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Radio Skala Iskele

Radio Skala Iskele

By: Collective Skala Iskele
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 Clenched fists and pairs of wings. That was the origin story of Skala / İskele.

A group of comrades living in the contested borderlands of Lesvos and Izmir—where the imaginary lines that define two states were drawn in the sea by patrol boats and migrant bodies—came together in pursuit of the wings hiding in clenched fists.

“Skala / İskele: A Transnational Podcast Project” aims to pursue certain questions by following the trail of diversity and richness of migration 100 years ago and today. It draws inspiration from commonalities between Turkey and Greece as its name suggests.

Skala in Greek and İskele in Turkish have similar meanings with various uses. From “the promenade” to “the pier”, from “the wharf” to “the musical scale”, and from “the scaffolding” to “the stairs”: both words refer to pluralistic and diverse elements of our urban livelihoods.

The project aims to amplify the “everyday-resistance” practices of displaced communities in their host countries by simply “partaking in urban space”. Through a transnational perspective, it plans to conduct episodes with specific themes, connecting the heritage and culture of several cities such as Athens, Thessaloniki, Lesvos, Ayvalik, and Izmir in various languages, and the role that migrants played / are playing in that heritage and culture.

Thus, Skala / İskele is an invitation.

An invitation that chants: “The Aegean Sea belongs to the fish!”
An invitation that screams: “To live, free and single like a tree / but in brotherhood like a forest.”
An invitation that sings: “Imagination to power!”

If hospitality is a virtue commonly shared here, so too is accepting an invitation.

So take your seat, crank up the sound—we have much to catch up on.

Instagram: @collectiveskalaiskele
Info: radio.skala-iskele@protonmail.comCopyright Collective Skala Iskele Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Episode 2, Part 2 - Music: “...and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone.”

    Episode 2, Part 2 - Music: “...and the slow everlasting groan of overburdened stone.”
    Dec 14 2025
    In 1962, Mikis Theodorakis found himself in Cuba as part of a mission of the then EDA (United Democratic Left), visiting the island three years after the Cuban Revolution. During their trip, a feast was organized on the top floor of the “Havana Libre Hotel”, formerly known as the Hilton.

    There, Theodorakis found himself surrounded by Cuban revolutionaries: Fidel Castro, ministers of the revolutionary cabinet, and various figures of the movement. Their conversations revolved around Cuba’s current political climate and the global geopolitical landscape.

    Although the Cubans were deeply familiar with Ancient Greece, Theodorakis notes that they knew little about Modern Greece: “Homer”, “Aristotle”, and “Acropolis” were the three words he kept hearing directed toward him.

    As the dinner neared its end, the orchestra began playing a song — a song that would not only mark the beginning of a great friendship, but whose story would also gift us an earworm...

    It would have been a disservice to this project — which encapsulates the Population Exchange and migration — not to touch upon the topic of music.We continue from where we left off, moving further into the ways music binds identity, home, and migration together.

    And the understanding of people, nation, and land.Across three parts, we invite you to join our journey in seeking to understand “the music that carries us away.

    ”Because this is Skala / Iskele!

    Follow, listen, contact!

    Instagram: @collectiveskalaiskele
    Spotify: /radioskalaiskeleLinktree: /collectiveskalaiskele
    Info: radio.skala-iskele@protonmail.com

    Narration: Ozan Mirkan Balpetek
    Editing - Production: Ozan Mirkan Balpetek, Dirk Tobias Reijne
    Dubbing: Kavel

    Theme Song: Onur Şentürk (@zermosi)
    Logo Design: Roni Batte (@ronikkoo)

    List of Apperance:

    Andreas Kilciksiz
    Loukas Metaxas
    Onur Şentürk

    Music List in Appearance (Artist - Song):

    Mikis Theodorakis - An Thimithis to Oniro Mou (Covered by: Stamatis Stabos)
    Pontic Firebird - Yietierre
    Urban Modal - Karşıyaka’da İzmir’in Gülü
    Hariçten Gazelciler - Yollar
    Siamidis K. & Kourtidis G. - Tikia Touloum
    Kotsari (Κότσαρι)
    Urban Modal - I Maritsa I Smyrnia
    Urban Modal - Hovarda Zeybek / Αιβαλιώτικο Ζειμπέκικο
    Show More Show Less
    56 mins
  • Episode 2, Part 1 - Music: "...My Dialogue With that Which I Perceive to be Sacred"

    Episode 2, Part 1 - Music: "...My Dialogue With that Which I Perceive to be Sacred"
    Dec 5 2025
    Episode 2, Part 1 - Music: “Music is the language of my dialogue with that which I perceive to be sacred.”

    When Charles Baudelaire’s famous poem “Perfume Exotique” was translated into Turkish by Orhan Veli Kanık, Kanık made a particularly crafty choice. As a poet himself, instead of repeating the word “exotic,” he tenderly rendered it as “Alıp Götüren Koku” — “The Scent That Carries You Away.”

