Neyzen Timothy's Guitar Journey in France

It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that I prepare to travel to France this summer, to study modal guitar with the great master of DADGAD tuning guitar, Pierre Bensusan, at his home outside of Paris, near Chateau-Thierry.

Most of you are familiar with my reed flute (ney) playing, and the services I have rendered in my role as neyzen to the Mevlevi Order of America. What might be less widely known is that prior to my engagement with the Turkish ney flute, I had spent many years as a guitarist, working professionally in a variety of musical idioms. My study of the ney and Ottoman makam music eventually became so demanding that my guitars have been sidelined for far too long, a casualty of the limitations of time and attention.

With the sad and untimely passing of my beloved ney teacher Omer Erdogdular in April of this year, I feel as if one chapter in my life is closing, and another opening. As I approach the autumn of my life, I now feel strongly called to reengage my guitar practice, regroup my skills, and see where it leads. I still have a lot of music left in me...

I have before me the fabulous opportunity and great privilege to be able to study modal guitar with one of the world's leading guitar virtuosos, a "musician's musician" to whom I have been listening for over forty years, at his residence in rural France. In addition to his many acclaimed recordings and concert performances, Pierre Bensusan also happens to be a wonderful teacher, having inspired and guided numerous acoustic fingerstyle guitarists over the years.

https://www.pierrebensusan.com/residential-guitar-seminars

The skills that I will acquire in this week-long workshop will reinvigorate my guitar practice, and be broadly applicable to any genre of music I engage, including the ritual musics I have offered for the benefit of the local Sufi communities for many years. Many of you will have heard me play modal guitar for the Mevlevi "Estagfirullah" zikr, in a unique altered tuning I developed especially for this ritual, allowing me to simultaneously engage bass, harmony, and melody, allowing me to create a full tonal and rhythmic spectrum as a frequent solo performer in this context. Indeed, I have played guitar for this zikr well over one hundred times in the past 15 years or so.

I am hoping that those among you who have enjoyed and appreciate the musical services I have offered gratis to the Mevlevi community might now feel moved to help defray the costs of my journey, which are not insignificant, and include expenses for airfare, lodging, and class tuition. This may well be a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for me. A bonus of this voyage will be that I also get to visit my daughter, who has lived in Paris since 2008, and who I have not been able to see for a number of years now. I am grateful for any support that you may offer, as I am deeply grateful for the support I have received in my previous trips to New York to study with my Turkish teachers.

With love,

Timothy