The fine points and skill he acquired from Kerope Usta led him to a serendipitous accident that would turn him into a 400-year-old legend. The alloy obtained from the traditional mixture that he prepared one day when he was alone in the foundry came out differently from other times. More resistant to the blows of the hammer, more easily shaped without breaking. That was the day the formula was discovered for cymbals which, rather than a deep gong, produce a high-pitched ‘whishing’ sound, lighter and purer than church bells. From that day onward, the technique became a trade secret, passed down from father to son and revealed to no one outside the family. The quality of the sound produced by this special alloy spread far and wide, eventually reaching the sultan. At his behest it began to be used as a ‘weapon of sound’ by the ‘Mehteran’ or Ottoman Military Band, which produced sounds like the clashing of swords and shields in war. Avedis Usta’s tiny foundry began producing cymbals for the world’s largest army. The Mehteran, which, far more than a military company employed only in wartime,