long celebration of Turkish culture turned out to be an invaluable opportunity to put on this concert," Ülkügüner said.

Commenting on the prospect of Nobel Peace Prize consideration, Ülkügüner said: "The committee asked for images from the concert and information about the program. We will send what they requested next week. We hope this may win a Nobel Peace Prize. Even if it doesn’t, we would like to see the Ottoman Janissary Band perform alongside the Red Army Choir at the Nobel Prize ceremony." The organizers added that they were planning on more performances in various locations throughout Europe, as well as concerts in Turkey.

Red Army Choir conductor Victor Eliseev said he would like to see the Friendship Concert become a tradition. "We saw a great synergy … between the military bands of these two nations. I would like to see this continue. The audience was very much affected by what they saw onstage here. We need to carry this over to Turkey and European countries," Eliseev said.

Speaking after the concert, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Salih Kapusuz, who also heads the Turkish-Russian Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group, underlined that diplomatic relations between Turkey and Russia had a history of around 500 years. "The political and trade relations the two countries initiated in the ‘90s have only increased recently. This concert will be marked in history as a special festivity. I am sure that, in this way, the Russian people will start feeling even closer to the Turkish people than they already do," he explained.