Turkish folk music and the balama in Ghent (Belgium)

1 THE TURKISH DIASPORA IN GHENT1

The Turkish migration to Belgium was initiated by the bilateral agreement of 1964, facilitating official labour migration. The economic crisis of the 1970s lead to an immigration stop in 1974, followed by increased chain migration through family reunification or family formation (De Bock, 2012). At present, Belgium accommodates approximately 150,000 people with Turkish nationality or former Turkish nationality (Schoonvaere, 2013, p. 5). The city of Ghent, a province capital with 250,000 inhabitants, has a large Turkish population of at least 20,000 people (Verhaeghe, Van der Bracht, & Van de Putte, 2012, p. 14), possessing a permanent quality deeply anchored in the citys social fabric. The majority of the Turks in Ghent originates from the western central Anatolian province of Afyon (in particular the town of Emirda) and adjacent provinces, complemented by a considerable presence from the eastern Anatolian provinces of Elaz and Ardahan (in particular the town of Posof), and from Istanbul (Geboorteplaats Turken, 2012). The regions of origin are indicated on the map below:

Fig. 1 Regions of origin of the Turks in Ghent

2 METHODOLOGY
An ethnographic study of a series of twenty musical events (Nketia, 1990; Stone, 1982), involving live performance of Turkish folk music, was conducted. The observed events took place within the city of Ghent or in its direct environment, and involved residents of Ghent as an audience or as employers. The

Based on De Bock, 2012 and Verhaeghe, Van der Bracht, & Van de Putte, 2012.

selection of the events was based on maximum variety. The data collection was accomplished by participant observation, semi-structured interviews and audio- and video-recordings. An overview of the attended events is provided in the table below: No. Date City Short description 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 23 Oct. 2011 2 Dec. 2011 3 Dec. 2011 15 Jan. 2012 28 Jan. 2012 29 Jan. 2012 10 Feb. 2012 16 Mar. 2012 16 Mar. 2012 08 Apr. 2012 18 Apr. 2012 30 Apr. 2012 08 May 2012 18 May 2012 18 May 2012 20 May 2012 25 May 2012 27 May 2012 1 Mar. 2013 27 Oct. 2013 Ghent Ghent Rupelmonde Ghent Ghent Ghent Ghent Ghent Ghent Nazareth Temse Ghent Ghent Ghent Ghent Ghent Ghent Wachtebeke Ghent Ghent Cultural festival Turkish evening Circumcision party Trk evening Open day of Intercultural Centre Trk evening Turkish evening Karaoke evening of student club Turkish evening Wedding party Benefit evening for the village of Suvermez (Emirda) Trk evening Caf concert Trk evening Jam Student festival of world music school Cem2 Open-air festival (seyran) Official opening of music caf Celebration of 50 years of Turkish migration

Fig. 2 Overview of the attended musical events

The systematic study was of course complemented by long-term ethnographic research, covering many observations, formal and informal interviews and conversations, and by the study of written sources. In addition, eight weeks of field research have been conducted in Turkey (2011-2012). Although the balama is an important instrument in different genres, including zgn mzik and other kinds of Turkish popular music, the focus of the present study is on Turkish folk music.

3 THE BALAMA IN GHENT

3.1 GENERAL OVERVIEW
As mentioned in section 1, Ghent has been the stage of a fifty-year history of a substantial Turkish diaspora. The cultural and musical aspirations and activities of the Turkish communities gradually integrated more and more into the overall cultural structure and infrastructure of the city. At present, there

A cem (lit. gathering) is a religious ceremony of the alevis, a shii minority in Turkey.

are two trk bars in Ghent, programming Turkish folk music and zgn mzik besides other genres, and an Intercultural Centre where Turkish music is also an important pillar in its programming. Besides this, there are many Turkish associations and organizations, also contributing with cultural and musical activities. The education of Turkish music takes on different shapes, ranging from formal education in municipal music schools or organized by associations, to informal kinds of education and private lessons. Turkish folk music with all its different forms and styles is an important genre within the Turkish music scene, both in performance and in education. In both fields, the balama figures as the most important instrument.

