Music of Turkey

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Music of Turkey: Topics
Turkish classic Military Turkish folk Oriental Turkish pop Religious music Turkish rock Rebetiko Turkish style Arabesque
History (Timeline and Samples)
Genres:	Alternative - Classical - Dance - Folk - Hip hop - Jazz - Military - Ottoman - Opera - Pop - Religious - Rock
Music awards
Kral - MÜ-YAP - MGD
Charts
Powerturk 40 - Kral 20
Annual festivals
Istanbul International Music Festival - Istanbul International Jazz Festival - Ankara IMF - Izmir European Jazz Festival - Aspendos International Opera and Ballet Festival
Media
Bant magazine - Mix! - Adante - BlueJean
National anthem
Independence March
Other Turkish marches
Tenth year March - Ottoman marches
Ethnic music
Armenian - Azeri - Bosnian - Greek - Jewish - Kurdish - Pontic - Romani - Zaza - Other immigrants and minorities
Regional folk styles
Aegean - Rumeli - Black Sea - Cyprus
Ottoman regional styles
Albanian - Arabic - Armenian - Balkans - Cypriot - Egyptian - Greek - Hungarian - Kurdish - Persian - Polish - Pontic - Thracian

The music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music and music from Ottoman Empire dominions such as Persian music, Balkan music and ancient Byzantine music, to modern European and American popular music. In turn, it has influenced these cultures through the Ottoman Empire.^[1] Turkey is a country on the eastern 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 spans across centuries to a time when the Seljuk Turks colonized Anatolia and Persia in the 11th century and before pre-Turkic influences. Much of its modern popular music can trace its roots to the emergence in the early 1930s drive for Westernization.^[2]

Elements of indigenous music mixed in varying amounts to form a wide array of diverse styles. As the old Ottoman estate was a cultural mix of immigrants and minorities, Turkey has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of Armenian, Greek, Polish, Azeri and Jewish communities, among others.^[3] Many Turkish cities and towns have vibrant local music scenes which, in turn, support a number of regional musical styles.

Contents 1 Historical background 2 Classical music 2.1 Musical instruments 2.2 Ottoman harem music: belly dancing 2.3 Romani influences 2.4 Military music 2.5 Turkish influence on Western classical music 2.6 Western influence on Turkish classical music 3 Folk music 3.1 Folk instruments 3.2 Folk Literature 3.3 Religious music 3.4 Regional folk styles 4 Popular music 4.1 Mainstream pop 4.2 Turkish hip hop 4.3 Arabesque 4.4 Anatolian rock 4.5 Pop-rock, Rock 4.6 Underground and Clubs 5 Music industry 6 Music education 7 Holidays and festivals 8 See also 9 References 10 Notes and references 11 Further reading 12 External links

[edit] Historical background

Arts of the Turkish Republic

Architecture Carpet making Cinema Comic books Cuisine Rakkas Dance Rakkase Dance Folk Dance Modern Dance Folklore Literature Music Poetry Sculpture Television Theater Shadow Theater Visual arts

Traditional music in Turkey falls into two genres, classical art music and folk music.

Turkish classical music is characterized by the culture of Ottoman elite and influenced lyrically by neighbouring regions and Ottoman provinces, such as Persian and Byzantine vocal traditions and South European cultures.^[4] Earlier forms are sometimes termed as saray music in Turkish, meaning royal court music, indicating the source of the genre comes from Ottoman royalty as patronage and composer.^[5] Neo-classical or postmodern versions of this traditional genre are termed as art music or sanat musikisi, though often it is unofficially termed as alla turca.

From the royal courts came the Ottoman military band, Mehter takımı in Turkish, considered to be the oldest type of military marching band in the world. It was also the forefather of modern Western percussion bands and has been described as the father of Western military music.^[6]

Turkish folk music, is characterized by the culture of Turkish-speaking rural communities of Anatolia, the Balkans, and Middle East. While Turkish folk music contains definitive traces of the Central Asian Turkic cultures, it has also strongly influenced and been influenced by many other cultures in the region. Religious music in Turkey is sometimes grouped with folk music due to the tradition of the wandering minstrel or aşık (pronounced ashuk), but its influences on Sufism due to the spritiual Mevlevi sect arguably grants it special status.^[7]

