The music of Turkey includes mainly
Turkic and
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
elements as well as partial influences ranging from
Ottoman music
Ottoman music ( tr, Osmanlı müziği) or Turkish classical music ( tr, Türk sanat müziği) is the tradition of classical music originating in the Ottoman Empire. Developed in the palace, major Ottoman cities, and Sufi lodges, it traditionally ...
,
Middle Eastern music
The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East, the Iranian traditions of Persia, the Jewish music of Israel and the diaspora, Armenian music, Kurdish music, Azeri Music, the varied traditions of Cypriot ...
and
Music of Southeastern Europe
Balkan music is a type of music found in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. The music is characterised by complex rhythm. Famous bands in Balkan music include Taraf de Haïdouks, Fanfare Ciocărlia, and No Smoking Orchestra.
Historical ...
, as well as references to more modern European and
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
.
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
is a country on the northeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and is a crossroad of cultures from across
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
and
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
and
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
.
The roots of traditional music in Turkey span across centuries to a time when the
Seljuk Turks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
migrated to
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
and
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
in the 11th century and contains elements of both Turkic and pre-Turkic influences. Much of its modern popular music can trace its roots to the emergence in the early 1930s drive for
Westernization
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economi ...
.
[, pp 396-410.]
With the assimilation of immigrants from various regions the diversity of musical genres and musical instrumentation also expanded. Turkey has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
,
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
,
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
,
Azeri
Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...
and
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
communities, among others.
Many Turkish cities and towns have vibrant local music scenes which, in turn, support a number of regional musical styles. Despite this, however, western-style pop music lost popularity to arabesque in the late 1970s and 1980s, with even its greatest proponents,
Ajda Pekkan
Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (; born 12 February 1946) is a Turkish singer. She is known by the title "superstar" in the Turkish media. Pekkan became a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with her songs, in which she tried to create a strong female figure. ...
and
Sezen Aksu
Sezen Aksu (; born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; 13 July 1954) is a Turkish pop music singer, songwriter and producer who has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and "''Minik Serçe''" ("Little Spar ...
, falling in status. It became popular again by the beginning of the 1990s, as a result of an opening economy and society. With the support of Aksu, the resurging popularity of pop music gave rise to several international Turkish pop stars such as
Tarkan and
Sertab Erener
Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990s ...
. The late 1990s also saw an emergence of underground music producing alternative
Turkish rock
Anatolian rock ( tr, Anadolu rock), or known as Turkish psychedelic rock, is a fusion of Turkish folk music and rock. It emerged during the mid-1960s, soon after rock groups became popular in Turkey. Most known members of this genre includes Turk ...
,
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
,
hip-hop,
rap
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
and
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
in opposition to the mainstream corporate
pop and
arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
genres, which many believe have become too commercial.
Classical music
![Istanbul asv2021-10 img08 Taksim AKM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Istanbul_asv2021-10_img08_Taksim_AKM.jpg)
Ottoman court music has a large and varied system of modes or scales known as
makam
The Turkish makam ( Turkish: ''makam'' pl. ''makamlar''; from the Arabic word ) is a system of melody types used in Turkish classical music and Turkish folk music. It provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance. Each makam speci ...
s, and other rules of composition. A number of notation systems were used for transcribing classical music, the most dominant being the
Hamparsum notation in use until the gradual introduction of western notation. Turkish classical music is taught in conservatories and social clubs, the most respected of which is Istanbul's ''Üsküdar Musiki Cemiyeti''.
A specific sequence of classical Turkish musical forms becomes a ''fasıl'', a suite consisting of an instrumental prelude (''peṣrev''), an instrumental postlude (''saz semaisi''), and in between, the main section of vocal compositions which begins with and is punctuated by instrumental improvisations
taksim.
[ Tanrıkorur argues that the perceived differences between the traditional music genres stemmed from the cultural clash between the East and the West that emerged during the Tanzîmat Era (1839-1908).] A full fasıl concert would include four different instrumental forms and three vocal forms, including a light classical song, ''şarkı''. A strictly classical fasıl remains is the same
makam
The Turkish makam ( Turkish: ''makam'' pl. ''makamlar''; from the Arabic word ) is a system of melody types used in Turkish classical music and Turkish folk music. It provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance. Each makam speci ...
throughout, from the introductory taksim and usually ending in a dance tune or ''oyun havası''. However shorter ''şarkı'' compositions, precursors to modern day songs, are a part of this tradition, many of them extremely old, dating back to the 14th century; many are newer, with late 19th century songwriter
Haci Arif Bey being especially popular.
;Composers and Performers
Other famous proponents of this genre include Sufi
Dede Efendi
DeDe, De De, Dedé or Dédé may refer to:
People Nickname or stage name
* Dedé (Angolan footballer), born Adérito Waldemar Alves Carvalho
* Dedé (footballer, born 1978), Brazilian footballer born Leonardo de Deus Santos
* Dedé (footballer, b ...
,
Prince Cantemir,
Baba Hamparsum,
Kemani Tatyos Efendi, Sultan
Selim III
Selim III ( ota, سليم ثالث, Selim-i sâlis; tr, III. Selim; was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, the Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa ...
and Sultan
Suleyman the Magnificent
Suleiman I ( ota, سليمان اول, Süleyman-ı Evvel; tr, I. Süleyman; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West and Suleiman the Lawgiver ( ota, قانونى سلطان سليمان, Ḳ ...
. The most popular modern Turkish classical singer is
Münir Nurettin Selçuk
Münir Nurettin Selçuk (1900 or 1901 – April 27, 1981) was a Turkish classical musician and tenor singer.
Biography
He was born in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire in 1900 or 1901. His uncle was Grand Vizier of ...
, who was the first to establish a lead singer position. Other performers include
Bülent Ersoy
Bülent Ersoy (; born 9 June 1952) is a Turkish singer and actress. She is known as one of the most popular singers of Turkish music, nicknamed Diva by her fans. Ersoy has many famous hits such as "Ümit Hırsızı" ''(Hope Thief)'', "Geceler" '' ...
,
Zeki Müren
Zeki Müren (; 6 December 1931 – 24 September 1996) was a Turkish singer, composer, songwriter, actor and poet. Known by the nicknames "The Sun of Art" and "Pasha", he was one of the prominent figures of the Ottoman classical music, Turkish cla ...
,
Müzeyyen Senar
Müzeyyen Senar (; 16 July 1918 – 8 February 2015) was a Turkish classical music performer, known as the "''Diva of the Republic''".
Early years
Müzeyyen Dombayoğlu was born in 1918 in the village of Gököz, in Keles district of Bursa Pr ...
and
Zekai Tunca.
Musical instruments
Traditional instruments in Turkish classical music today include
tambur
The ''tambur'' (spelled in keeping with TDK conventions) is a fretted string instrument of Turkey and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. Like the ney, the armudi (lit. pear-shaped) kemençe and the kudüm, it constitutes one of the fou ...
-generally use as ''tanbur'' - long-necked plucked lute,
ney
The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...
end-blown flute,
kemençe
Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Armenia, Greece, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to the Black ...
bowed fiddle,
oud
, image=File:oud2.jpg
, image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921
, background=
, classification=
* String instruments
*Necked bowl lutes
, hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum
, ...
plucked short-necked unfretted lute,
kanun plucked zither, violin, and in
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya ( tr, Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye; fa, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya (a city now in Turkey; formerly capital of the Seljuk Sultanate) and which was founded by the followers of Jalal ...
music,
küdüm drum and a harp.
Ottoman harem music: Belly dance
![Surname_17b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Surname_17b.jpg)
From the makams of the royal courts to the melodies of the royal
harem
Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A hare ...
s, a type of dance music emerged that was different from the ''oyun havası'' of fasıl music. In the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, the harem was that part of a house set apart for the women of the family. It was a place in which non-family males were not allowed.
Eunuchs
A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...
guarded the sultan's harems, which were quite large, including several hundred women who were wives and concubines. There, female dancers and musicians entertained the women living in the harem.
Belly dance
Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...
was performed by women for women. This female dancer, known as a ''rakkase'', which is the Arabic word for "female dancer", hardly ever appeared in public.
This type of harem music was taken out of the sultan's private living quarters and to the public by male street entertainers and hired dancers of the Ottoman Empire, the male ''rakkas''. These dancers performed publicly for wedding celebrations, feasts, festivals, and in the presence of the sultans.
