The Breath of the Eastern Black Sea: The Story of Making a Tulum
1 Video 29 Photographs
An instrument whose sound reaches across from one mountain village to the next when played, carrying both the sorrow and the exuberance of the Eastern Black Sea on its own: the Tulum. Yet behind this commanding breath lies an uncompromising crafting process where rulers and shortcuts have no place.
"The Breath of the Eastern Black Sea" centers on the workshop of Baykan Bayraktutan, who mastered tulum-making entirely through his own perseverance and years of trial and error. The documentary captures the nineteen-stage curing of kidskin steeped in brine, the reed boiled until browned to withstand the relentless moisture of continuous blowing, and the millimeter-precise carving of the wood.
Rather than offering a nostalgic ode to tradition, this project documents the arduous labor and patience demanded from the master as leather and wood transform into sound. In this workshop, where each tulum settles into tune through days of rigorous blowing tests, the stubborn and exacting nature of handicraft stands defiantly against the speed of mass production.