It has been suggested the distinction between the two major genres comes during the Tanzîmat period of Ottoman era, when Turkish classical music was the music played in the Ottoman palaces and folk music was played in the villages.^[8][9] However, with the type of cultural cross-breeding the empire allowed, both genres relate to the multitudes of ethnic groups to be found in the make-up of the Ottoman Empire. In that sense they are the first examples of their kind in world music.^[10]

When the modern Turkish state was proclaimed in 1923, the new republic aimed at creating a nation with a distinct and unified culture. This included replacing the culture of elite Istanbul, which was considered Ottoman, by the culture of rural Anatolia, which was considered Turkish. Hence, folk music was promoted, while classical music became less popular.^[11] Moreover, western classical music was introduced and encouraged in accordance with one of the most important policies of the new state, westernization of the society.^[12]

By the 1960s, western popular music had been introduced to Turkey, with the name hafif-batı müziği (light-western music). At the same time, socialist movements were getting popular in accordance with the world. Musicians who were inspired by these movements started adapting folk music with contemporary sounds and arrangements, giving rise to Anatolian rock and protest music or özgün muzik (authentic music).

Starting in the 1970s, increasing immigration from rural areas to big cities and particularly to Istanbul gave rise to a new cultural synthesis, which was regarded as a degeneration of Istanbul music by some musicologists that favoured Ottoman classical music. Paradoxically, a genre that had once been thought as foreign was now viewed as Turkish, as it reminded them of a time when the Turks were at the height of their power in world events.

The new residents of metropolitan areas were mostly suffering from hard economical conditions and having difficulties in adapting to the big city. This newly constructed culture generated its own music, derogatively termed by musicologists as arabesque, due to its high pitched wailing and exaggerated symbolisms of suffering. Arabesque was a synthesis of Turkish folk and middle-eastern music. The growing left-wing subculture also found its own arabesque, in a new version of protest music fused in folk traditions. In the era influenced by the military government, arabesque and özgün genres were labeled "degenerate" and discouraged by the government, while Turkish classical music was promoted.^[13]

Western-style pop music having lost popularity to arabesque in the late 70s and 80s with even its greatest proponents Ajda Pekkan and Sezen Aksu falling in status, became popular again by the beginning of the 1990s, as a result of an opening economy and society. The increasing popularity of pop music gave rise to several international Turkish pop stars such as Tarkan and Sertab Erener, with the support of Aksu.

Turkish folk, which has been popular from time to time, again came into public attention by the end of the 1990s. It now has a broader popularity regardless of subcultures.

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.^[14]

[edit] Classical music

Main article: Turkish classical music

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. Different pieces of music can be arranged in certain ways to create a fasıl, which is a suite of music consisting of a prelude, postlude and a primary section which begins with and is punctuated by improvisatory pieces called taksim.^[15]

A full fasıl concert would involve four different instrumental pieces and three verbal pieces, including a recognisable song or şarkı format, that carries the same makam or modes all the way through, beginning with a prelude taksim and usually ending in a dance tune or oyun havası.^[16]

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.

Turkish classical music is taught in conservatories and social clubs, the most respected of which is Istanbul's Üsküdar Musiki Cemiyeti.

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 Münir Nurettin Selçuk, who was the first to establish a lead singer position. Other performers include Bülent Ersoy, Zeki Müren, Müzeyyen Senar and Zekai Tunca.

[edit] Musical instruments

Main article: Turkish musical instruments

Commonly used instruments in Turkish classical music are the oud, tanbur, ney, kanun, and darbuka.^[17]

[edit] Ottoman harem music: belly dancing

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 havası of fasıl 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.^[18]

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.^[19]

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 due to the fact that this style of music has been incorporated into oriental dancing by Greeks and Romany people, illustrated by the fact that the Greek belly dance is sometimes mistakenly called Tsifteteli. However, Çiftetelli is a form of folk music of local origin, whereas rakkas, as the name suggests, is possibly of a more mideastern origin.^[20]

Dancers are also known for their adept use of finger cymbals as instruments, also known as zils.

[edit] Romani influences

Further information: Roma music

Roma are known throughout Turkey for their musicianship. Their music brought Turkish classical motifs to the public, when it began to play in meyhanes or tavernas. This type of fasıl 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.^[21]

Another Roma influence has been on the fasıl itself. Played in the music halls, the dance music or oyun havası as required at the end of each particular fasıl has been incorporated with Ottoman rakkas or belly dancing motifs.