Modern oriental dance in Turkey is derived from this tradition of the Ottoman rakkas. Some mistakenly believe that Turkish oriental dancing is known as
Çiftetelli
The Tsifteteli ( el, τσιφτετέλι; tr, ), is a rhythm and dance of Anatolia and the Balkans. In Turkish the word means "double stringed", taken from the violin playing style that is practiced in this kind of music. There are suggestio ...
due to the fact that this style of music has been incorporated into oriental dancing by
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
, illustrated by the fact that the Greek belly dance is sometimes mistakenly called
Tsifteteli
The Tsifteteli ( el, τσιφτετέλι; tr, ), is a rhythm and dance of Anatolia and the Balkans. In Turkish the word means "double stringed", taken from the violin playing style that is practiced in this kind of music. There are suggestio ...
. However,
Çiftetelli
The Tsifteteli ( el, τσιφτετέλι; tr, ), is a rhythm and dance of Anatolia and the Balkans. In Turkish the word means "double stringed", taken from the violin playing style that is practiced in this kind of music. There are suggestio ...
is now a form of folk music, with names of songs that describe their local origins, whereas rakkas, as the name suggests, is from Arabic which means "male dancer".
Dancers are also known for their adept use of finger cymbals as instruments, also known as
zils.
Romani influences
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
are known throughout Turkey for their musicianship. Their urban music brought echoes of classical Turkish music to the public via the ''meyhane'' or taverna. This type of ''fasıl'' music (a style, not to be confused with the fasıl form of classical Turkish music) with food and alcoholic beverages is often associated with the
underclass
The underclass is the segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class.
The general idea that a class system includes a population ''under'' the working class has ...
of Turkish society, though it also can be found in more respectable establishments in modern times.
Roma have also influenced the fasıl itself. Played in music halls, the dance music (''oyun havası'') required at the end of each fasıl has been incorporated with Ottoman ''rakkas'' or belly dancing motifs. The rhythmic ostinato accompanying the instrumental improvisation (''ritimli taksim'') for the bellydance parallels that of the classical ''gazel'', a vocal improvisation in free rhythm with rhythmic accompaniment. Popular musical instruments in this kind of fasıl are the
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
,
kanun, and
darbuka
The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...
. Clarinetist
Mustafa Kandıralı is a well-known fasil musician.
Military music
![Surname-ı Vehbi (fol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Surname-%C4%B1_Vehbi_%28fol._172a%29.jpg)
The Janissary bands or ''
Mehter Takımı'' are considered to be the oldest type of military marching band in the world.
Individual instrumentalists were mentioned in the
Orhun inscriptions, which are believed to be the oldest written sources of Turkish history, dating from the 8th century. However, they were not definitively mentioned as bands until the 13th century. The rest of Europe borrowed the notion of military marching bands from Turkey from the 16th century onwards.
Turkish influence on Western classical music
Musical relations between the Turks and the rest of Europe can be traced back many centuries, and the first type of musical Orientalism was the
Turkish Style. European
classical composers in the 18th century were fascinated by Turkish music, particularly the strong role given to the
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
and
percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
s in
Janissary
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
bands.
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
wrote his ''Military Symphony'' to include Turkish instruments, as well as some of his operas. Turkish instruments were included in
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's ''
Symphony Number 9'', and he composed a "Turkish March" for his ''
Incidental Music to The Ruins of Athens, Op. 113''.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
wrote the "Ronda alla turca" in his ''
Sonata in A major'' and also used Turkish themes in his operas, such as the ''Chorus of Janissaries'' from his
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Die ...
(1782). This Turkish influence introduced the
cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s,
bass drum
The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...
, and
bells into the symphony orchestra, where they remain.
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
musician
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
wrote his "Blue Rondo á la Turk" as a tribute to Mozart and Turkish music.
Western Influence on Turkish classical music
![CSOAdaAnkaraExterior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/CSOAdaAnkaraExterior.jpg)
While the European military bands of the 18th century introduced the percussion instruments of the Ottoman janissary bands, a reciprocal influence emerged in the 19th century in the form of the Europeanisation of the Ottoman army band. In 1827,
Giuseppe Donizetti
Giuseppe Donizetti (6 November 1788 – 12 February 1856), also known as Donizetti Pasha, was an Italian musician. From 1828 he was Instructor General of the Imperial Ottoman Music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II (1808–39).
His younger broth ...
, the elder brother of the renowned Italian opera composer
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...
, was invited to become Master of Music to Sultan
Mahmud II
Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839.
His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...
. A successor of Donizetti was the German musician
Paul Lange, formerly music lecturer at the
American College for Girls and at the
German High School, who took over the position of Master of the Sultan's Music after the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 and kept it until his death in 1920. A son of Paul Lange was the Istanbul-born American conductor
Hans Lange
Hans Lange (February 17, 1884 in Istanbul – August 13, 1960 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) was a German-American conductor and musician. He was a son of Paul Lange, who had been a lecturer for music at the American College for Girls and Ger ...
. The Ottoman composer
Leyla Saz
Leyla Saz, also called Leyla Hanimefendi (1850–1936) was a Turkish composer, poet and writer.
Biography
Born in 1850, she was the daughter of İsmail Hakkı Pasha, (often called Hekim İsmail Pasha (İsmail Pasha the Doctor). She spent her ...
(1850–1936) provides an account of musical training in the Imperial Palace in her memoirs. As the daughter of the Palace surgeon, she grew up in the Imperial harem where girls were also given music lessons in both Turkish and Western styles.
After the
decline of the Ottoman Empire
In the late eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Old Regime) faced numerous enemies. In response to these threats, the empire initiated a period of internal reform which came to be known as the Tanzimat, which succeeded in significant ...
and the creation of a Turkish republic, the transfer of the former Imperial Orchestra or ''Mızıka-ı Hümayun'' from Istanbul to the new capital of the state
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
, and renaming it as the Orchestra of the Presidency of the Republic, ''Riyaset-i Cumhur Orkestrası'', signaled a Westernization of Turkish music. The name would later be changed to the
Presidential Symphony Orchestra
The Presidential Symphony Orchestra ( tr, Cumhurbaşkanlığı Senfoni Orkestrası), with headquarters in Ankara, is the presidential symphony orchestra of the Republic of Turkey. Its history dates back as far as 1826, making it one of the first s ...
or ''Cumhurbaşkanlığı Senfoni Orkestrası''.
Further inroads came with the founding of a new school for the training of Western-style music instructors in 1924, renaming the Istanbul Oriental Music School as the
Istanbul Conservatory in 1926, and sending talented young musicians abroad for further music education. These students include well-known Turkish composers such as
Cemal Reşit Rey
Cemal Reşit Rey (; 25 October 1904 – 7 October 1985) was a Turkish composer, pianist, script writer and conductor. He was well known for a string of successful and popular Turkish-language operettas for which his brother Ekrem Reşit Rey (1 ...
,
Ulvi Cemal Erkin
Ulvi Cemal Erkin () (March 14, 1906 – September 15, 1972) was a member of the pioneer group of symphonic composers in Turkey, born in the period 1904–1910, who later came to be called The Turkish Five. These composers set out the direction of ...
,
Ahmet Adnan Saygun
Ahmet Adnan Saygun (; 7 September 1907 – 6 January 1991) was a Turkish composer, musicologist and writer on music.
One of a group of composers known as the Turkish Five who pioneered western classical music in Turkey, his works show a master ...
,
Necil Kazım Akses
Necil Kazım Akses (May 6, 1908 – February 16, 1999) was a Turkish classical composer.
Life
Akses studied music and composition at the Musikakademie in Vienna with Joseph Marx and at the Prague Conservatory in Prague with Josef Suk and A ...
and
Hasan Ferit Alnar
Hasan Ferid Alnar (11 March 1906 – 30 July 1978) was a Turkish classical music composer.
He was a member of the Turkish Five, in the first half of the 20th century. Alnar is known for his efforts for harmonization of classical Turkish music e ...
, who became known as
the Turkish Five The Turkish Five ( tr, Türk Beşleri) is a name used by some authors to identify five pioneers of western classical music in Turkey.İlyasoğlu (1998), 14. They were all born in the first decade of the 20th century and composed their best music i ...
. The founding of the Ankara State Conservatory with the aid of the German composer and music theorist
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
in 1936 showed that Turkey in terms of music wanted to be like the West.
However, on the order of the founder of the republic,
Atatürk, following his philosophy to take from the West but to remain Turkish in essence, a wide-scale classification and archiving of samples of Turkish folk music from around
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
was launched in 1924 and continued until 1953 to collect around 10,000 folk songs. Hungarian composer
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
visited Ankara and south-eastern Turkey in 1936 within the context of these works.
