-
- Photo by John Zangas
-
- Photo by Jenna Pope
-
- Photo by Jenna Pope
Sixteen days into the Turkish uprising last June, just when things were getting really ugly in Taksim Square, Davide Martello managed to stop the tear gas and water cannons with a baby grand. An enormous crowd paused to listen to a marathon thirteen-hour concert, a brief halt in the conflict. The music calmed the crowd, relaxed the police and, for a moment, forestalled the President Erdogan’s crackdown on Turkish protestors. Thousands around the world watched via livestream.
In the end, he was teargassed and police confiscated his piano. Eventually, however, he got it back and now he’s taking it across oceans.
On Saturday afternoon, he rolled his piano onto the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol and performed for three hours. As night fell, blue lights shimmered from the keys and underside of the piano. Tourists and runners out on the Mall stopped to listen to the music until the crowd grew to nearly one hundred people.
“My goal is to bring beautiful music to the world so people can be inspired,” he said. His impromptu performances in public places are free, but he takes donations to cover his expenses.
He has ideas for future concerts. “I want to play at prisons. Do you know how I could get to play in them?”
UPDATE: On Sunday, November 17, Martello played for half hour at Navy Yard, then transported his piano to the Lincoln Memorial. He gave a twilight performance there. After forty-five minutes, National Park Police told him he had to leave because he didn’t have a permit. They allowed him to play one last song–John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Martello’s next stop is Charleston, SC, then on to Miami. He intends to play at the site where black youth Trayvon Martin was shot and killed.
Video of Davide Martello playing at Navy Yard:
Video of Davide Martello playing at the Lincoln Memorial:
Note: An earlier version of this article stated that Turkish police had confiscated his piano and Martello obtained a new one, when he did in fact get his piano back from police.
