The Soundscape of Covid-19 In Istanbul
Type
Other
Authors
Category
Essay
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Publication Year
2022
Publisher
Terrabayt, Turkey
Tags
Abstract
The entire world is locked down due to the coronavirus breakout, leading to a rapid shift in the atmosphere of cities, our daily habits, and routines. Even in the most populated cities such as New York, Hong Kong, Rome etc., the streets are emptying. There are no longer rush hours, public transportation lines, packed streets and cafe shops crowded with people. The only thing that can be seen in the sky is, this time, not planes, but birds and clouds.
In this recent juncture in the world history, the Greek word kenopsia which is used to signify a place usually bustling with people but now abandoned, quiet and uncanny, suits very well with the recent atmosphere of the world’s metropolitan cities. Despite the rapidly increasing daily death toll in Turkey, the state has not yet declared a state of emergency, it has rather announced partial curfew to be implemented only in the weekend. Social confinement is promoted through public campaigns and announcements made from mosques. The citizens are thus encouraged to stay at home, giving a dose of kenopsia to Istanbul, as well, notwithstanding a brief interruption upon the panic buying right after the goverment’s two-days of curfew announcement on a Friday night at 10 pm.
The normal structure of life is suspended, and we have recently started to hear a different sonic world in Istanbul. While some people feel uncanny about this unusual change in the soundscape, others seem to enjoy it. However, these contradicting feelings are directly related not only to the soundscape itself but also to the multiple ways we listen to it.
Soundscapes never get rest, they are in constant change as life flows and there is nothing to do about it. The only thing that might be changing is the way we listen to our environments. Maybe this is what John Cage implies when he says, “whereas I love sounds, just as they are. And I have no need for them to be anything more than what they are. I don’t want them to be psychological. I don’t want a sound to pretend that it’s a bucket, or that it’s president, or that it’s in love with another sound. I just want it to be a sound”.
In this recent juncture in the world history, the Greek word kenopsia which is used to signify a place usually bustling with people but now abandoned, quiet and uncanny, suits very well with the recent atmosphere of the world’s metropolitan cities. Despite the rapidly increasing daily death toll in Turkey, the state has not yet declared a state of emergency, it has rather announced partial curfew to be implemented only in the weekend. Social confinement is promoted through public campaigns and announcements made from mosques. The citizens are thus encouraged to stay at home, giving a dose of kenopsia to Istanbul, as well, notwithstanding a brief interruption upon the panic buying right after the goverment’s two-days of curfew announcement on a Friday night at 10 pm.
The normal structure of life is suspended, and we have recently started to hear a different sonic world in Istanbul. While some people feel uncanny about this unusual change in the soundscape, others seem to enjoy it. However, these contradicting feelings are directly related not only to the soundscape itself but also to the multiple ways we listen to it.
Soundscapes never get rest, they are in constant change as life flows and there is nothing to do about it. The only thing that might be changing is the way we listen to our environments. Maybe this is what John Cage implies when he says, “whereas I love sounds, just as they are. And I have no need for them to be anything more than what they are. I don’t want them to be psychological. I don’t want a sound to pretend that it’s a bucket, or that it’s president, or that it’s in love with another sound. I just want it to be a sound”.
Number of Copies
1
