Charlie Musselwhite
Istanbul, Turkey

When I go to a foreign country I look for their folk music—what they would consider their blues, the music of the people. For instance, I was in Istanbul’s grand bazaar at a little shop where paintings of whirling dervishes were for sale. The proprietor of the shop overheard me talking about wanting to see an actual whirling dervish, so he wrote down an address and said, “Go here Monday night at nine o’clock.”

The place was way off down some tiny streets. We wandered into a courtyard and somebody realized that we were strangers, so they eagerly invited us in. We went down into a basement, where we sat on the floor at a table, and they started bringing us food, tons of food. They found other English speakers to sit at the table with us. Together we watched the whirling dervish, which was mesmerizing. What could be more wonderful?

Charlie Musselwhite is a blues harmonica legend.