A view of Galata (modern Karaköy) with the Galata Tower (1348) at the apex of the medieval Genoese citadel walls, which were largely demolished in the 19th century to enable northward urban growth.

Galata or Galatae is a neighbourhood in the Beyoğlu district on the European side of Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. Galata is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the inlet which separates it from the historic peninsula of old Constantinople. The Golden Horn is crossed by several bridges, most notably the Galata Bridge. Galata (also known as Pera (Greek: Πέραν) back then) was a colony of the Republic of Genoa between 1273 and 1453. The famous Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel.

There are several theories concerning the origin of the name Galata. According to the Italians, the name comes from Calata (meaning downward slope) as the neighbourhood is sloped and goes downwards to the sea from a hilltop. The Greeks believe that the name comes either from Galaktos (meaning milk, as the area was used by shepherds in the early medieval period) or from the word Galat (meaning Celtic in Greek) as the Celtic tribe of Galatians were thought to have camped here during the Hellenistic period before settling into Galatia in central Anatolia. The inhabitants of Galatia are famous for the Epistle to the Galatians and the Dying Galatian statue.

History[link]

Galata Tower was built in 1348 at the northern apex of the Genoese citadel.

Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in Galata was the financial center of the Ottoman Empire.

In historic documents, Galata is often called Pera, which comes from the old Greek name for the place, Peran en Sykais, literally "the Fig Field on the Other Side."

The quarter first appears in Late Antiquity as Sykai or Sycae. By the time the Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae was compiled in ca. 425 AD, it had become an integral part of the city as its 13th region. According to the Notitia, it featured public baths and a forum built by Emperor Honorius (r. 395–423), a theatre, a porticoed street and 435 mansions. It is also probable that the settlement was enclosed by walls in the 5th century.^[1] Sykai received full city rights under Justinian I (r. 527–565), who renamed it Iustinianopolis, but declined and was probably abandoned in the 7th century. Only the large tower, Megalos Pyrgos (the kastellion tou Galatou) which controlled the northern end of the sea chain that blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn remained.^[1]

In the 11th century, the quarter housed the city's Jewish community, which came to number some 2,500 people.^[1] In 1171, a new Genoese settlement in the area was attacked and nearly destroyed.^[2] Despite Genoese averments that Venice had nothing to do with the attack, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180) used the attack on the settlement as a pretext to imprison all Venetian citizens and confiscate all Venetian property within the Byzantine Empire.^[2] The kastellion and the Jewish quarter were seized and destroyed in 1203 by the Catholic crusaders during the Fourth Crusade, shortly before the sack of Constantinople.^[1]

In 1233, during the subsequent Latin Empire (1204–1261), Dominican friars built in Galata the Church of St. Paul. The building is known today as the Arap Camii (Arab Mosque) because after its conversion in Mosque under Mehmet II it was given by Sultan Bayezid II to the Spanish Moors who after 1492 fled the Spanish Inquisition and came to Istanbul.

In 1261, the quarter was retaken by the Byzantines, but Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) granted it to the Genoese in 1267 in accordance with the Treaty of Nymphaeum. The precise limits of the Genoese colony were stipulated in 1303, and they were prohibited from fortifying it. The Genoese however disregarded this, and through subsequent expansions of the walls, enlarged the area of their settlement.^[1] These walls, including the mid-14th-century Galata Tower (originally Christea Turris, "Tower of Christ", and completed in 1348) survived largely intact until the 19th century, when most were dismantled in order to allow further urban expansion towards the northern neighbourhoods of Beyoğlu, Beşiktaş, and beyond.^[3] At present, only a small portion of the Genoese walls are still standing, in the vicinity of the Galata Tower.

