Appreciation concert by the pandemic sufferer musicians

The musicians, who have lost their jobs and suffered economically due to the precautions taken under the Covid-19 pandemic, have expressed their appreciation with their instruments towards Büyükçekmece Mayor Dr. Hasan Akgün for supporting them during this process.

Under the Covid-19 precautions, the decisions of lockdowns have been taken. The precautions also include that the cultural centers, theatres, entertainment venues to be closed and concerts, festivals to be canceled. Thus, it affected the musicians most, who make their living by those activities.

A project has been conducted with the Municipality

Büyükçekmece Municipality supported the musicians who have lost their jobs during the pandemic by making them come together under different projects. Many entertainment programs, digital and online concerts and street concerts for the citizens, those who can not leave their properties, has been performed thanks to the collaboration between the Büyükçekmece Municipality and the Union of Büyükçekmece Musicians. By this means, Büyükçekmece musicians have been supported, and the citizens who can not leave their property are supported morally.

“Our support will continue”

The Union of Büyükçekmece Musicians, which includes 168 musicians within there, expressed their appreciation with their instruments towards Büyükçekmece Mayor Dr. Hasan Akgün for supporting them during the pandemic process. The musicians have given a mini-concert with their instruments in front of the Municipality building, and it attract a huge attention by both the Municipality personnel and the citizens. Mayor Akgün reminded the 8 April International World Romani Day, which was celebrated a day ago, and expressed his feelings, “We celebrated it yesterday, but I would like to keep celebrating it today too because we have our Romani citizens right next to me. Most of our musicians have come through them. Büyükçekmece Municipality has also put effort into improving our Romani citizens’ ability to play instruments. We celebrate the International Romani Day of all our Romani citizens. Today we come together with 110 musicians from our region. It was a nice meeting. We have celebrated their Ramadan month. I also celebrate the Ramadan of all our citizens. We will have cultural activities with our local musicians through Ramadan month. It will be both digital and online. It’s hard that we can not do it by coming along with the audience. We did two things as the Municipality. Early on the lockdown period, we organized street concerts with our local musicians in 55 locations within our district. It helped the morale and motivation of our citizens that can not leave their houses. It was a massive boost for their morale. Local musicians provided an important service. We, as the Municipality, did all to support our musicians both materially and morally. And we will continue to support them.

“We felt the morally and materially suffering”

The President of the Union of Büyükçekmece Musicians, Metin Çağlayan, stated that they had established the Union in 2016 and 168 musicians have become a member of the Union. “We felt the morally and materially suffering of 105 members of our Union. Therefore, we have contacted our Mayor and Cultural Affairs Director of the Municipality. Thanks to our meetings, the Municipality aided us for the third time. We feel their moral support too. They always call us and look after us. They even pay a visit to our homes. They never forget our special occasions. For this reason, I would like to pass my endless thanks to our Mayor and the Cultural Affairs Director. I hope that this pandemic ends, and we can go back to those beautiful old days,” said the Union President Metin Çağlayan.