Arabesque ( tr, Arabesk) is a style of
music created in Turkey. The genre was particularly popular in Turkey from the 1960s through the 2000s. Its aesthetics have evolved over the decades. Its melodies are influenced by espesically
Arab Music, the
music of Southeastern Europe and
the Middle East, including
bağlama
The ''bağlama'' or ''saz'' is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Kurdish music, Armenian music and in parts of Syria, Iraq ...
music and Ottoman forms of
oriental music. Arabesque music are mostly in a minor key, typically in the
Phrygian mode
The Phrygian mode (pronounced ) can refer to three different musical modes: the ancient Greek ''tonos'' or ''harmonia,'' sometimes called Phrygian, formed on a particular set of octave species or scales; the Medieval Phrygian mode, and the modern ...
, and themes tend to focus on longing, melancholy, strife and love issues.
Description and history
A very small percentage of Arabesque is exclusively instrumental. For the great majority of it, a singer lies at the center of the music. Male singers dominated the genre in its early years, but female singers probably predominated during its peak years of popularity. Simultaneously with the influx of female singers, the sound grew more dancey and upbeat.
is generally considered the founder of the genre. Other well known older singers are
Ferdi Tayfur,
Müslüm Gürses
Müslüm Gürses (; 5 July 1953 – 3 March 2013), born Müslüm Akbaş and called Müslüm Baba (literally: ''Father'' ''Müslüm''), was a popular Turkish arabesque singer and actor.
Personal life
He was born on 7 May 1953 in an adobe hut in ...
and
Hakkı Bulut. One of the most prolific and commercially successful is
İbrahim Tatlıses, who broke all sales records in Turkey in 1978 and continues to turn out popular music to this day. He has maintained popularity in the Arabesk scene in recent years through remixing his tracks into dance-friendly club tracks. The pure Arabesque album “Acıların Kadını” (tr: woman of pains) by the singer
Bergen was the bestselling album in Turkey in 1986 and may be fairly labelled one of the classic albums of the genre.
Bergen had several other hit Arabesque albums during the 1980s. Other singers include
Ebru Gündeş,
Seda Sayan, and
Sibel Can. The singers
Muazzez Ersoy and
Bülent Ersoy designate themselves as modern exponents of
Ottoman classical music.
Zerrin Özer also made Arabesque albums between 1982 and 1988, including her album named “Mutluluklar Dilerim” released in 1984. One of the important names of Arabesque musician died in 2000 was
Ahmet Kaya. Another of the important names of Arabesque musician died in 2012 was
Azer Bülbül.
A common theme in Arabesque songs is the highly embellished and agonizing depiction of love and yearning, along with unrequited love, grief and pain. This theme had undertones of class differences in early 1960-70s, during which most of the genre's followers — mostly working class to lower middle class — identified themselves with. Turkish composer
Fazıl Say has repeatedly condemned and criticized Arabesque genre, equating the practice of listening to Arabesque “tantamount to treason”.
See also
*
Kanto
Kantō (Japanese)
Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics.
In Japan
Kantō may refer to:
*Kantō Plain
*Kantō region
*Kantō-kai, organized crime group
*Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ' ...
*
Skiladiko
*
Mizrahi music
*
Filmi
*
Longa (Middle Eastern music)
A ''longa'' ( ar, لونجا) is a Turkish / Eastern European dance, that was later introduced into Arabic music and is often performed at the end of a ''muwashshah''.
It generally uses an '' iqa equivalent to 2/4, with several sections called ...
References
External links
*
"Crossing The Bridge" (documentary film) on IMDb"Arabic Music""The arabesk debate: music and musicians in modern Turkey" by Martin Stokes on Google Books
{{Folk music
20th-century music genres
Folk
Middle Eastern culture
Turkish culture
Middle Eastern music
World music genres
Folk music genres