By 1976, Turkish classical music had undergone a renaissance and a state musical conservatory in Istanbul was founded to give classical musicians the same support as folk musicians. Modern-day advocates of Western classical music in Turkey include
Fazıl Say
Fazıl Say (; born 14 January 1970 in Ankara) is a Turkish pianist and composer.
Life and career
Fazıl Say was born in 1970. His father, Ahmet Say was an author and musicologist. His mother, Gürgün Say was a pharmacist. His grandfather Fa ...
,
İdil Biret
İdil Biret (born 21 November 1941) is a Turkish concert pianist.
Education
Biret began her lessons at the age of five with , who had studied under Nadia Boulanger and Alfred Cortot. When she was seven, the Turkish parliament enacted a special ...
,
Suna Kan
Suna may refer to:
People
*Suuna I of Buganda, king of Buganda until 1609
*Suna II of Buganda, king of Buganda from 1836 until 1856
*Suna Kan (born 1936), Turkish violinist of classical music
* Suna Kıraç (1941–2020), member of the Turkish Ko ...
and the
Pekinel sisters.
Early Years of The Republic
After the
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...
ended in 1923, and the borders were drawn, there was a social and political revolution under the leadership of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...
. This revolution opted to Westernize the way of living in Turkey. By 1929, all public and commercial communications were made in
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...
, completely taking written
Ottoman Turkish language
Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...
out of circulation. A new constitution was written, one that was modeled after the French. This new constitution was designed to make the new
Republic of Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
into a secular, modern, nation-state. Every aspect of the revolution, from major policy changes to clothing reforms, was made in accordance with the
Kemalist Ideology
Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurcher ...
. All affairs were carried out followed by a chain of military command for the purpose of reaching the level of Western civilization. Both religious and Turkish classical music was impacted by this top to bottom revolution.
On November 1, 1934
Atatürk made a speech in the
Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...
.
Alaturca music was banned on radios, public places as well as private properties. Here is the excerpt from the speech, concerning Turkish music, "Folks, we all know how sensitive we, the Turkish, are towards the matters of our cultural legacy…. I am aware what kind of progress that my people want to see within fine arts delivered by the new generation of artists, and musicians. If you ask me, what would be most efficient and quick to tackle first within the fine arts is Turkish Music. The music we are made to listen to these days is far from being a point of pride for Turkish people. We must all know this. We must take our great nation's idioms, stories, experiences and compose them, but only complying to the general rules of music. I wish that the Ministry of Cultural Affairs take this matter seriously, and work alongside the law-makers of our country."
[TUNÇAY, Çağlar. "Musical Implementations of Atatürk's Term." 9 Eylül Üniversitesi, Atatürk İlkeleri Ve İnkılap, 2009, pp. 54–95.]
Right after this speech, on November 2, 1934, The Department of Publishing and Press banned Alaturca music, knowing what Mustafa Kemal meant when he said "… but only complying to the general rules of music…" was that the only acceptable type of music available to the public will be music following the principles of
western tonal music. The Turkish composers, who were educated abroad in the beginning of the century and came back to Turkey, were assigned to teach classical Turkish musicians the western way of writing and playing music. The Presidential Symphony Orchestra, established back in 1924 started giving weekly free performances in schools specifying in Music Education. New instruments like pianos, trumpets, and saxophones were bought for cultural centers in villages, not just in Istanbul, but in many places like
Bursa
( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
,
Çorum
Çorum () (Medieval Greek: Ευχάνεια, romanized: Euchaneia) is a northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from ...
,
Gümüşhane
Gümüşhane () is a city and the capital district of Gümüşhane Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The city lies along the Harşit River, at an elevation of , about southwest of Trabzon. According to the 2010 census, population of G ...
, and
Samsun
Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos (Ancient Greek: Αμισός), is a List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, city on the north coast of Turkey and is a major Black Sea port. In 2021, Samsun reco ...
.
Along with the radical ideology change, and the sudden application of these new ideas came an obvious tear in the fabric of the society. People who couldn't listen to Turkish music on Turkish Radio sought out the next best thing and started listening to the Arabic Radio. There are records of Turkish people calling into
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian,
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
n, and
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
n radio stations requesting Turkish songs they were used to listening to, since The Middle East already consumed and re-created a lot of Turkish Music since the rise of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in the middle of the millennium.
Turkish people started listening to other nations' version of Turkish songs. This cleared the way for the
Arabesque music to become hugely popular in the 70s. Today, there are still prolific and popular Arabesque musicians in Turkey. The ban in the early years of the Republic is exactly why Arabesque Music became a cultural phenomenon.
Folk music
Folk music or ''Türkü'' generally deals with subjects surrounding daily life in less grandiose terms than the love and emotion usually contained in its traditional counterpart, Ottoman court music.
Most songs recount stories of real-life events and
Turkish folklore
The tradition of folklore—folktales, jokes, legends, and the like—in the Turkish language is very rich, and is incorporated into everyday life and events.
Turkish folklore
Nasreddin Hoca
Perhaps the most popular figure in the tradition i ...
, or have developed through song contests between troubadour poets.
[, p 36] Corresponding to their origins, folk songs are usually played at weddings, funerals and special festivals.
Regional folk music generally accompanies folk dances, which vary significantly across regions. For example, at marriage ceremonies in the Aegean guests will dance the
Zeybek, while in other
Rumeli
Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a histo ...
regions the upbeat dance music
Çiftetelli
The Tsifteteli ( el, τσιφτετέλι; tr, ), is a rhythm and dance of Anatolia and the Balkans. In Turkish the word means "double stringed", taken from the violin playing style that is practiced in this kind of music. There are suggestio ...
is usually played, and in the southeastern regions of Turkey the
Halay
Halay is the national dance of Turkey and a regional category of folk dance styles in central, southern, eastern, and southeastern regions of the country. It is mainly performed by Turks, Arabs, and Kurds in Turkey. Halay and similar dances are ...
is the customary form of local wedding music and dance.
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
from
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
and
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
that have adopted çiftetelli music sometimes use it synonymously to mean
Oriental dance
The traditional dances of the Middle East (also known as Oriental dance) span a large variety of folk traditions throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
For detailed information on specific dances of the region, see the main ...
, which indicates a misunderstanding of its roots. Çiftetelli is a folk dance, differing from a solo performance dance of a hired entertainer.
The regional mood also affects the subject of the folk songs, e.g. folk songs from the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
are lively in general and express the customs of the region. Songs about betrayal have an air of defiance about them instead of sadness, whereas the further south travelled in Turkey the more the melodies resemble a
lament
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about somethin ...
.
As this genre is viewed as a music of the people, musicians in socialist movements began to adapt folk music with contemporary sounds and arrangements in the form of
protest music
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social mov ...
.
In the 70s and 80s, modern bards following the aşık tradition such as
Aşik Veysel and
Mahsuni Şerif moved away from spiritual invocations to socio-politically active lyrics.
Other contemporary progenitors took their lead such as
Zülfü Livaneli
Ömer Zülfü Livaneli (born 20 June 1946), is a Turkish musician, author, poet, and politician.
Livaneli was imprisoned several times during the 1971 Turkish coup d'état because of his political views and had to leave Turkey in 1972 and went ...
, known for his mid-80s innovation of combining poet
Nazım Hikmet
A nazim
Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of In ...
's radical poems with folk music and rural melodies, and is well regarded by left-wing supporters in politics.
In more recent times, saz orchestras, accompanied with many other traditional instruments and a merger with arabesque melodies have kept modern folk songs popular in Turkey.
Folk instruments
Folk instruments range from string groups as
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 ...
, bow instruments such as the
kemençe
Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Armenia, Greece, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to the Black ...
(a type of stave fiddle), and percussion and wind, including the
zurna
The zurna (Armenian language, Armenian: զուռնա zuṙna; Classical Armenian, Old Armenian: սուռնայ suṙnay; Albanian language, Albanian: surle/surla; Persian language, Persian: karna/Kornay/surnay; Macedonian language, Macedonian: з ...
,
ney
The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...
and
davul
The davul, dhol, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed drum that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of the Middle East and the Balkans. These drums ...
. Regional variations place importance on different instruments, e.g. the
darbuka
The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...
in
Rumeli
Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a histo ...
and the
kemençe
Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Armenia, Greece, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to the Black ...
around the
Eastern Black Sea
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
* Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air ...
region. The folklore of Turkey is extremely diverse. Nevertheless, Turkish folk music is dominantly marked by a single musical instrument called
saz or
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 ...
, a type of long-necked
lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
. Traditionally, saz is played solely by traveling musicians known as ''ozan'' or religious
Alevi
Alevism or Anatolian Alevism (; tr, Alevilik, ''Anadolu Aleviliği'' or ''Kızılbaşlık''; ; az, Ələvilik) is a local Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Alevi Islamic ( ''bāṭenī'') teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, w ...
troubadours called ''aşık''.