The Palace of the Genoese podestà Montano de Marinis, known as the Palazzo del Comune (Palace of the Municipality) in the Genoese period and built in 1316,^[4] still stands in ruins on Banker Sokak (the historic Rue Camondo);^[5] a narrow side street that's parallel to the neighbouring Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) which was the financial center of the Ottoman Empire and has rows of Ottoman-era bank buildings, including the headquarters of the Ottoman Central Bank, which is today the Ottoman Bank Museum. Several ornaments that were originally on the façade of the Genoese Palace were used to embellish these 19th-century bank buildings in the late Ottoman period. The Camondo Steps, a famous pedestrian stairway designed with a unique mix of the Neo-Baroque and early Art Nouveau styles, and built in 1860 by the renowned Ottoman-Venetian Jewish banker Abraham Salomon Camondo, is also located on Bankalar Caddesi;^[5] while the seaside mansion of the Camondo family is located on the shore of the Golden Horn.

At present, Galata is a quarter within the borough of Beyoğlu in Istanbul, and is known as Karaköy.

Galatasaray S.K., one of the most famous football clubs of Turkey, gets its name from this quarter and was established in 1905 in the nearby Galatasaray Square in Pera (Beyoğlu), where Galatasaray High School, formerly known as the Mekteb-i Sultani also stands. Galatasaray literally means Galata Palace.^[6]

Images from Galata[link]

View of the Galata Tower from Eminönü, 12 April 2005.   View of the Galata Tower from the Bosphorus.   View of the Galata Tower from the Bosphorus.   View of the Galata Tower from the Anatolian side of the Bosphorus.   View of the Galata Bridge, with the Galata Tower in the background.   View of the Galata Tower from the main square in front.   View of the Galata Tower from the main square in front.   View of the Galata Tower from the main square in front.   View of the tower through a street in Galata, August 2005.   View of the tower through a street in Galata, August 1976.

Notable natives and residents of Galata[link]

• Abraham Salomon Camondo
• Constantine Samuel Rafinesque

References and notes[link]

Coordinates: 41°01′22″N 28°58′25″E / 41.02278°N 28.97361°E / 41.02278; 28.97361

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John Surman
Surman performing in Birdland; 2 September 2009
Background information
Birth name	John Douglas Surman
Born	(1944-08-30) 30 August 1944 (age 67) Tavistock, Devon England, United Kingdom
Genres	Free jazz, modal jazz
Occupations	Musician, composer, film scorer, musical arranger
Instruments	Baritone saxophone Soprano saxophone Bass clarinet Synthesizer
Years active	Mid 1960s - current
Labels	Deram, Dawn, ECM
Associated acts	John McLaughlin, Barre Phillips, Stu Martin, John Warren, John Potter.
Website	John Surman.com/

John Douglas Surman (born 30 August 1944, Tavistock, Devon) is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis. He has also composed and performed much music for dance performances and film soundtracks.

Life and career[link]

He initially gained recognition playing baritone saxophone in the Mike Westbrook Band in the mid-1960s. He was soon heard regularly playing soprano saxophone and bass clarinet as well. His first playing issued on a record was with the Peter Lemer Quintet in 1966. After further recordings and performances with jazz bandleaders Mike Westbrook and Graham Collier and blues-rock musician Alexis Korner,^[1] he made the first record under his own name in 1968.

In 1969 he founded the well-regarded and influential group The Trio along with two expatriate American musicians, bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Stu Martin.^[2] In the mid-1970s he founded one of the earliest all-saxophone jazz groups, S.O.S., along with alto saxophonist Mike Osborne and tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore. During this early period he also recorded with (among others) saxophonist Ronnie Scott, guitarist John McLaughlin, bandleader Michael Gibbs, trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, and pianist Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath.

By 1972 he had begun experimenting with synthesizers. That year he recorded Westering Home, the first of several solo projects on which he played all parts himself via overdubbing. He recorded his final album with Mike Westbrook, Citadel/Room 315 in 1975.

Many of the musical relationships he established during the 1970s have continued to the present. These include a quartet with pianist John Taylor, bassist Chris Laurence, and drummer John Marshall; duets and other projects with Norwegian singer Karin Krog; and duets and other projects with American drummer/pianist Jack DeJohnette.

His relationship with ECM Records has also been continuous from the late 1970s to the present, as Surman has recorded prolifically for the label playing bass clarinet, recorders, soprano and baritone saxophones and using synthesisers, both solo with a wide range of other musicians.

