Ciao readers,
I hope you’re well!
There’s been much that’s occurred since I last blogged.
Last Tuesday, most of the course trekked to Chapel Hill to see esteemed Sufi musician Youssou N’Dour perform an amalgamation of religious and “pop” music. Although Eric and a fellow professor I was riding with seemed to be ecstatic over him, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Would the music have more auditory similarity with African music than Arab? Would the music be restrained, or lively? Would it have an overt religious focus? I could’ve easily browsed his repertoire on Youtube, but I wanted to be surprised, letting the live concert be my first experience. As soon as the first musician approached centerstage, the auditorium was awash with color from the embroidered robes and caps, and booming with a cacophony of instruments. I recognized some of the drums spoken of during the little pre-concert presentation we attended, and mulled over the fact that to play ⅔ drums displayed one must be born into a genealogy of drummers. This theme of genealogy seemed an integral theme in the Sufi tradition, because apparently most of the songs Youssou sings are recitations of family histories. Sometimes people are even hired to memorize family trees and sing them at events! Another tradition, or perhaps just a one-time event, I found curious was the collection of money by the performers. One older gentleman with the surname Mbaye (who was N’Dour’s musical inspiration as a child) incited viewers to swarm the stage during his performance, offering bills which he swiftly pocketed. Later a younger performer made rounds with a basket. Overall, I found the concert incredibly engaging. Instead of a somber, dignified affair, it was lively and struck something in me solely with the sounds, as I couldn’t understand a single word.
To switch gears to the Tongue Team’s project, we’re currently in the process of compiling individual research. My focus on culture and customs has narrowed to hover around the practices surrounding lokantas and tea. Lokantas are Turkic cafes, mostly frequented by those of the Uyghur ethnicity, that serve snacks and conversation between community members. They are often divided into sections for men, women, and children. To simplify, they could be compared to Western cafes. I’ve found many recent sources documenting these establishments, however I ran into a complication with my historical research: “lokanta” was (and is in some places) also a general Turkish word for restaurants. This means that most of my search results in academic databases are in Turkish (without translation) and the results are broad, not honing in on the specific type of lokanta I’m seeking. I peddled around for awhile trying to avoid taking on the bear of translation, but most of my other lokanta sources were just blogs/first-hand accounts and not proven as scholarly, so I thought I still needed something to supplement them. This Monday I met with Rachel, the research librarian at Hege, to discuss my hindrances with this topic. She provided me with a myriad of options I hadn’t previously considered:
-Finding a Turkish speaker at Guilford through the Study Abroad office or the Learning Commons
-Contacting the Islamic or Turkic  Studies department at UNCG
-Getting sources from NPR cultural pieces
-Using other sources like anthropology databases
She assured me that I could use blog or more contemporary sources as long as I felt them legitimate.
We also got into a discussion about tea, from whence she recommended “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” by Tom Standage, which contains a whole portion on tea. I’ve requested for the library to order it and am excited to see what it holds!
Below I’ve attached an exterior example of a lokanta:

Thank you for reading! Bis dann!!!!
Regards,
-Delaney