Did you know?: Unrest in Istanbul calmed by pianist

After being targets of harsh tear gas and police water cannons in Istanbul, protestors in Gezi Park, Taksim square, were determined to not leave without putting up a fight against Prime Minister Recep Erdogan on Wednesday night. However, the protestors didn’t get a fight; instead, they got a piano performance.

A German musician by the name of Davide Martello got to Gezi Park with a three-man team in a trailer with a piano. After unloading the instrument and placing it inside the entry to the park, he began to play, reports the New York Times.

People stopped to listen. The restless crowd began to calm down and gather around Martello. In no time, photos and videos of the performance were zinging around the globe, ending up on blogs, online news sites and Facebook.

By the end of the night, about 1500 people turned up at Taksim square just to listen to him play the piano.



“The idea is to inspire politicians through music,” Martello said, who was dressed in red — to honour the Turkish flag — and a fedora. The maestro played for 14 hours straight and kept the audience spellbound.

Police officers in the vicinity also joined the audience to enjoy the performance.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2013.

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