Tag #126964 - Interview #97701 (Albert Ozlevi )

When I was young, there were military parades, special celebrations, or independence days in our city. At the time my only hobby was to play  Mi bemol [E flat] clarinet in the band.  I was an amateur bandmember starting at age 13. When I was in the band we went to practice every evening, after I turned 15, after this paper bag business was done.  There were 7-8 people working in the band. For example, there was someone named Misel Ovadya, he learned trumpet there. My older brother played an instrument resembling the French  horn, it was a blowing instrument but he didn’t want to continue. We practiced in the old public building. Every evening, we went there to practice. We learned the musical notes, we had learned the national anthem, the anthem of Izmir and such without knowing the first thing about music. I was an apprentice then. They would give us outfits for Liberation day, Independence day, or holidays like May 19th, or April 23rd [5], and we would play. Especially on Edirne Liberation day, they would put an arch for the liberation of Edirne, we, the bandmembers would be right across it. We would play anthems for official parades. At the end of the parade, there would be a bargaining about a cow between 2 peasants, most of whom were gypsies. It had become a tradition for every Liberation day, which was November 25th. A new mayor or a new public official would choke with laughter when they saw the bargaining. At first there would be a discussion of I will give the cow or I won’t give the cow for about 15-20 min. When they were right in front of the arch, next to the mayor, they would be fighting about “what kind of a man are you, I sold it, no, I didn’t sell it”, one of them would come up short for money, who is going to vouch for him, they would turn toward the mayor and say: “Mr. Mayor, are you going to vouch for him?” The mayor would be stunned. Not knowing what to do, he would say, “I’ll vouch, I’ll vouch”. Everyone would laugh, it was very pleasant. They would do this every year to a new civil officer.