In recent years he has composed several suites of music that feature his playing in unusual contexts, including with church organ and chorus (Proverbs and Songs, 1996); with a classical string quintet (Coruscating); and with the London Brass and Jack DeJohnette (Free and Equal, 2001). He has also played in a unique trio with Tunisian oud-player Anouar Brahem and bassist Dave Holland (Thimar, 1997); has performed the songs of John Dowland with singer John Potter formerly of the Hilliard Ensemble; and made contributions to the drum and bass album Disappeared by Spring Heel Jack.

Other musicians he has worked with include bassist Miroslav Vitous, bandleader Gil Evans, pianist Paul Bley, guitarists Terje Rypdal and John Abercrombie and trumpeter Tomasz Stańko.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• John Surman (1968) - his debut album, acoustic jazz with Caribbean rhythms - Deram Records
• How Many Clouds Can You See? (Deram, 1969)
• Way Back When (1969) - free-jazz jam session with John Taylor on electric piano, drummer John Marshall and saxophonist Mike Osborne.
• Glancing Backwards - anthology of his recordings for Dawn Records (1969–1976), with The Trio and others. The anthology includes the albums The Trio by The Trio, Conflagration with the Trio as part of a larger group including Dave Holland, Nick Evans and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and Live at Woodstock Town Hall, a duet with drummer Stu Martin
• Tales Of The Algonquin (1971) with Canadian saxist John Warren along with British musicians Alan Skidmore, Wheeler and Osborne.
• Westering Home (1972)
• Morning Glory (1973) with Terje Rypdal
• Bass Is (Enja, 1974)
• Upon Reflection (ECM, 1979) - overdubbed solo improvisations
• The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon (ECM, 1981) duet with Jack DeJohnette
• Such Winters of Memory (ECM, 1982)
• Withholding Pattern (ECM, 1985) - solo
• Private City (ECM, 1987) - overdubbed solo improvisations, playing saxophones, recorders, bass clarinet and keyboards
• Road to Saint Ives (ECM, 1990) - solo, overdubbed layers of soprano and baritone saxophone and bass clarinet
• Adventure Playground (ECM, 1991) - with Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, and Tony Oxley
• The Brass Project (ECM, 1992) with John Warren
• Stranger than Fiction (ECM, 1994) - as the John Surman Quartet with John Taylor, Chris Laurence, and John Marshall
• Nordic Quartet (ECM, 1994) with Karin Krog, Terje Rypdal and Vigleik Storaas
• A Biography of the Rev. Absalom Dawe (ECM, 1995) - overdubbed solo clarinets, saxophones and keyboards.
• Proverbs and Songs (ECM, 1997)
• Coruscating (ECM, 1999) with the Trans4mation String Quartet and bassist Chris Laurence
• Invisible Nature (ECM, 2000)
• Free and Equal (ECM, 2002)
• The Spaces in Between (2006) - the revival of the Coruscating jazz-classical collaboration with a string quartet, with bassist Chris Laurence.
• Rain on the Window (2008) with organist Howard Moody
• Brewster's Rooster (2009) with Jack DeJohnette, John Abercrombie and Drew Gress

As sideman[link]

This section requires expansion.

With John Abercrombie

• November (ECM, 1992)

With Paul Bley

• Fragments (ECM, 1986)
• In the Evenings Out There (ECM, 1991)

With Anouar Brahem

• Thimar (ECM, 1997)

With Mick Goodrick

• In Pas(s)ing (ECM, 1979)

With John McLaughlin

• Extrapolation (Marmalade, 1969)

With Barre Phillips

• Mountainscapes (ECM, 1976)

With John Potter

• In Darkness Let Me Dwell (ECM, 1999)
• Care-Charming Sleep (ECM, 2003)

With Tomasz Stańko

• From the Green Hill (ECM, 1998)

With Miroslav Vitous

• First Meeting (ECM, 1979)
• Miroslav Vitous Group (ECM, 1980)
• Journey's End (ECM, 1982)

With Richard Galliano

• Nino Rota (Deutsche Grammophon, 2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Surman

• John Surman's homepage