Poetry set to music in a haunting way

January 6, 2006
The Seattle Times
By Paul de Barros
Seattle Times jazz critic

The great Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963) got himself thrown in jail — the first time — for speaking out about the Armenian massacres of 1915 and 1922.

Today, another Turkish writer, novelist Orhan Pamuk, is being threatened with jail for saying exactly the same thing, almost a century later. The outcome may be crucial in Turkey's admission to the European Union.

Though the timing is pure coincidence, Sunday's concert, "New Music for Nazim Hikmet" by Seattle composer Robin Holcomb, couldn't be happening at a better moment.

With the help of a grant from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Holcomb has set six of Hikmet's poems to music for a chamber ensemble [...]www.brownpapertickets.com).

Hikmet spent much of his life in prison, but in 1950, after an international protest led by Pablo Picasso, among others, the Turkish poet received the World Peace Prize.
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