Dancing like a fish

The Turks of the Black Sea coast are a hearty people. They love to tell stories and organize communal gatherings. So it's no surprise that music is an essential part of Black Sea culture. One type of dance-accompanied music is known as the horon (hor-own). The dance consists of short steps often performed in a line of dancers moving in a circular direction. Legend says that the dance originated as mimic of the rapid movements of the hamsi (hum-see), the European anchovy found in abundance in the waters off the Black Sea coast.

Hamsi, soon to be lunch

Dancers move in response to the peculiar rhythm of the kemençe (ke-men-chay), a three-stringed lute played with a bow. Another Black Sea instrument is known as a tulum (too-loom), an instrument that very much resembles a Scottish bagpipe. Curiously, like the Scots, the instrument here is associated with another highland Turkish people known as the hemşhin (hem-sheen).

Hemşin ladies

The video below has examples of both the tulum and the kemençe.