Music of Turkey

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Music of Turkey

General topics

Byzantine music
Military bands

Whirling Dervishes

Arabesque music

Turkish music style

Genres

Folk

Rock

Pop
Classical

Arabesque

Hip hop

Jazz

Tango

Military

Specific forms

Ethnic music Armenian

Assyrian

Azeri

Bosnian

Greek

Jewish

Kurdish

Turkish marches Tenth year March

Ottoman marches

Media and performance

Music awards Turkey Music Awards

M-Yap

Golden Microphone

Golden Butterfly Awards

Music charts Kral Top 20

Turkey Top 20

Billboard charts

Music festivals International Music Festival

International Jazz Festival

Izmir European Jazz Festival

Aspendos festival

Music media Kral

Musiki Mecmuas

NR 1

Dream

Powertrk

Nationalistic and patriotic songs

National anthem Independence March

Regional music

Cypriot Turkish music

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The music of Turkey includes mainly Turkic elements as well as partial influences ranging
from Central Asian folk music, Arabic music, Greek music, Ottoman music, Persian
music and Balkan music, as well as references to more modern European and American popular
music. Turkey is a country on the northeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and is a crossroad
of cultures from across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus and South and Central
Asia
 The roots of traditional music in Turkey span across centuries to a time when the Seljuk
Turks migrated to Anatolia and Persia 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.[1]
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, Armenian, Albanian, Polish, Azeri and Jewish communities, among others.[2] 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
70s and 80s, with even its greatest proponents Ajda Pekkan and Sezen Aksu 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. The late 1990s also saw an
emergence of underground music producing alternative Turkish rock, electronica, hip-
hop, rap and dance music in opposition to the mainstream corporate pop and arabesque genres,
which many believe have become too commercial.[3]

Contents
[hide]

1Classical music
o 1.1Musical instruments
o 1.2Ottoman harem music: belly dancing
o 1.3Romani influences
o 1.4Military music
o 1.5Turkish influence on Western classical music
o 1.6Western influence on Turkish classical music
2Folk music
o 2.1Folk instruments
o 2.2Folk literature
o 2.3Arabesque
o 2.4Religious music
2.4.1Mosque music
2.4.2Alevi influences: The Ak (Ashik) traditions
2.4.3Sufi influences: The Mevlevi traditions
o 2.5Regional folk styles
2.5.1Aegean and Rumeli regions
2.5.2Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions
2.5.3Southeastern regions
3Kanto (Cantare music)
4Popular music
o 4.1Mainstream pop
o 4.2Turkish hip hop
o 4.3Turkish Trance
o 4.4Anatolian rock
o 4.5Islamic Anasheed
o 4.6Heavy metal and industrial
o 4.7Underground black metal and death metal
o 4.8Pop-rock and rock
o 4.9Underground and clubs
 o 4.10Musical Influence of Syrian Refugees and Other Immigrants
5Music industry
6Music education
7Holidays and festivals
8See also
9Notes and references
10Further reading
11External links

Classical music[edit]
Main article: Turkish classical music

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An example of Turkish
classical music.

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help.

Ottoman court music has a large and varied system of modes or scales known as makams, 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 skdar Musiki Cemiyeti.
A specific sequence of classical Turkish musical forms become a fasl, a suite an instrumental
prelude (perev), an instrumental postlude (saz semaisi), and in between, the main section of vocal
compositions which begins with and is punctuated by instrumental improvisations taksim.[4] A full fasl
concert would include four different instrumental forms and three vocal forms, including a light
classical song, ark. A strictly classical fasl remains is the same makam throughout, from the
introductory taksim and usually ending in a dance tune or oyun havas.[5] However
shorter ark 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, Prince Cantemir, Baba
Hamparsum, Kemani Tatyos Efendi, Sultan Selim III and Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. The
most popular modern Turkish classical singer is Mnir Nurettin Seluk, who was the first to establish
a lead singer position. Other performers include Blent Ersoy, Zeki Mren, Mzeyyen
Senar and Zekai Tunca.
Musical instruments[edit]
Traditional instruments in Turkish classical music today include tanbur long-necked plucked
lute, ney end-blown flute, kemene bowed fiddle, oud plucked short-necked unfretted
lute, kanun plucked zither, violin, and in Mevlevi music, kudm drum and a harp.
Ottoman harem music: belly dancing[edit]

Female musical players. Ottoman miniature painting, 18th century.

Further information: Belly dancing

From the makams of the royal courts to the melodies of the royal harems, a type of dance music
emerged that was different from the oyun havas of fasl music. In the Ottoman Empire, 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 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 was performed by women for women. This
female dancer, known as a rakkase, hardly ever appeared in public.[6]
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.[6]
Modern oriental dance in Turkey is derived from this tradition of the Ottoman rakkas. Some
mistakenly believe that Turkish oriental dancing is known as iftetelli due to the fact that this style of
music has been incorporated into oriental dancing by Greeks, illustrated by the fact that the Greek
belly dance is sometimes mistakenly called Tsifteteli. However, iftetelli is now a form of folk music,
with names of songs that describe their local origins, whereas rakkas, as the name suggests, is
possibly of a more mideastern origin.[6] Dancers are also known for their adept use of finger cymbals
as instruments, also known as zils.
Romani influences[edit]
Further information: Romani music
Romani 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 fasl music (a style, not
to be confused with the fasl form of classical Turkish music) with food and alcoholic beverages is
often associated with the underclass of Turkish society, though it also can be found in more
respectable establishments in modern times.[1]
Roma have also influenced the fasl itself. Played in music halls, the dance music (oyun havas)
required at the end of each fasl 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 fasl are the clarinet, violin, kanun,
and darbuka. Clarinetist Mustafa Kandral is a welknown fasil musician.
Military music[edit]
Main article: Ottoman military band
The Janissary bands or Mehter Takm is considered to be the oldest type of military marching band
in the world.[7] 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.