3.2 MUSICAL ASPECTS

3.2.1 Instrumentation An analysis of the twenty observed musical events shows that the balama is the instrument with the highest prevalence in Turkish folk music performance in Ghent. Only one event did not feature the balama. In certain events involving the alternation of different groups, the balama was not present in all the line-ups but still at some time during the musical program. The occurrence of instruments throughout the twenty observed events can be seen in the diagram below: Number of events
Saxophone Mey Kuze Double bass Acoustic piano Zilli def Def Classical kemene Kak Kaval Kemene Kabak kemane Cajon Zurna Clarinet

Darbuka
Bendir Davul Guitar/electric guitar Keyboard/synthesizer/electric piano Balama/cura Voice 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Fig. 3 Occurrence of instruments (number of events / instrument)

The types of lutes from the balama or saz family to be found are diverse. Long necked balamas are as commonly used as short necked balamas, mostly played with their own typical playing technique, and different sizes from cura to meydan saz are encountered. The choice for a particular type of instrument by a Turkish performer in Ghent depends on personal preference and in some cases on the performed music. Whichever type of balama is used, it is almost always amplified, either by use of external microphones, or via a built-in pickup device. The electronic version of the balama, the elektrobalama seems to be less popular in Ghent than in Turkey. The only observed event involving completely acoustic playing was a jam session, during which a handful of performers were seated around a table without any need for amplification. Naturally, acoustic playing will occur more often in private settings. Even more ubiquitous than the balama is the voice. Turkish folk music is a predominantly vocal genre and, although instrumental renderings of folk songs are becoming more and more usual practice, a purely instrumental Turkish folk music program is still hard to imagine unless it would concern a highly stylized performance. Singing and playing the balama are often combined by one person; this was the case in more than half of the observed events. It is a natural way of performing Turkish folk music, rooted in the tradition of the aks, the wandering bards accompanying themselves on lutes. Although the a cappella rendering of songs is the most basic way of performing Turkish folk music a practice which can still be easily observed in rural contexts in Turkey it proved hard to encounter this practice in contemporary Ghent. Probably in private contexts, this practice still occurs, but in public contexts I never observed it. It appears that singing without any instrumental accompaniment, most often the balama, has become somewhat odd, as if it would sound naked or incomplete to the modern ears of the Turks in Ghent. This is another sign of the thorough invasion of the balama into all registers of Turkish folk music. Instruments often combined with the balama are the Oriental models of synthesizers. Another regularly appearing instrument is the guitar, which sometimes becomes a substitute for the balama. The percussion instruments of davul, bendir and darbuka appeared each in one third of the observed events. It is significant that the combination davul and zurna, which is so common in Turkey, was only found in two events in Ghent (a wedding party and an open-air festival). While Ghent accommodates plenty of good balama players, when a zurna player is needed, he has to be sought after in other provinces. 3.2.2 Performance styles and playing techniques A single Turkish folk song or dance can be performed in plenty of ways, ranging from a traditional, purist, approach avoiding influences from other musical styles and genres, to a variety of hybrid performance styles. A number of different types of performance styles could be discerned in the attended events in Ghent. Approximately one third of the events involved only a traditional performance style, while in other events this traditional approach was combined with elements from Western classical music, or influenced by the jazz idiom. More than half of the observed events involved a certain degree of influence from pop music. 1. A performance style in line with the tradition is essentially monophonic, although it can involve idiomatic kinds of polyphony, namely the use of a drone or parallel fourths or fifths. It develops within the Turkish tone system built around the microtonal modi of the makams or ayaks, and the flexible metrical system of Turkish folk music involving additive rhythms and changing meters. In a traditional performance style, regional motives, rhythms, ornaments and techniques are essential, summarized in the concepts of tavr and its vocal counterpart az

This performance style was observed during the open day and the student festival in the Intercultural Centre, during Turkish evenings in music cafs and during the cem ceremony. 2. A performance style characterized by the adoption of elements from Western classical music can involve tonal harmonies, chords or chord sequences, and favor an equal temperament at the expense of the Turkish microtonal tone system. Typical procedures are the insertion of virtuoso phrases, scales and arpeggios, particular ornaments, chromaticism, and the addition of second voices or the doubling of the melody in thirds or sixths. It could also involve a more experimental musical idiom, a more abstract character, closer to contemporary Western classical music. This style does not occur often in Ghent; it seems to be rarely applied by Turkish musicians from Ghent, but I witnessed certain traits of it in performances of guest musicians from Turkey, such as Erkan Our, Erdal Erzincan and Musa Kurt. 3. Influence from jazz can manifest itself through the use of jazz scales and harmonies, the use of equal temperament instead of microtones, the application of swing and of formal procedures from jazz (exposition of the theme improvisatory development recapitulation of the theme). This performance style was observed during the cultural festival, two caf concerts and the celebration of fifty years of Turkish migration. The last two performance styles concern hybrids of Turkish folk music and pop music. Influence from pop music can manifest itself in two degrees: as a subtle, and as an overt pop influence. 4. The subtly influenced style displays vocal and instrumental timbres specific to pop music, and an increased amplification of the sound. Pop harmonizations occur, chords originating in a guitar idiom are used. Microtonal intervals are standardized or the equal temperament is used, while the rhythm is less complex and the meter usually regular. More repetition occurs and riffs are applied. A certain simplification is also manifest in the abandonment of regional characteristics and idiomatic ornamentation. This performance style occurred during Turkish/trk evenings and during the karaoke evening. 5. The overtly pop-influenced style displays a clear pop sound, involving hard beats, heavy basses, high amplification, distortion, and sound effects. Electr(on)ic instruments take over the role of acoustic instruments. Fast tempos and regular meters are typical, as are repetition and the use of riffs. In general, a higher degree of standardization and simplification of the musical material occurs. The harmony is completely compatible with the pop idiom. This performance style was observed in large-scale parties such as the benefit evening, the circumcision party and the wedding party.