[ The tradition of regional variations in the character of folk music prevails all around Anatolia and Thrace even today. The troubadour or minstrel (singer-poets) known as ''aşık'' contributed anonymously to this genre for ages.]
Due to the cultural crossbreeding prevalent during the Ottoman Empire, the bağlama has influenced various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, e.g. the Greek
baglamas. In Turkish bağlamak means 'to tie' as a reference to the tied, movable frets of the instrument. Like many other plucked lutes, it can be played with a plectrum (i.e., pick), with a fingerpicking style, or strummed with the backs of fingernails. The
zurna
The zurna (Armenian language, Armenian: զուռնա zuṙna; Classical Armenian, Old Armenian: սուռնայ suṙnay; Albanian language, Albanian: surle/surla; Persian language, Persian: karna/Kornay/surnay; Macedonian language, Macedonian: з ...
and
davul
The davul, dhol, tapan, atabal or tabl is a large double-headed drum that is played with mallets. It has many names depending on the country and region. These drums are commonly used in the music of the Middle East and the Balkans. These drums ...
duo is also popular in rural areas, and played at
wedding
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
s and other local celebrations.
Folk literature
A large body of folk songs are derived from minstrels or bard-poets called ''ozan'' in Turkish. They have been developing Turkish folk literature since the beginning of 11th century. The musical instrument used by these bard-poets is the
saz or
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 ...
. They are often taught by other senior minstrels, learning expert idioms, procedures, and methods in the performance of the art.
These lessons often take place at minstrel meetings and the
coffeehouse
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
s they frequent. Those bard-poets who become experts or ''alaylı'' then take apprentices for themselves and continue the tradition.
A minstrel's creative output usually takes two major forms. One, in musical rhyming contests with other bards, where the competition ends with the defeat of the minstrel who cannot find an appropriate quatrain to the rhyme and two, storytelling.
These folk stories are extracted from real life, folklore, dreams and legends.
One of the most well-known followings are those bards that put the title ''aşık'' in front of their names.
Arabesque
Arabic music had been banned in Turkey in 1948, but starting in the 1970s immigration from predominantly southeastern rural areas to big cities and particularly to Istanbul gave rise to a new cultural synthesis. This changed the musical makeup of Istanbul. The old tavernas and music halls of fasıl music were to shut down in place of a new type of music.
These new urban residents brought their own taste of music, which due to their locality was largely middle eastern. Musicologists derogatively termed this genre as arabesque due to the high-pitched wailing that is synonymous with Arabic singing.
Its mainstream popularity rose so much in the 1980s that it even threatened the existence of Turkish pop, with rising stars such as
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
İbrahim Tatlıses
İbrahim Tatlıses (born İbrahim Tatlı in 1952) is a Turkish folk singer and former actor. Since the 1970s he has been one of the best-known and most successful singers of the pop '' Arabesk'' style. Tatlıses has recorded 42 albums, including ...
.
The genre has underbeat forms that include Ottoman forms of
belly-dancing music known as ''fantazi'' from singers like
Gülben Ergen
Gülben Ergen (; born 25 August 1972) is a Turkish singer and actress.
Ergen started her career as an actress, and later decided to enter the music industry. She started her music career as a headliner. In 2001, for her role as Melek in the comed ...
and with performers like
Serdar Ortaç
Serdar Ortaç (born 16 February 1970) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer.
He is known as one of the most popular singers in Turkish pop-music history.
Personal life
Serdar Ortaç married Irish model Chloe Loughnan in 2014. Loughnan a ...
who added Anglo-American
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
to arabesque music.
It is not really accurate to group Arabesk with folk music. It owes little to folk music, and would be more accurately described as form of popular music based on the makam scales found in Ottoman and Turkish classical music. Though Arabesk was accused of having been derived from Arabic music, the scales (makam) used identify it as music, that, though influenced by both Arabic and Western music, is much more Turkish in origin.
Religious music
Islamic Recitation
"Islamic Recitation," a term associated with mainstream religion in Turkey, includes the ''azan'' (call-to-prayer), ''Kur'an-ı Kerim'' (Koran recitation), ''Mevlit'' (Ascension Poem), and ''ilahi'' (hymns usually sung in a group, often outside a mosque). On musical grounds, mosque music in large urban areas often resembles classical Turkish music in its learned use of makam and poetry, e.g., a Mevlit sung at Sultan Ahmet mosque in Istanbul. Dervish/Sufi music is rarely associated with a mosque.
Kâni Karaca
Kâni Karaca (1930 – May 29, 2004) was a Turkish singer. Born in Adana, Turkey, he lost his eyesight at the age of 2 and memorized the Quran in elementary school. He came to Istanbul in 1950. He worked with Sadettin Heper
Sadettin Heper (1899 ...
was a leading performer of mosque music in recent times.
[See the audio selection from Mevlit at External links below]
Alevi influences: The Aşık (Ashik) traditions
It is suggested that about a fifth of the Turkish population are ''Alevis'', whose folk music is performed by a type of travelling bard or ''ozan'' called ''aşık'', who travels with the
saz or
baglama, an iconic image of Turkish folk music.
These songs, which hail from the central northeastern area, are about mystical revelations, invocations to Alevi
saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
s and
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
's son-in-law,
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
, whom they hold in high esteem. In Turkish aşık literally means 'in love'. Whoever follows this tradition has the ''Aşık'' assignation put before their names, because it is suggested that music becomes an essential facet of their being, for example as in
Aşık Veysel Aşık is Turkish for Ashik, a traditional musician and troubadour
Aşık is a Turkish name. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
* Aşık Çelebi (1520–1572), Ottoman biographer, poet, and translator
* Âşık İbretî (1920–1976) ...
.
Middle Anatolia is home to the
bozlak Bozlak is a form of Turkish folk song from Central Anatolia accompanied by the long-necked baglama (divan sazı), davul and zurna. The main subjects of the melancholic songs are separation and love. The songs begin with a very high pitched vocal ...
, a type of declamatory, partially improvised music by the bards.
Neşet Ertaş
Neşet Ertaş (1938 – 25 September 2012) was a Turkish folk music singer, lyricist, modern ashik and virtuoso of the traditional Turkish instrument the bağlama. His profession in Turkish is known as ''halk ozanı'', which literally means ...
has so far been the most prominent contemporary voice of Middle Anatolian music, singing songs of a large spectrum, including works of premodern
Turkoman aşıks like
Karacaoğlan
Karacaoğlan was a 17th-century Anatolian Turkish folk poet and ashik. His exact dates of birth and death are unknown but it is widely accepted that he was born around 1606 and died around 1680. He lived around the city of Mut near Mersin. His t ...
and
Dadaloğlu
Dadaloğlu (Veli) (1785 ?–1868 ?) was a Turkish Ottoman (bard), a folk poet-singer, known as ''Ozan''.
Background
Two distinct literatures existed in the Ottoman Empire. Literature of the palace, so called divan literature used Ottoman Turk ...
and the modern aşıks like his father, the late
Muharrem Ertaş
Muharrem Ertaş (1913 – 3 December 1984) was a Turkish folk music singer and a virtuoso of the traditional Turkish instrument bağlama. He was one of the most important members of the Bozlak genre.
Early life
He was born in 1913 in the village ...
. Around the city of
Sivas
Sivas (Latin and Greek: ''Sebastia'', ''Sebastea'', Σεβάστεια, Σεβαστή, ) is a city in central Turkey and the seat of Sivas Province.
The city, which lies at an elevation of in the broad valley of the Kızılırmak river, is a ...
, aşık music has a more spiritual bent, afeaturing ritualized song contests, although modern bards have brought it into the political arena.
Sufi influences: The Mevlevi traditions
Followers of the
Mevlevi
The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya ( tr, Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye; fa, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya (a city now in Turkey; formerly capital of the Seljuk Sultanate) and which was founded by the followers of Jalal ...
Order or ''whirling dervishes'' are a religious ''sufi'' sect unique to Turkey but well known outside of its boundaries.
Dervish
Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from fa, درویش, ''Darvīsh'') in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity
A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, ...
es of the Mevlevi sect simply dance a ''sema'' by turning continuously to music that consists of long, complex compositions called ''ayin''. These pieces are both preceded and followed by songs using lyrics by the founder and poet
Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi. With the musical instrument known as the
ney
The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...
at the forefront of this music, internationally well-known musicians include Necdet Yasar, Niyazi Sayin,
Kudsi Ergüner and
Ömer Faruk Tekbilek.
