November 8, 2013

Skies shudder at an orphan’s tear

Famine, civil war and conflicts in Africa have left thousands of orphans behind. Yagmur Magazine and Kimse Yok Mu Foundation have jointly launched a projects aimed to lift up those orphans. The profit made out of the poetry album Goklerin Titreyişi (meaning shudders of the skies) will be donated to the African children in need.


“One poem, one orphan” project was publicized on November 3rd. The album, featuring the poems previously published on Yagmur Magazine and now recited by prominent reciters, had its premiere at Cemberlitas Firat Cultural Center. Kubranur Uslu and Suleyman Dincer were the two emcees of the night which was attended by numerous guests alongside the reciters artists and the project coordinator Ziya Paşa Akyürek. Yagmur Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Hasan Ahmet Gokce addressed the attendees with a project brief. “To extend a hand to the orphan is one of the most significant duties of every human being. That being said, we as Yagmur Magazine have taken a step in order to do what we are supposed to. We would like to let our joy be theirs,” Gokce said and further expressed their pleasure to have the artists’ support. Likewise, “I would like to call the project “One poem, thousand orphans’, if I may. We have witnessed an invaluable sensitivity by the artists. It is greatly important to be aware of a cause but to let the others be too is even more important than that,” Kimse Yok Mu Foundation President, Ismail Cingoz, noted.

Speaking of the project’s motive inspired by the Prophet Muhammad’s hadith that reads: “The skies shudder when an orphan cries”, Ahmet Bozkus -one the contributor artists- said: “There should be no other means as gentle and tender as poems are to caress an orphan’s head. Poems can usually move one or make one cry but this album, I believe, will make the orphan and eventually us smile. It is great to be involved in such a project.”

Another contributor, Talha Bora Oge noted that he is willing to be involved in any project on the orphan and that he has been very enthusiastic about it ever since he got the offer. “This is all about kismet. God let me take part in this,” Oge added. Next, Ikbal Gurpinar said: “I can participate in anything by Kimse Yok Mu without a second thought. Today, I give my word that I will sponsor an orphanage.”

The album features recitations by Umut Mürare, Bedirhan Gökçe, Serdar Tuncer, İbrahim Sadri, Dursun Ali Erzincanlı, İkbal Gürpınar, Gökmen, Emrah Yardımcı, Reha Yeprem, Asım Yıldırım, Ahmet Bozkuş, Talha Bora Öge, Mesut Baran, İnanç Ömer Benlioğlu, Minik Dualar ve Saniye Öztürk. The poems are originally written by Turkish literary figures including Fethullah Gülen, Yavuz Bülent Bakiler, Yaşar Beçene, Hasan Çağlayan, Ziya Paşa Akyürek, Kalender Yıldız, Ali Osman Dönmez. The album’s arranger is Umut Murare.

Published [in Turkish] on Zaman, 4 November 2013, Monday

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