Popular musical instruments utilised here are the clarinet, violin and darbuka. Mustafa Kandıralı is a well known fasil musician.

[edit] Military music

Main article: Ottoman military band

The Janissary bands or Mehter Takımı is considered to be the oldest type of military marching band in the world.^[22]

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.

[edit] Turkish influence on Western classical music

Main article: Turkish music (style)

Musical relations between the Turks and the rest of Europe can be traced back many centuries.^[23]

European classical composers in the 18th century were fascinated by Turkish music, particularly the strong role given to the brass and percussion instruments in Janissary bands.

Joseph Haydn wrote his Military Symphony to include Turkish instruments, as well as some of his operas. Turkish instruments were also included in Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony Number 9. Mozart wrote the "Ronda alla turca" in his Sonata in A major and also used Turkish themes in his operas.

Although this Turkish influence was a fad, it introduced the cymbals, bass drum, and bells into the symphony orchestra, where they remain.

Jazz musician Dave Brubeck wrote his "Blue Rondo á la Turk" as a tribute to Mozart and Turkish music.

[edit] Western influence on Turkish classical music

While the European military bands of the 18th century introduced the percussion instruments of the Ottoman janissary bands, a similar development was emerging in the opposite direction, that is the Europeanisation of the Ottoman army band, in the 19th century. It was also during this period that the famous opera composer Gaetano Donizetti's brother, Giuseppe Donizetti, was invited to become Master of Music to Sultan Mahmud II in 1827.^[24]

After the decline of the Ottoman Empire 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, and renaming it as the Orchestra of the Presidency of the Republic, Riyaset-i Cmhur Orkestrası, signalled a Westernization of Turkish music. The name would later be changed to the Presidential Symphony Orchestra or Cumhurbaşkanlığı Senfoni Orkestrası.^[25]

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, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Necil Kazım Akses and Hasan Ferit Alnar, who became known as the Turkish Five.^[26] The founding of the Ankara State Conservatory with the aid of the German composer and music theorist Paul Hindemith in 1936 showed that Turkey in terms of music wanted to be like the West.^[27]

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 was launched in 1924 and continued until 1953 to collect around 10,000 folk songs. Hungarian composer Béla Bartók visited Ankara and the south-eastern Turkey in 1936 within the context of these works.^[28]

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, İdil Biret, Suna Kan and the Pekinel sisters.

[edit] Folk music

Main article: Turkish 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.^[29] Most songs recount stories of real life events and Turkish folklore, or have developed through song contests between troubadour poets.^[30] 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 regions the upbeat dance music Çiftetelli is usually played, and in the southeastern regions of Turkey the Halay is the customary form of local wedding music and dance.^[31]

Greeks from Thrace and Cyprus that have adopted çiftetelli music sometimes use it synonymously to mean oriental dance, 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 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.^[32]

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 progenitor of this was Zülfü Livaneli, known for the mid-80s innovation of combining poet Nazim Hikmet's radical poems with folk music and rural melodies, after certain musicians practising the aşık tradition had begun to comment on socio-political issues.^[33] 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.^[34]

[edit] Folk instruments

Folk instruments range from string groups as bağlama, bow instruments such as the kemenche (a type of stave fiddle), and percussion and wind, including the zurna, ney and davul. Regional variations place importance on different instruments, e.g. the darbuka in Rumeli and the kemenche around the Black Sea region.

The folklore of Turkey is extremely diverse. Nevertheless, Turkish folk music is dominantly marked by a single musical instrument called saz or bağlama, a type of long-necked lute. Traditionally, saz is played solely by traveling musicians known as ozan or religious Alevi troubadours called aşık.^[35]

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 baglamak means 'to tie' as a reference to the strings of the instrument. Like most stringed instruments, it can either be played with a plectrum (i.e., pick), or with a fingerpicking style.

The zurna and davul duo is also popular in rural areas, and are played at weddings and other local celebrations.