Regional folk styles
Minorities and indigenous peoples have added and enhanced Turkish folk styles, while they have adopted Turkish folk traditions and instruments. Folk songs are identifiable and distinguished by regions.
Aegean and Rumeli regions
Rumelia
Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Names of the Greeks#Romans (Ῥωμαῖοι), Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians f ...
(or ''
Trakya
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
'') refers to the region of Turkey which is part of
Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...
(the provinces of
Edirne
Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...
,
Kırklareli
Kırklareli () is a city within Kırklareli Province in the East Thrace, European part of Turkey.
Name
It is not clearly known when the city was founded, nor under what name. The Byzantine Greeks called it Sarànta Ekklisiès (''Σαράντα Ε ...
,
Tekirdağ
Tekirdağ (; see also its other names) is a city in Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. In 2019 the city's population was 204,001.
Tekirdağ town is a commercial centre with a harbour ...
, the northern part of
Çanakkale Province
Çanakkale Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey, located in the northwestern part of the country. It takes its name from the city of Çanakkale.
Like Istanbul, Çanakkale province has a European (Thrace) and an Asian (Anatolia) part. The Eu ...
and the western part of
Istanbul Province
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_in ...
). Folk songs from this region share similarities with Balkan, Albanian and Greek folk musics, especially from the ethnic minorities and natives of
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
.
Cypriot
Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus.
* Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes:
**Armenian Cypriots
**Greek Cypriots
**Maronite Cypriots
**Turkish C ...
folk music also shares folk tunes with this region, e.g. the Çiftetelli dance. These types of folk songs also share close similarities with Ottoman court music, suggesting that the distinction between court and folk music was not always so clear.
However, folk songs from Istanbul may have been closely influenced by its locality, which would include Ottoman rakkas and court music.
Cities like
İzmir
İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...
share similar motifs, such as the
zeybek dance
The zeybek is a Turkish folk dance particular to much of Anatolia, named after the Zeybeks and related to the Greek dance zeibekiko.
The dance is hierarchic, with a group of companions performing it while wearing a particular decorative costume a ...
.
Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions
Central Asian Turkic peoples from the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
and areas have had a huge influence in the purest forms of Turkish folk music, most notably from the
Azeris
Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second-most numer ...
and
Turkmen.
Pontic Greeks
The Pontic Greeks ( pnt, Ρωμαίοι, Ρωμίοι, tr, Pontus Rumları or , el, Πόντιοι, or , , ka, პონტოელი ბერძნები, ), also Pontian Greeks or simply Pontians, are an ethnically Greek group in ...
on the eastern shore of the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
or ''Karadeniz'' regions have their own distinct
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
style of folk music, motifs from which were used with great success by
Helena Paparizou
Helena Paparizou (; , ; born 31 January 1962) is a Swedish-born Greek singer, songwriter and television personality. Born and raised in Sweden to Greeks, Greek parents, she enrolled in various arts schools before launching a career in Sweden in ...
.
The diaspora of Greek speaking Pontic people from that region introduced Pontic music to Greece after 1924 population exchange between Turkey and Greece. The region's dance style uses unique techniques like odd shoulder tremors and knee bends. Folk dances include the gerasari, trygona, kots,
omal
The Omal (also called ''Duz Horon'' or ''Flat Horon'') was one of the first Pontic Greek dances to be developed from the region of Pontos. In the Pontic language, means "regular" or "smooth." It is a relaxed dance and is danced for long periods ...
,
serra,
kotsari and
tik.
Southeastern regions
Southeastern regions carry influences from
Turkmen music
The music of the nomadic and rural Turkmen people is closely related to Kyrgyz and Kazakh folk forms. Important musical traditions in Turkmen music include traveling singers and shamans called ''bakshy'', who act as healers and magicians and si ...
,
Zaza motifs and
Armenian music
The music of Armenia ( hy, հայկական երաժշտություն ''haykakan yerazhshtut’yun'') has its origins in the Armenian highlands, dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE, and is a long-standing musical tradition that encompasse ...
. These usually include epic laments.
Kanto (Cantare music)
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
theater and opera have had a profound effect on
Turkish culture
The culture of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Kültürü) combines a heavily diverse and heterogeneous set of elements that have been derived from the various cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, Caucasia, Middle East and Central Asia ...
in the past century. Like the terminology of seamanship, the terminology of music and theater is derived from Italian. In the argot of the improvisational theater of Istanbul the stage was called "
sahano", the backstage was referred to as "
koyuntu", backdrops depicting countryside were "bosko", the applause was "furi" and the songs sung between the acts and plays were called "kanto".
The improvised pieces were stage adaptations of the
Karagöz (shadow puppet) and
Ortaoyunu (traditional form of Turkish theatre performed in the open) traditions, although in a much more simplified form. The themes explored in these traditional theater arts as well as their stock characterizations and stereotypes were used as the framework for the new extemporaneous performances of the tuluat (improvised) theater.
As with their Italian counterparts, the Turkish troupes employed songs and music before the show and between the acts to pique people's interest and draw in customers.
Kanto: songs sung between the acts as solos or duets, based on traditional eastern makam (modes) but performed on western instruments.
Kanto: "first the introduction, then the lyrics, shake your shoulders to a violin, solo, cock your head and shimmy in oriental dance style, leap around like a partridge, then slowly disappear behind the curtain."
Kanto: the irreplaceable unifying feature of ali Turkish tuluat theater. We can divide kanto into two periods. The division, particularly in terms of musical structure, is very clear between the early kanto and the kanto of the Post-Republic period. It is further possible to identify two styles within the early period. Galata and Direklerarası (both neighbourhoods of Old Istanbul).
Kanto first took root in the musical theaters of Galata, a part of town frequented by sailors, rowdies and roustabouts. Ahmed Rasim Bey paints a vivid picture of the Galata theaters in his 1922 memoir entitled ''Fuhş-i Atik'' (''Prostitution in the Old Days''):
Direklerarası was a little off the beaten track and in comparison to Galata was a more refined center of entertainment. Direklerarası was said to be quite lively at night during the month of Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish) and certainly once its attraction was its family atmosphere. It was here that the troupes of Kel Hasan and Abdi Efendi and later that of Neshid enjoyed a great popularity. It was under the influence of these masters that kanto experienced its golden years.
The troupes orchestra would be made up of such instruments as the
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
,
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
,
trap drum and
cymbal
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...
s. The orchestra would start to play popular songs of the day and marches in front of the theatre about an hour before the show to drum up interest. This intermission or Antrak music ended up with the well-known Izmir March, a sign that the show time was approaching. The play began as the musicians went in and took their places at the side of the stage.
The kanto singers of the period were also composers. Set to extraordinarily simple melodies which were the fashion of the day, the lyrics relied heavily of tensions between men and women as well as reflecting topical events. The compositions were in such fundamental
makam
The Turkish makam ( Turkish: ''makam'' pl. ''makamlar''; from the Arabic word ) is a system of melody types used in Turkish classical music and Turkish folk music. It provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance. Each makam speci ...
s as Rast, Hüzzam, Hicaz, Hüseyni and Nihavent. Kanto songs are remembered both by the names of their interpreters and by their creators, artists such as Peruz, Shamran, Kamelya, Eleni. Küçük and Büyük Amelya, Mari Ferha and Virjin. That kanto brought an erotic element to the stage performance was an important aspect and one that should not be overlooked or separated out.
Art and cultural life gained new dimensions with the changes brought about by the 1923 formation of the Turkish Republic. It was a period of rapid transformation and its effects were widespread. Turkish women had finally won the freedom to appear on the stage, breaking the monopoly previously held by
Rûm
Rūm ( ar, روم , collective; singulative: Rūmī ; plural: Arwām ; fa, روم Rum or Rumiyān, singular Rumi; tr, Rûm or , singular ), also romanized as ''Roum'', is a derivative of the Aramaic (''rhπmÈ'') and Parthian (''frwm'') te ...
(Istanbul Greek) and
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
women who performed in musical and non-musical theatre. Institutions like
Darulbedayi (Istanbul City Theatre) and
Darulelhan
The Istanbul University State Conservatory ( Turkish: İstanbul Üniversitesi Devlet Konservatuarı) is a music, theatre, dance university in Istanbul. It is the oldest conservatory and the oldest continually operating music school in Turkey. It ...
(Istanbul Conservatory of Music) had long been turning out trained artists.
Western lifestyles and Western-style art put pressure on the traditional Turkish formats and these were swept off to the side. The operetta, the tango, then later the
Charleston and the
foxtrot
The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a tim ...
overshadowed kanto. Kanto's popularity began to fade, the city's centers of entertainment shifted, and the theaters of Galata and Direklerarası were closed down. Turkish female artists were unreceptive to kanto's inherent ribairy and chose to keep their distance from it.
