Dressed in Ottoman-era attire complete with a surgical mask, Sufi singer Eren Cosan wakes people up with his drum in the early hours for "sahur" — the last meal before a day of fasting that begins before sunrise. But unlike most Ramadan drummers who simply pound on the drum, Cosan sings traditional Sufi songs whose lyrics are very much in tune with the woes of a Ramadan amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A short clip that showed Cosan singing “Give me a remedy, my sultan” went viral May 10, reaching nearly a million viewers through Twitter and news sites. Cosan, a self-taught singer, and another musician, Umit Turker, were filmed from a balcony on a street in Mamak, an Ankara neighborhood that has been a traditional stronghold of the ruling Justice and Development Party.