[edit] Folk Literature

Further information: Turkish 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 baglama. They are often taught by other senior mistrels, learning expert idioms and procedure and methods about the performance of the art.^[36] These lessons often take place at minstrel meetings and coffeehouses frequented by them. Those bard-poets who become experts or alaylı then take apprentices for themselves and continue the tradition.^[37]

A minstrel's creative output usually takes two major forms. One, in musical rhyming contests with other bards, where the quarrel ends with the defeat of the minstrel who cannot find an appropriate quatrain to the rhyme and two, story telling.^[38] These folk stories are extracted from real life, fokelore, dreams and legends.^[39] One of the most well-known followings are those bards that put the title aşık in front of their names.

[edit] Religious music

Alevi influences: The Aşık traditions

It is suggested that about a third 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.^[40] These songs, which hail from the central northeastern area, are about mystical revelations, invocations to Alevi saints and Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali, 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.^[41]

Middle Anatolia is home to the bozlak, a type of declamatory, partially improvised music by the bards. Neşet Ertaş has so far been the most prominent contemporary voice of the Middle Anatolian music, singing songs of a large spectrum including works of premodern Turkoman aşıks like Karacaoğlan and Dadaloğlu and the modern aşıks like his father, the late Muharrem Ertas - the Master. Around the city of Kars, aşık music has a more spiritual bent, and also features ritualized song contests.^[42]

In the 70s and 80s, modern aşıks moved away from religious songs to socio-politically active lyrics, especially Mahsuni Şerif, Aşık Veysel and Ali İzzet, who are well-regarded by left-wing supporters in politics.

Sufi influences: The Mevlevi traditions

Followers of the Mevlevi Order or whirling dervishes are a religious sufi sect unique to Turkey but well-known outside of its boundaries. They are not to be confused with other dervish sects that carry out self-mutilation in certain areas of Iran and Pakistan.

Dervishes 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.^[43] With the musical instrument known as the ney at the forefront of this music, internationally well-known musicians include Necdet Yasar, Niyazi Sayin, Kudsi Ergüner and Ömer Faruk Tekbilek.

[edit] 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 identifable and distinguished by regions.

Aegean and Rumeli regions

The region of Rumeli or Roumelia is used to indicate the part of Turkey which is in Europe, namely provinces of Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ and the western part of Istanbul Province. Folk songs from this region share similarities with Greek folk music, especially from the ethnic minorities and natives of Thrace. Cypriot folk music also shares folk tunes with this region, e.g. the Çiftetelli dance. These type of folk songs also share close similarities with Ottoman court music, strengthening the suggestion by some that the distinction between court and folk music wasn't always so clear.^[44][45] However, it could arguably be that folk songs from Istanbul were closely influenced by its locality, which would include Ottoman rakkas and court music.

The Turkish islands in the Aegean and cities like İzmir share similar motifs, such as the Zeybek dance.

Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions

Central Asian Turkic peoples from the Caspian Sea and areas have had a huge influence in the purest forms of Turkish folk music, most notably from the Azeris and Turkmen.

Pontic Greeks on the eastern shore of the Black Sea or Karadeniz regions have their own distinct style of folk music, motifs from which were used with great success by Helena Paparizou.^[46] 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, trgona, kots, omal, serra, kotsari and tik.^[47]

Southeastern regions

Southeastern regions carry influences from Turkmen music, Kurdish music, Zaza motifs and Armenian music. These usually include epic laments.

[edit] 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.^[48]

[edit] Mainstream pop

Main article: Turkish pop music

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, tango, and jazz. As more styles emerged, they were also adopted, such as hip hop, heavy metal and reggae.

The self named "superstar" of the "arrangement" (aranjman) era of the 70s was Ajda Pekkan who also debuted, along with Enrico Macias, at Olympia, Paris, while MFÖ (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. 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 greatest advocates for Turkey to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. Her one-time vocalist and later protegé Sertab Erener won the contest in 2003.

The biggest male pop stars in Turkey are arguably Tarkan, Mustafa Sandal & Serdar Ortac. Tarkan achieved chart success not only in Europe but also in Latin America with his single "Şımarık", also composed by Sezen Aksu, which has been covered by numerous artists.^[49] Mustafa Sandal has also enjoyed chart success in Europe. His 2004 single "Isyankar" peaked at Number 4 and went gold.^[50][51] Serdar Ortac is the most selling pop star in Turkey although he does not get any support from big artists like Sezen Aksu & Nazan Oncel as others do.