Around 1935, there was a revival of interest in the kanto form. Although rather far from its fundamental principles, a new type of kanto was once again popular.
It is important to point out that kanto had now moved from the stage to the recording studio. While the subjects dealt with in the lyrics were still the same old quarrels between men and women, mixed in with satirical takes on fashion and current events, the songs were being written with the
78 rpm
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove ...
phonograph
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
in mind. So much so that every record label hired their own kanto composers—and rather famous ones at that. With Columbia at the fore, record labels commissioned kanto from
Kaptanzade Ali Rıza Bey,
Refik Fersan,
Dramalı Hasan,
Sadettin Kaynak
Sadettin Kaynak (1895 – 3 February 1961) was a prominent composer of Turkish classical music.
Biography
Born in Istanbul, he became a hafiz at a young age. He lost his father early in his youth. He completed his music education at the Ista ...
,
Cümbüş Mehmet and
Mildan Niyazi Bey. The makams were the same but the instrumentation had changed. Kanto were now accompanied by cümbüş (a fretlees banjo like instrument) the ud (a fretless) lute, and calpara (castenets).
Foxtrot
The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a tim ...
,
Charleston and
rumba
The term rumba may refer to a variety of unrelated music styles. Originally, "rumba" was used as a synonym for "party" in northern Cuba, and by the late 19th century it was used to denote the complex of secular music styles known as Cuban rumba ...
rhythms dominated. The tunes were being written and sung more tor listening than tor dancing. Female soloists include
Makbule Enver, Mahmure, and Neriman;
Beşiktaşlı Kemal Senman was the most sought after male singer for duets.
Among the topics explored by the new kantocu (singer or composer of kanto) perhaps the most frequent subject of satire was the new role of women brought about by the formation of the Republic. Songs like Sarhoş Kızlar (Drunken Girls) or Şoför Kadınlar (Women Drivers) were sung seemingly in revenge for all the suffering they had endured at the hands of men in the past. Other topical songs include Daktilo (The Typewriter) which brought to mind the newly formed Secretaires 7 Society. Songs such as Bereli Kız (The Girl with the Beret) and Kadın Asker Olursa (If Women Were Soldiers) were full of mockery and ridicule.
The early period kanto were largely nourished by Istanbul culture. It was much the same in the Post-Republican period. The city's large and diverse population provided both the characters and the events that were the mainstay of kanto. Kanto was heavily influenced by musical theatre. Roman (gypsy) music and culture, which was itself the subject of satire, left its mark on kanto form. Another major influence was
Rum music. The importance of the Istanbul Rum, who were so fond of entertainment and of singing and playing, must not be underestimated. It is a natural and inevitable result of cultural exchange. As it was, almost all the kanto singers were either Rum or Armenian, artists like
Pepron,
Karakas,
Haim
The name ''Haim'' can be a first name or surname originating in the Hebrew language, or deriving from the Old German name '' Haimo''.
Hebrew etymology
Chayyim ( he, חַיִּים ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Ha ...
,
Samran and
Peruz who performed during the period following 1903.
Eventually kanto became more of a definition, a generalized genre than a musical term. Any tune that was outside of the day's musical conventions, anything light that appealed to current trends and tastes, was labeled kanto. Any music played with different instruments that was free rhythmic or somehow novel was labeled kanto; it was the product of the middie-class, urban culture of Istanbul.
Kanto has been viewed as a forerunner of today's pop culture.
Popular music
Popular music is distinguished from the traditional genres as those styles that entered the Turkish musicality after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, either due to attempts of national modernization from 1924 onwards, the opening of the republic to Western musical influences or modern fusions and innovations from artists themselves.
Mainstream pop
Turkish pop music had its humble beginnings in the late 1950s with Turkish cover versions of a wide range of imported popular styles, including
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
,
tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
. As more styles emerged, they were also adopted, such as
hip hop,
heavy metal and
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
.
The self-named "superstar" of the "arrangement" (aranjman) era of the 70s was
Ajda Pekkan
Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (; born 12 February 1946) is a Turkish singer. She is known by the title "superstar" in the Turkish media. Pekkan became a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with her songs, in which she tried to create a strong female figure. ...
who also debuted, along with
Enrico Macias
Gaston Ghrenassia (born 11 December 1938), known by his stage name Enrico Macias, is an Algerian-French singer, songwriter and musician of Algerian Jewish descent.
Early years
Gaston Ghrenassia was born to a Sephardic Algerian Jewish family i ...
, at
Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, while
MFÖ
Mazhar-Fuat-Özkan (MFÖ), also known by their original name Mazhar ve Fuat, is a Turkish pop and rock band with Mazhar Alanson, Fuat Güner and Özkan Uğur as members. While many of their songs poke fun at common Turkish types ("Ali Desidero", ...
(Mazhar, Fuat, Özkan) was the celebrated group of the pop scene with an outstanding dexterity in their use of Turkish prosody and their success of amalgamating Western and Turkish cultural ingredients and perspectives. Also one of the most renowned Turkish pop stars of the last decades is probably
Sezen Aksu
Sezen Aksu (; born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; 13 July 1954) is a Turkish pop music singer, songwriter and producer who has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and "''Minik Serçe''" ("Little Spar ...
. She contributed considerably to the unique Turkish pop sound of this period, allowing it gain ground from its humble beginnings in the early 50s and 60s to the popular genre it is today. She was also one of the strongest advocates for Turkey to enter the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
. Her one-time vocalist and later protégé
Sertab Erener
Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990s ...
won the contest in 2003.
The biggest male pop stars in Turkey are arguably
Tarkan,
Mustafa Sandal
Mustafa Sandal (born 11 January 1970) is a Turkish singer-songwriter. At the beginning of the 1990s, he wrote and composed a number of songs for other singers and made a reputation for himself in the music industry. In 1994, with the release of h ...
and
Kenan Doğulu. Tarkan achieved chart success in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
with his single "
Şımarık
"Şımarık" (, "Spoilt"), also known as "Kiss Kiss", is a 1997 song by Turkish singer Tarkan. It was written by Sezen Aksu, with music credited as composed by Tarkan. However, Tarkan later admitted in a 2006 interview that this had been done wi ...
", also composed by Sezen Aksu, which has been covered by numerous artists. Mustafa Sandal has also enjoyed chart success in Europe with his 2005 single "
İsyankar", which peaked at number 4 and went
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
.
Turkish hip hop
Turkish hip hop
Turkish hip hop refers to hip hop music produced by members of the Turkish minority in Germany, and to a lesser degree by hip hop artists in Turkey. The Turkish minority, called the Turks, first drew inspiration from the discrimination and racis ...
or ''
oriental
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...
hip hop'' is a creation of the Turkish
migrant worker
A migrant worker is a person who Human migration, migrates within a home country or outside it to pursue work. Migrant workers usually do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
Migrant worker ...
community in Germany, which some suggest was a suitable outlet for a young generation disillusioned with Germany's treatment of its migrant class. In 1995, the Turkish-German community produced a major
hip hop crew named
Cartel
A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...
which caused controversy in Turkey and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
for its revolutionary lyrics. Hip hop now enjoys wide popularity among the younger generation in Turkey.
Ceza
Bilgin Özçalkan (; born 31 December 1976), also known by his stage name Ceza (, Turkish for 'punishment'), is a Turkish rapper and songwriter.
Early works
In 1995, Özçalkan started a group called U.C.S and performed with this group until ...
,
Dr.Fuchs (formerly "Nefret") and
Sagopa Kajmer
Yunus Özyavuz (born 17 August 1978), better known by his stage name Sagopa Kajmer (), is a Turkish rapper, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. He was born in 1978 in Samsun, and finished his primary and high school there. He then started worki ...
,
Sansar Salvo, Pit10,
Şehinşah,
Hayki,
Saian,
Allâme are popular figures of contemporary rap music in Turkey.
Anatolian rock
The Turkish rock scene began in the mid- to late 1960s, when popular
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
bands became well-known. Soon, a distinctively Turkish fusion of rock and folk emerged; this was called Anatolian rock, a term which nowadays may be generically ascribed to most of Turkish rock.
Barış Manço
Mehmet Barış Manço (born Tosun Yusuf Mehmet Barış Manço; 2 January 1943 – 1 February 1999), better known by his stage name Barış Manço, was a Turkish rock musician, singer, composer, actor, television producer and show host. Beg ...
