I'm Finnish by nationality, but I moved to Istanbul, Turkey, in 2004 to teach at a local university, and also to work as a freelance consultant for an international company. It has been a pretty nice experience to stay here and a lot of nice things have happened - unfortunately also some sad ones. But I've met many wonderful people here (not only musicians!) and learned something about the Turkish culture too. Istanbul is a rather chaotic city, but I love it.
As you might guess, my problem is not what to do with all that spare-time, because I don't have much spare-time! All days long I'm working and earning some decent income to be able to support the most important thing for me in life: MUSIC! And all nights long I'm playing guitar, recording or listening music...I'd love to quit my other works and just concentrate on music, but life of an independent musician ain't easy without regular earnings...as an extra advantage, consider yourself sleeping 2-3 hours a night for some months! But I wouldn't give up a single thing...I will rock 'till I drop...
www.betarecords.com
Blues Jam with BJ Crosby
Latin improvisation - Aki & Friedrich, Istanbul University 2007
Blues Jam at Istanbul University 12.1.2007