[edit] Turkish hip hop

Main article: Turkish hip hop

Turkish hip hop or oriental hip hop is a creation of the Turkish 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.^[52] In 1995, the Turkish-German community produced a major hip hop crew named Cartel which caused controversy in Turkey and Germany for its revolutionary lyrics. Hip hop now enjoys wide popularity among the younger generation in Turkey. Ceza (formerly "Nefret") and Sagopa Kajmer are popular figures of contemporary rap music in Turkey.

[edit] Arabesque

Main article: Arabesque music

Starting in the 1970s, immigration from predominantly southeastern rural areas to big cities and particularly to Istanbul gave rise to a new cultural synthesis. The makeup of Istanbul was to change forever. The old tavernas and music halls of fasıl music were to shut down in place of a new type of music.^[53] 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 Muslum Gurses.^[54]

This genre has underbeat forms that include Ottoman forms of belly-dancing music known as fantazi from singers like Ebru Gundes and with performers like Orhan Gencebay who added Anglo-American rock and roll to arabesque music.

[edit] Anatolian rock

Main article: Anatolian rock

The Turkish rock scene began in the mid- to late 1960s, when popular United States and United Kingdom 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.^[55] Cem Karaca and Barış Manço are the best known performers of older classical Anatolian rock music.

[edit] Pop-rock, Rock

As a singular phenomenon amidst popular currents since the mid-70s, Bülent Ortaçgil appeared as the urban songwriter/musician with a distinct musical quality, and became a role model for inspiring 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.^[56] Other recent rock bands with a more western sound include maNga, Duman and Mor ve Ötesi who enjoy large mainstream success. Şebnem Ferah and Teoman are two examples of individual rock artists with substantial fan-bases.

Turkey also boasts numerous large-scale rock festivals and events. Annually held rock festivals include Barışarock, H2000 Music Festival, Rock'n Coke, and RockIstanbul.

[edit] Underground and Clubs

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, utilising traditional motifs with new age sounds and electronic music. Mercan Dede is one of Turkey's most successful Dj's, mixing trance with historical and mystic Sufi songs, while group Baba Zula are known for its unique sound created by the amalgamation of natural field recordings coupled with traditional and modern acoustic and electronic instruments.

[edit] Music industry

Further information: 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 Unkapı and they are represented by the Turkish Phonographic Industry Society (MÜ-YAP).^[57] The major record companies produce material by artists that have signed to one of their record labels, a brand name often associated with a particular genre or record producer. 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 copyrighted music and general piracy; many musicians and MÜ-YAP have sought to punish fans who illegally download copyrighted music.^[58] 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.^[59]

There is not a substantial singles market in Turkey.^[60] It is album orientated, although popular singers such as Tarkan have released singles with success.^[61] Most music charts not related to album sales, measure popularity by music video feedback and radio airplay.^[62]

Turkish radio stations often broadcast popular music. Each music station has a format, 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 of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), a multitude of radio and TV stations were opened by newspaper media moguls.^[63] 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).^[64][65]

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.^[66]

Perhaps the most successful Turkish name associated with the indie music outside of Turkey is Ahmet Ertegün of Atlantic Records. His promotion of some of the most famous R&B and soul artists in North America and his contribution to the American music industry has earned a place in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[edit] Music education

Further information: Music education

Music is an important part of education in Turkey, 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 or social clubs and communities for Turkish classical or folk music, known as cemiyets.^[67] 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 that performs Mehter marches at school festivals.

Higher education in the field of music in Turkey is mostly based around large universities, connected to state music academies and conservatories. Universities may also have a musicology 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.^[68]

[edit] Holidays and festivals

Further information: Festivals and public holidays

Music is an important part of several Turkish holidays and festivals, especially playing a major part in the springtime celebration of Newroz and religious festivities such as Ramadan.^[69] 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 Children's Day celebrations on 23 April and the 30th of August Victory Day celebrations, a holiday that marks Turkish independence.^[70] 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.

Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir are also home to numerous music festivals 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 and Fanta parties, which draw huge crowds.

