Bosphorus Cymbals factory tour

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I had the great priviledge to meet Emrah Sipahi, Hasan Seker, Ibrahim Yakici, Hasan Ozdemir and all the kind craftsmen at Bosphorus Cymbals factory during a short vacancy in Istanbul, Turkey. They've been so kind to me and I now dare to call them "friends" for they accorded me the honour to step into heaven! It's been a lovely day with all the crew's great hospitality, an unbelievable jump into Turkish tradition and craftmanship I will not forget. Unfortunately Friday was not one of the casting days which happen to be once in ten days, but Emrah gave me a clear explanation of all the producing process in this short video and at least I was allowed to enter the lathing and hammering room where you can listen to angels' music. What an incredible experience to see how these pieces of art take their unique shape and voice! Every cymbal is like a beloved child with distinctive character and each master craftman is like a father who takes care of his son. These guys deserve our highest respect for they really love their hard and fine job and they don't care about mass production: they just care about reaching the very top quality which is the result of a real spiritual attitude, interior calm and ancient knowledge. After visiting the factory, which is something similar to a cyclop's furnace, we then moved into Emrah's office which appears to be for drummers what a toy shop is for kids: it's a small room which does not simply feature all the production samples as in music shops. I used to work at a drum shop for a while and one thing I learned doing that job is that every cymbal sounds good when you hit it in a room with many other cymbals hanging all together around under nice light spots on displayers meant to catch the customer's attention: that's a matter of resonance. After you've chosen one under those conditions and you go back home, it seems you've bought something else. In Emrah's office cymbals are stocked in a vertical position one close to each other and they don't resonate with the ones you can try on his small drum kit he loves. No bullshit here! We had a cup of extraordinary Turkish tea there and then I had a try on many extraordinary cymbals Emrah gave to me according to my feeling and reactions. Finally I deeply felt in love with three special ones which flew back to Italy with me in a beautiful Bosphorus gig bag. I'm now a proud and joyful Bosphorus cymbals owner and player! Yeah!!!
What I loved most is the "tailor made" philosophy which allows Bosphorus cymbals to be really unique: you cannot find two cymbals of the same size and series which sound exactly the same. And what is more exciting is to find some experimental out-of-series cymbals which are the result of an artisan's research: for example I found a 21" Black Pearl ride with a different bell shape, a bit larger than normal which litterarly killed me with is definition. Then I found a 13" Ari Hoenig Signature Lyric Series hi-hat which is a new experiment differing from the usual 14" model: even this one sounds incredible! Could I leave that amazing 23" ride Ari Hoenig Lyric Series alone? Certainly not: it has such a distinctive personality and playability, it's crispy and precise even on up-tempos despite its huge diameter: it's outstanding, believe me.
I have no words to say thank you to the great guys at Bosphorus who keep this wonderful tradition alive and made me feel at home. The beautiful cymbals they make are really different from any other 'cause they are made from really different people: they are just like hand made jewels with such a pure tone that I could hardly play something else from now on.
Believe me or not what I wrote here is just an enthusiast's reaction and not the result of an endorsement. Go to any local dealer and have a try on your own, you will trust my words. Or better, fly to Istanbul which is really a fashinating city and ask the permission to visit the Bosphorus Cymbals factory, you will love it!