,
Cem Karaca and
Erkin Koray
Erkin Koray (; born 24 June 1941) is a Turkish musician, electro-baglama player, and active in Anatolian rock. Career
Koray has been in the Turkish folk music scene since the late 1950s. In 1957, he and his band began playing covers of Elvis P ...
are the best known performers;
Moğollar and
Kurtalan Ekspres are the best known groups of older classical Anatolian rock music.
Islamic anasheed
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic anasheed are also very popular among some of the Turkish people. The most popular artist in Turkey is the British Azeri,
Sami Yusuf
Sami Yusuf (born 21 July 1980) is a British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He gained international attention with the release of his debut album, ''Al-Muʽallim'', in 2003. As of 2020, he has released eight studio alb ...
, a concert in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
drew an audience of over 200,000, his biggest concert so far around the world. He is one of the most notable singers of anasheed, and can speak in many different languages, which includes
Turkish. To date he has performed at sell out concerts in over 30 countries across the world from Istanbul to Casablanca, United States to Germany. Some albums selling more than a million copies in comparison to western music. In Jan 2009 Sami travelled to Turkey where he was invited by Emine Erdoğan, wife of the Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...
, to attend a rally in support of peace in
Gaza. Another popular Turkish singer is Feridun Özdemir, who mainly sings of God and true faith. His records are most successful in the anasheed genre.
Heavy metal and industrial
Heavy metal and industrial groups from Turkey include Pentagram (known as
Mezarkabul
Mezarkabul (also known as Pentagram in Turkey) is a Turkish metal band formed by Hakan Utangaç and Cenk Ünnü. Mezarkabul is known for integrating Anatolian elements into their music.
History
Mezarkabul was formed in Bursa in 1986 by guita ...
outside Turkey) and Almora. Individual musicians in these genres include Ogün Sanlısoy and
Hayko Cepkin
Hayko Cepkin (born 11 March 1978) is a Turkish musician of Armenian descent.
Beginnings
Hayko Cepkin has shared the stage with the likes of Kurban, Öztürk, Birol Namoğlu, Ogün Sanlısoy, Aylin Aslım, Koray Candemir and Demir Demirkan. ...
.
Underground black metal and death metal
Underground black metal and death metal bands known from Turkey are
Witchtrap
''Witchtrap'' (also known as ''The Presence'') is a 1989 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Kevin S. Tenney and starring James W. Quinn, Kathleen Bailey, and Linnea Quigley. The film follows a team of parapsychologists who ...
, Ehrimen, Satanized, Godslaying Hellblast, Burial Invocation,
Deggial
''Deggial'' is the ninth studio album by Swedish symphonic metal band Therion in 2000. As with many of Therion's other albums, ''Deggial'' features a choir and orchestra.
In 2021, it was elected by '' Metal Hammer'' as the 8th best symphonic m ...
, Decaying Purity.
Turkish Trance
Trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
is a rare musical genre in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
but it also has specific listeners. This genre gained when the first Turkish trance music composed by
Murtaza Khojami and the song named for ''Yalnızlık Düşünceler'' with mixed criticism.
Pop-rock and rock
As a singular phenomenon amidst popular currents since the mid-1970s,
Bülent Ortaçgil
Bülent Ortaçgil (born 1 March 1950) is a Turkish composer and singer.
Biography
He was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1950. He moved to Istanbul after starting elementary school which he finished at Sultanahmet Elementary School in Istanbul. He co ...
appeared as an urban songwriter/musician with a distinct musical quality, and became a role model for aspiring young musicians. He was the only Turkish musician for whom a tribute album was compiled that included several prominent performers from a wide gamut of different genres.
Other recent rock bands with a more Western sound who have enjoyed mainstream success include
maNga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
,
Duman and
Mor ve Ötesi
Mor ve ötesi (literally ''Purple and Beyond''; a play on the word '' morötesi'', meaning ultraviolet) is a Turkish alternative rock band from Istanbul. Its four current members are Harun Tekin (vocals and rhythm guitar), Kerem Kabadayı (drum ...
.
Şebnem Ferah
Şebnem Ferah (born 12 April 1972) is a Turkish singer, songwriter, composer, and guitarist. She was the lead vocalist of the all-female hard rock band Volvox until 1994, after which she went on to pursue an illustrious solo career. Her music s ...
,
Özlem Tekin and
Teoman Teoman () is a masculine Turkish given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Given name
* Ali Teoman Germaner (1934–2018) Turkish sculptor
* Teoman Koman (c. 1936–2013), Turkish general
* Teoman (singer), stage name of Faz ...
are examples of individual rock artists with substantial fan bases. Turkey also boasts numerous large-scale
rock festival
A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular even ...
s and events. Annual rock festivals in Turkey include Barışarock, H2000 Music Festival,
Rock'n Coke
Rock'n Coke was the biggest open Turkish music, Turkish rock festival sponsored by Coca-Cola. It was traditionally held at the Istanbul Hezarfen Airfield, Hezarfen Airfield in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous headliners like Limp Bizkit, Motörhead, Tra ...
, and
RockIstanbul.
Underground and club music
There are many clubs across Turkey, especially across its Aegean region. The alternative music scene however is derived mostly from Istanbul's thriving underground club scene that sees
DJs merging the past with the present, using traditional motifs with new age sounds and electronic music.
Mercan Dede
Mercan Dede (born Arkın Ilıcalı, 1966), also known as DJ Arkin Allen, is a Turkish-Canadian composer, ney and bendir player, DJ, and producer. He is a world music artist, playing a fusion of traditional acoustic Turkish and other oriental ...
is one of Turkey's most successful DJs, mixing trance with historical and mystic
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
songs. Another worldwide recognized name from the underground music scene of Turkey is
Mert Yücel. Yücel was responsible for the first
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
album to be released in Turkey. He also had worldwide acclaimed and respected releases on US and UK dance labels. He is one of the key names defining the underground house sound emerging from Istanbul.
Musical influence of Syrian refugees and other immigrants
The influx of immigrants and refugees from
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n, and
African countries
This is a list of sovereign states and dependent territories in Africa. It includes both fully recognised states, states with limited or zero recognition, and dependent territories of both African and non-African states. It lists 56 sovereign state ...
has affected the Turkish musical landscape, particularly in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
. Bands such as
Country for Syria, and Saktat explicitly blend the music of different refugee communities in Istanbul to create a mix of Turkish, Arab, Greek, Persian, and Western influences.
Busking
Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...
has played an important role in the development of this style.
Music industry
The Turkish music industry includes a number of fields, ranging from record companies to radio stations and community and state orchestras. Most of the
major record companies are based in Istanbul's region of ''Unkapanı'' and they are represented by the ''Turkish Phonographic Industry Society'' (MÜ-YAP).
[ They are part of the IFPI National group. The first long-term punishment for piracy distribution had been handed out in 2006.] The major record companies produce material by artists that have signed to one of their
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
s, a
brand name
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
often associated with a particular genre or
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
. Record companies may also promote and market their artists, through advertising, public performances and concerts, and television appearances.
In recent years, the music industry has been embroiled in turmoil over the rise of the Internet downloading of
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
ed music and general piracy; many musicians and MÜ-YAP have sought to punish fans who illegally download copyrighted music.
On 13 June 2006 it was reported that MÜ-YAP and The Orchard, the world's leading distributor and marketer of independent music, had reached an agreement on digital global distribution, representing approximately 80% of the Turkish music market.
There is not a substantial singles market in Turkey.
It is album orientated, although popular singers such as
Yonca Evcimik
Fatma Yonca Evcimik (born 16 September 1963) is a Turkish pop singer and actress.
Biography
Evcimik studied dance and ballet at the Academy of Music at Mimar Sinan University. In an interview, she revealed that she worked as a sales agent fo ...
and
Tarkan have released singles with success. Most music charts not related to album sales, measure popularity by music video feedback and radio airplay.
Turkish radio stations often broadcast popular music. Each music station has a
format
Format may refer to:
Printing and visual media
* Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements
* Paper formats, or paper size standards
* Newspaper format, the size of the paper page
Computing
* File format, particular way that informatio ...
, or a category of songs to be played; these are generally similar to but not the same as ordinary generic classification. With the introduction of commercial radio and television in the early 1990s ending the
monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
of the
Turkish Radio and Television Corporation
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio i ...
(TRT), a multitude of radio and TV stations were opened by
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
media moguls.
These media chains sponsor award ceremonies such as the ''Kral TV'' awards for music, but most accredited music awards are based on sales given out by industry societies such as MÜ-YAP and the Magazine Journalists Society (MJS).