3.3 CONTEXTUAL ASPECTS

The balama can play different roles and acquire different values, depending on the kind and function of the musical event in which it is featured, as well as on the collective and individual nature of the people involved. 3.3.1 Turkish evenings or Trk evenings During those kinds of events, the use of the balama is expected, almost obligatory, it is inherent to the events nature. In contemporary Turkey as well as in the diaspora, a singer accompanying himself on the balama has become the iconic image of the living tradition of Turkish folk music performance. This basic image can be enriched by extra instrumentalists or singers, which add other colours to the primary sound of saz ve sz (balama and voice). During Trk evenings, typically involving a predominantly

Turkish audience, the balama thus fulfils its role as a carrier of cultural meanings, in this way contributing to the construction or consolidation of certain forms of cultural identity. The balama together with the performed music represents Turkishness and connects the people who recognize this meaning. 3.3.2 Festivals A second example is provided by the festivals, which are usually aimed at a general public of Turkish and non-Turkish people. The very nature of such festivals thus involves an intercultural function. The use of the balama will have different connotations for the Turkish and the non-Turkish attendees. The Turkish attendees will attach meaning and values to the instrument comparable to those of the Trk evenings, and in general their interpretation will be more pertinent than the interpretation by the non-Turkish attendees. But for both groups, the balama and the performed music are a typical exponent of Turkish culture and as such represent Turkishness. The Turkish attendees will experience a connection through common recognition of values, besides a feeling of difference and/or similarity with respect to the non-Turkish attendees. A comparable dichotomy of separation and connection will be perceived by the non-Turkish attendees. 3.3.3 Wedding and circumcision parties Also compatible with the role performed in the Trk evenings, is the role of the balama during wedding and circumcision parties. These kinds of events typically bring people together who are connected through family and friendship ties. The performance of Turkish folk music and the use of the balama acquires ritual connotations here. It accompanies and supports the performance of a rite of passage, signifying a transition from one position in society to another. On this kind of occasions, folk music is inevitably and universally present and functions as a vehicle of important social, cultural and religious values and meanings. The position of the balama however is somewhat ambiguous, since this instrument is in fact not essential to the rituals of circumcision and marriage, but has been adopting that role recently. Historically, the traditional instrument combination of davul and zurna and a cappella singing are the true symbolic accompaniment of these rituals, each in their own place. But gradually, the balama is taking over the central position of the davul and zurna, a development clearly observable in Ghent. 3.3.4 Cem The central position of the balama in the alevi culture is illustrated by its denomination telli Koran Koran with strings. The importance attached by the alevis to the balama is much higher than is witnessed in other social groups. The instrument is inextricably interwoven with their cultural, social, religious and political identity and has become a symbol of it. Therefore, playing the balama or listening to it is never trivial for alevis, whatever the context or kind of event may be. Alevi balama playing in Trk evenings or on festivals thus adds an extra level of meaning to the event. The music performed on the balama during the cem ceremonies directly invokes religious feelings and ritual actions. As was the case in the previous examples, the use of the balama involves various symbolic connotations and other associations, and, comparable to the third example, it surpasses the cultural and social level to enter the ritual and religious level. But unique to this fourth example is the direct, performative way of functioning.

4 CONCLUSION
Compared to Turkey, the balama manifests itself in a similar way and holds an analogous position in Ghent. Yet, its omnipresence appears to be slightly larger than in Turkey, at the expense of other traditional Turkish instruments or a cappella singing. It figures less frequently in purely Turkish folk music programs and traditional performance practices than in Turkey; it rather finds its place in mixed programs involving different genres often alevi or zgn music and hybrid performance styles. On a contextual level, the instruments cultural meanings and symbolic values in Ghent are similar to those in contemporary Turkey, and the way it functions in different kinds of musical events is comparable. Yet, the fact that the setting is situated in a diaspora context adds an extra dimension to these meanings and functions.