    And don’t we do get carried away when “that music” plays? It is very common to hear from people in both Turkey and Greece that they are transported the moment they hear each other’s music.

    Take rebetiko, for instance: Why is it that every time someone from Turkey hears a rebetiko song from Piraeus, even if the words are unintelligible, the feeling is not? The yearning, the joy, the sorrow, the violence — how is it so easy to understand “The Music That Carries You Away” ?

    It would have been a disservice to this project — which encapsulates the Population Exchange and migration — not to touch upon the topic of music.

    So we dove headfirst into the matter and traversed the Aegean, seeking to understand why this music carries us away. And as often happens, the journey itself became more meaningful than the mountaintop. Our exploration led us not only into the realms of the Population Exchange and music, but also toward questions of modernity, nation-building, and the political projections of musical traditions around the Aegean.

    Across three parts, we invite you to join our journey in seeking to understand “the music that carries us away.”

    Because this is Skala / Iskele!

    Follow, listen, contact!

    Instagram: @collectiveskalaiskele
    Spotify: /radioskalaiskele
    Linktree: /collectiveskalaiskele
    Info: radio.skala-iskele@protonmail.com

    Narration: Ozan Mirkan Balpetek
    Editing - Production: Ozan Mirkan Balpetek, Dirk Tobias Reijne
    Dubbing: Kavel

    Theme Song: Onur Şentürk (@zermosi)
    Logo Design: Roni Batte (@ronikkoo)

    List of Apperance:

    Haris Sarris

    Music List in Appearance (Artist - Song):

    Nomads of the Silk Road - Uskudar’a Giderken
    Yasin Xidir, Mihemmed Hemud - Kul Alhana
    Koliadnyky of Kryvorivnia - Duda
    Thrax Punx - Pses Eida
    Sex, Drugs & Rebetiko - REBETIKO A1
    Maria Papagika - Manaki Mou
    Ehl-i Keyif - Hicazkar “Yağcılar” Zeybek
    Show More Show Less
    38 mins
  • Episode 1, Part 2 - Memory: "...the Gaps Left Within Us by the Secrets of Others"

    Episode 1, Part 2 - Memory: "...the Gaps Left Within Us by the Secrets of Others"
    Nov 17 2025
    Episode 1, Part 2 - Memory: “"What haunts are not the dead, but the gaps left within us by the secrets of others"

    Magnificent memories and amazing fears!

    In 2017, Kerem Soyyılmaz and his family decided to renovate their grandparents’ house in their village of Karacaköy, located in Çatalca, Istanbul.

    That summer, a gravestone was discovered beneath the foundation of the house: “Here lies the servant of God, Chrysoula Rodaki.” They were only able to understand the date — March 1887 — as the inscription was in Greek. Kerem then embarked on a personal journey to uncover the story of the gravestone, hoping to find its rightful owners. What he witnessed along the way eventually became a documentary that intertwines questions of past and identity, but, more importantly, brings forth a story of closure, reconciliation, and friendship. He uncovered many of the “known secrets” of his hometown, along with ghost and treasure stories woven around the gravestone and the village itself.

    Of course, who believes in ghosts? They are nothing but fairy tales. And treasure hunts belong only in novels and myths.

    But what if some ghosts and treasures do exist? What if the people who swore they saw them — on everything they hold sacred — are telling the truth?

    What if the ghosts of the past still surround us, haunting the present with their unresolved demands for justice? What if they reappear in other shapes and forms? What if they are an abandoned church, a demolished hamam, a boat carrying migrants, or a scream from Palestine?

    Or the final remnants of a violent tragedy we have never managed to overcome?

    Well, we believe we have a word or two to say about that in the Part 2 of our Episode "Memory"!

    Because this is Skala / Iskele!

    Follow, listen, contact!
    Instagram: @collectiveskalaiskele
    Spotify: /radioskalaiskele
    Linktree: /collectiveskalaiskele
    Info: radio.skala-iskele@protonmail.com

    Narration: Ozan Mirkan Balpetek
    Editing - Production: Ozan Mirkan Balpetek, Dirk Tobias Reijne
    Dubbing: Kavel, Fotini, Kostis, Tobi, Christina K., and Christina S. t

    Theme Song: Onur Şentürk (@zermosi)
    Music: Praksis – Düş, Gezgin, Bu Daha Başlangıç! (@praksismuzik)
    Logo Design: Roni Batte (@ronikkoo)

    List of Appearance:
    Tuba Emiroglu
    Berrin Akın Akbüber
    Michalis Nikolau
    Fırat Doğan
    Lülüfer Körükmez
    Kerem Soyyılmaz
    Maria Megalopoulou
    Cundalı Tanju
    Nicola Sacco
    Bartolomeo Vanzetti
    Serhat Güvenç
    Fatih Aydın
    Mert Kaya
    Elmas Köçkün
    Ürün Perçin Boyacıoğlu
    Panos Tzouvelekis
    Leonidas Karakatsanis
    Haris Sarris
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
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