Teacher, students form orchestra from scratch
ŞIRNAK
A music teacher has formed a band with her young disciples, who are new to the world of music, in the eastern province of Şırnak’s Uludere district, teaching them to play an instrument of their choice and taking them on a musical ride.
These children, who had no knowledge of musical notes or how to play an instrument, have now formed a band named “Dijital Tayfa,” which means “Digital Crew” in English.Hasret Cem Bozdağ was appointed to Hilal Şeyhan Secondary School in Uludere three years ago. “I always loved music and started playing saz when I was five,” Bozdağ said about his love for music.
The first thing he did when he started teaching at the school was to form a music class with the help of the school administration and other teachers.“I put musicians’ posters and musical notes on the wall of the class and converted it into some sort of a studio where the children could record what they played,” he added. Now the school has an orchestra of five guitarists, four saz players, two trap drummers, a pianist and seven singers.
On asking the band members what they will become in the future, each one of them said the same, “I will earn a living from music.”“I want to give a concert in Paris or Wien,” one of the singers told daily Hürriyet. “I want to be a producer,” another expressed. The orchestra is currently working on a screen credits song for “Rafadan Tayfa,” a cartoon series that is aired on national TV broadcaster TRT.
According to Bozdağ, İsmail Fidan, the director of “Rafadan Tayfa,” proposed the “Dijital Tayfa” to compose a screen credits song for the cartoon series as soon as he saw the orchestra’s footage on social media.The orchestra also has a mascot, a rooster.
When Mehmet Kara, one of the band members, lost his rooster and cried a lot as he could not find it for two months, one of his teachers gifted a rooster to him.“That rooster is now accompanying the band with its clucking,” Bozdağ said with laughter.
