Mesut MADAN/BURDUR, (DHA)- The tradition of ‘Conversation Nights’, which was held in houses in BURDUR in previous years, is kept alive by sipsi artist and Living Human Treasure Award winner Mehmet Bedel.
Mehmet Bedel, who has been making and performing sipsi in Burdur for 45 years and received the ‘Living Human Treasure Award’ from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the ceremony held at the Presidential Complex Millet Congress and Culture Center in February 2020, is a painter and journalist from Burdur who passed away in 2009. He bought İliçin Çetiner’s approximately 100-year-old two-storey wooden house in the İnönü District from his heirs. Bedel organizes Chat Nights for people coming from out of town in the house, which was restored to its original form as the Culture House, with the contributions of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Mehmet Bedel both introduces and keeps alive the tradition of Chat Nights held at homes in previous years.
Stating that they are working to ensure that this culture is not forgotten and passed on to future generations, Mehmet Bedel said that the tradition of Chat Nights is about to disappear. Bedel said, “Chat Nights were a musical entertainment held among young people in villages and homes 50-60 years ago, but this has begun to be forgotten. In recent years, no one has done this. We received some requests for this. We also received requests from tour companies, so we started this. We want to do this constantly. “We will try to hold Aziziye Village’s Chat Nights here once a month in the mansion I restored,” he said. (DHA)
WITH PHOTO