Though major record companies dominate the Turkish industry, an
independent music industry (''indie music'') does exist. Indie music is mostly based around local record labels with limited, if any, retail distribution outside a small region. Artists sometimes record for an indie label and gain enough acclaim to be signed to a major label; others choose to remain at an indie label for their entire careers. Indie music may be in styles generally similar to mainstream music, but is often inaccessible, unusual or otherwise unappealing to many people. Indie musicians often release some or all of their songs over the Internet for fans and others to download and listen to.
Perhaps the most successful Turkish name associated with indie music outside of Turkey is
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun (, Turkish spelling: Ahmet Ertegün; ; – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist.
Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and ch ...
of
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
. His promotion of some of the most famous
R&B and soul artists in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and his contribution to the American
music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
has earned a place in
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
, together with his brother
Nesuhi.
Music education
Music has a place in
education in Turkey
Education in Turkey is governed by a national system which was established in accordance with the Atatürk's Reforms. It is a state-supervised system designed to produce a skillful professional class for the social and economic institutes of the ...
, and is a part of most or all school systems in the country. High schools generally offer classes in singing, mostly choral, and instrumentation in the form of a large
school band
A school band is a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together. A concert band is usually under the direction of one or more conductors (band directors). A school band consists of woodwind instruments, brass ...
or social clubs and communities for Turkish classical or folk music, known as .
Music may also be a part of theatrical productions put on by a school's drama department. Many public and private schools have sponsored music clubs and groups, most commonly including the
marching band
A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...
that performs ''Mehter'' marches at school festivals. However, class time given to music in schools is restricted, and a large proportion of Turkish children and adults seem to have limited musical ability, e.g. they are unable to join a melody singing at the same pitch.
Higher education in the field of music in Turkey is mostly based around large
universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, connected to state music
academies
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
and
conservatories. A conservatory is usually a department of a university, not a separate institution. While many students join conservatories at the usual university entrance age, some conservatories also include a 'Lise' (Lycee), in effect a specialist music school for children aged 14 to 18 years. Conservatories often have a
musicology
Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...
department, and do research on many styles of music especially the Turkish traditional genres, while also keeping a database of sounds in their sound libraries.
Holidays and festivals
![Children's folklore ensemble from Turkey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Children%27s_folklore_ensemble_from_Turkey.jpg)
Music is an important part of several Turkish holidays and festivals, especially playing a major part in the springtime celebration of
Newroz
Newroz or Nawroz ( ku, نەورۆز, Newroz) is the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 21 is the main symbol of Newroz among t ...
and religious festivities such as
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
.
New year is a traditional time for the belly dancer and weddings are celebrated with upbeat tunes, while funerals are mourned with musical laments. Patriotic songs like the national anthem, "
The Independence March", are a major part of public holiday celebrations such as
National Independence & International Children's Day celebrations on 23 April and 30 August Victory Day celebrations, a holiday that marks
Turkish independence.
Music also plays a role at many regional festivals that aren't celebrated nationwide, for example a music and dance parade and festival in
Zonguldak
Zonguldak () is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It was established in 1849 as a port town for the nearby coal mines in Ereğli and the coal trade remains its main economic activity. According to the ...
.
Istanbul,
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
and
İzmir
İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...
are also home to numerous
music festival
A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or h ...
s which showcase styles ranging from the blues and jazz to indie rock and heavy metal. Some music festivals are strictly local in scope, including few or no performers with a national reputation, and are generally operated by local promoters. Recently large soft drink companies have operated their own music festivals, such as
Rock'n Coke
Rock'n Coke was the biggest open Turkish music, Turkish rock festival sponsored by Coca-Cola. It was traditionally held at the Istanbul Hezarfen Airfield, Hezarfen Airfield in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous headliners like Limp Bizkit, Motörhead, Tra ...
and
Fanta
Fanta is an American-owned German brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks created by Coca-Cola Deutschland under the leadership of German businessman Max Keith. There are more than 200 flavors worldwide. Fanta originated in Germany as ...
parties, which draw huge crowds.
See also
*
List of Turkish composers
This is a chronological list of notable composers of the Republic of Turkey.
* Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi (1778–1846)
* Abdülaziz (1830–1876)
*Murad V (1840–1904)
* Leyla Saz (1850–1936)
* Fehime Sultan (1875–1929)
* The Turkish ...
*
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
Turkey has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in 1975. Since the introduction of the semi-finals in , Turkey has only failed to qualify for the final once, in . Turkey won the contest once in , and hosted the co ...
*
Türkvizyon Song Contest 2013
Turkvision Song Contest 2013 ( tr, Türkvizyon Şarkı Yarışması 2013) was the inaugural edition of the Turkvision Song Contest, held in Eskişehir, Turkey. Twenty-four Turkic regions, which have either a large Turkic population or a widely ...
*
List of music festivals in Turkey
*
List of Turkish musicians
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
List of Turks in world culture
*
Erkan Oğur
Erkan Oğur (pronounced ) (born April 17, 1954) is a Turkish musician. A pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976.Martinelli, op. cit.Unfretted, op. cit. A composer, he has influenced many musicians wit ...
*
Cem Tuncer
Cem Tuncer (born 27 July 1978) is a bass guitarist, composer, arranger and producer. He was born in Germany but moved to London, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its ...
*
Mercan Dede
Mercan Dede (born Arkın Ilıcalı, 1966), also known as DJ Arkin Allen, is a Turkish-Canadian composer, ney and bendir player, DJ, and producer. He is a world music artist, playing a fusion of traditional acoustic Turkish and other oriental ...
*
Baba Zula
Baba Zula (also stylized as BaBa ZuLa) is a Turkish alternative musical group, founded in Istanbul in 1996.Erich Kocin''Psychedelische Klänge aus Istanbul in Wien'' Die Presse, 1 July 2007. Retrieved 2012-01-05. With a wide variety of influences ...
*
Wojciech Bobowski
Wojciech Bobowski or Ali Ufki (also Albertus Bobovius, Ali Bey, Santurî Ali Ufki; 1610–1675) was a Polish, later Ottoman musician and dragoman in the Ottoman Empire. He translated the ''Bible'' into Ottoman Turkish, composed an Ottoman '' P ...
*
Arif Mardin
Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...
*
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun (, Turkish spelling: Ahmet Ertegün; ; – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist.
Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and ch ...
*
Nesuhi Ertegun
Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International.
Early life
Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi ...
*
Emre Araci
Emre
* Emre Altuğ (born 1970), Turkish musician
*
* Emre Aracı (born 1968), Turkish music historian, conductor, composer
* Emre Aydın (born 1981), Turkish rock singer
* Emre Aşık (born 1973), Turkish footballer
* Emre Zafer Barnes (born ...
*
Oruç Güvenç
*
Gülçin Yahya Kaçar
Gulçin Yahya Kaçar (10 January 1966) is a Turkish musician, Oud master, composer, singer, and academic.
Biography
Gülçin Yahya Kaçar was born in Ankara in 1966 as the doughter of Dalyan Yahya, member of foreign affairs officer and housew ...
Notes and references
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
: Turkish music performed by Hungarian musicians, Budapest
Turkish music performed by Hungarian musicians, Budapest
''Turkish Music Quarterly'' print journal contents
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Selim Sesler, troubadour songs and an Alevi ceremony.Accessed November 25, 2010.
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Aynur, Erkan Ogur, Kirike and Rembetiko.Accessed November 25, 2010.
*
Audio clips: Traditional music of Turkey. Musée d'ethnographie de Genève. Accessed November 25, 2010.
Turkish Music PortalAll about Turkish Music
Crossing The Bridge: Sounds from IstanbulTurkish Music and Voice LibraryMusicat the
Uysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative
Ney Making House Web SiteTurkish Clarinet MusicGolden Horn RecordsTurkish Musical Instruments ShopInsomnia Radio: Turkiye (Turkish Indie Music Available in English & Turkish)Turkey Music Listings*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080513024050/http://musicalconfrontations.com/MC5/wlc/mcb/cul/mim/mfl/mtm/foc/foc0000000001.htm Field music of the Ottoman Court and Europe''Mevlit'' "''Merhaba bahrı''" excerpt sung by Kâni KaracaFeza NeverdInteresting instrumental music composed by Mehmet Gencler
Comprehensive Turkish Music Video Archive*
Anthology of Turkish Piano Music, Vol. I' on SheetMusicPlus.com
*
Anthology of Turkish Piano Music, Vol. II' on SheetMusicPlus.com
*
Anthology of Turkish Piano Music, Vol. III' on SheetMusicPlus.com
Rock Music TurkeyTurkish Top 20
{{Music of Europe
Turkish