Bob Beer

Balkan Cooking

Bob Beer is the grandson of a Greek immigrant from Marmara Island in northwestern Turkey. When he was nine years old his mother played a record of Greek music from Istanbul, and his interest İn Greece grew. He met Pontic musicians while in Greece on a foreign exchange program and began learning to play the Pontic lyra; hearing radio programs from Istanbul drew his interests eastward. He visited Turkey several times, and in 2000 moved to Istanbul, where he lived for 14 years and studied for a time with Erol Parlak. Bob has been a guest of the Arguvan Folk Music Festival and several Turkish folk music radio and television programs.