He played from last night, Thursday, into this morning, Friday, here in embattled Taksim Square in Istanbul. His audience was mainly protesters with riot cops looking on.
Meet Davide Martello, a.k.a. Klavierkunst, a German of Italian descent, whose goal is to play his self-built grand piano all over the globe in the cause of peace.
He played Wednesday night in Taksim -- a tough house, you might say. Or maybe the opposite. And he returned last night, playing on into this morning, Friday, as the raindrops started to fall.
The peace was tense, riot cops massed on the sidelines, many in the audience wearing hard hats and face masks; but the peace held. No tear gas.
When Davide launched into "Imagine" at weary 8 a.m., you could feel John Lennon smiling.
An extraordinary moment in these extraordinary days, here in this great and beautiful city.
Here'' a clip of Klavierkunst playing Thursday night. You can sense of the drama of the moment and the situation. The floodlit monument is the Republic Monument, heavy on Ataturk's presence -- and designed by another Italian in the 1920's.
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