[edit] See also

• Turkish musical instruments
• Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest

Ottoman music

• Wojciech Bobowski

Music lists

• List of Turkish musicians
• List of Turkish pop music performers
• List of Turks in world culture
• List of Turkish TV Media

Notable Turkish musicians and producers

• Arif Mardin
• Barış Manço
• Erkan Oğur
• Ajda Pekkan
• The Ertegün Brothers
• Mercan Dede
• Mustafa Sandal
• Sertab Erener
• Sezen Aksu
• Tarkan

[edit] References

• A Levantine life: Giuseppe Donizetti at the Ottoman court. Araci, Emre,. The Musical Times. Retrieved on Oct 3, 2002.
• Golden Horn Records. Golden Horn. Retrieved on Feb 12, 2007.
• BETWEEN EMPIRES 'Orientalism' Before 1600. Araci, Emre,. Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge. Retrieved on Jul 15, 2001.
• Suleyman the Magnificent. HyperHistory Biographies. Retrieved on Apr 3, 2006.
• The Orchard Signs Global Distribution and Marketing Agreement With MU-YAP. PR Newswire. Retrieved on Jun 13, 2006.
• The Ottoman Music. Tanrıkorur, Cinuçen (Abridged and translated by Dr. Savaş Ş. Barkçin). Retrieved on Jun 26, 2000.
• History of music in Turkey. Les Arts Turcs. Retrieved on May 01, 1999.
• Traditional Music in Turkey. Medieval.org. Retrieved on May 20, 2004.
• Ottoman Military Music. MilitaryMusic.com. Retrieved on Feb 11, 2003.
• Turkish Phonographic Industry Society. MÜ-YAP. Retrieved on Apr 10, 2005.
• The Sema. Mevlana.Net Owned by Mevlana's family. Retrieved on Jan 11, 2005.
• Turkish Music & Artists. Yildirim, Ali © Tarkan Deluxe. Retrieved on May 16, 2005.
• Erderner, Yildiray (1995). The Song Contests of Turkish Minstrels: Improvised Poetry Sung to Traditional Music (Milman Parry Studies in Oral Tradition). Garland Science. ISBN 0-8153-1239-3. 
• Stokes, Martin (2000). Sounds of Anatolia. Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0. 
• Bartok, Bela & Suchoff, Benjamin (1976). Turkish Folk Music from Asia Minor (The New York Bartok Archive Studies in Musicology, No. 7). Princeton Univ Pr. ISBN 0-691-09120-X. 
• The Fasil. Ottoman Souvenir. Retrieved on Apr 15, 2004.
• Pontic Music Page. Cline, Leigh. Retrieved on Feb 2, 2006.
• Powerturk Charts. Powerturk TV. Retrieved on Dec 8, 2001.
• Magazine Journalists Society. MJS. Retrieved on Dec 18, 2005.
• Kral TV Music Channel. Kral. Retrieved on Jun 11, 2001.
• Migrant Workers in Germany - "The Lowest of the Low". Qantara.de. Retrieved on Oct 10, 2005.
• Male belly dance in Turkey. Jahal, Jasmin. Retrieved on Feb 2, 2002.
• Folk Music: Story of a Nation. Turkishculture.org. Retrieved on Nov 10, 2003.
• Alevi Folk Songs. Alevism.net. Retrieved on Apr 18, 2000.
• Minstrel Literature. Turkish Ministry of Culture. Retrieved on Mar 28, 2005.
• NEY. Ney Nevâ Ney Making House Web Site.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] Further reading

• Head, Matthew (2000). Orientalism, Masquerade and Mozart's Turkish Music (Royal Musical Association Monographs S.). Ashgate. ISBN 0-947854-08-8. 
• Popescu-Judetz, Eugenia (1999). Prince Dimitrie Cantemir: Theorist and Composer of Turkish music. Pan Books. ISBN 975-7652-82-2. 
• Tietze, Andreas & Yahalom, Joseph (1995). Ottoman Melodies - Hebrew Hymns: A 16th Century Cross-Cultural Adventure. Akademiai Kiado, Bibliotheca Orientalis Hungarica. ISBN 963-05-6864-0. 
• Whose Song is it?. Yildirim, Ali © Tarkan Deluxe. Retrieved on Nov 9, 2004.
• Yunus Emre: Sufi and Mystic. Yildirim, Ali © Tarkan Deluxe. Retrieved on Dec 18, 2004.
• Turkish Music. Turkish Embassy. Retrieved on Apr 16, 2006.

[edit] External links

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