Turkish Music

Turkish music includes diverse elements. This is because Turkey was dominated by various civilizations and hence their art forms have been influenced by the Persians, the Byzantine Empire and even the Balkans. Besides these there is documented evidence of folk music being recorded according to the styles of the Armenians, Jews, Greeks and other communities. People settling in from different parts of the country, gave rise to regional folklore, with each region having its own distinct tradition. Turkey’s music has been broadly segregated into classical art music and folk music.
Turkish classical music was brought forth by the Ottoman Empire as they patronized royal court music and its compositions. It is also known as saray music or royal court music. The Hamparsum notation was used till the prologue of Western notation. Their modes and scales were called makam. Some of the major artists who popularized this genre include Dede Efendi, Münir Nurettin Selçuk, Prince Cantemir, Zeki Müren, Efendi, Sultan Selim III, Sultan Suleyman, Bülent Ersoy, Baba Hamparsum, Müzeyyen Senar and Zekai Tunca. The instruments popular for classical music also included the oud, tanbur, ney, kanun, and darbuka.
Folk music was known as the music of the masses. Better known as Türkü, it spoke about the life of the rural people and their surroundings. The songs and the words behind them usually recount stories about people’s journey through life and are usually played at weddings, gatherings, folk dances, funerals and even festivals. Well known folk patrons were Aşik Veysel and Mahsuni, Zülfü Livaneli and Nazim Hikmet's. Folk instruments cover the bağlama, kemenche (a type of stave fiddle), the zurna, ney, darbuka, kemenche.
Romani influence bought about food and alcohol being served during performances which would be played in meyhanes or tavernas. The clarinet and violin are most popular. The term of a military marching band was said to be first coined by the Turks, the earliest one was known as The Janissary bands or Mehter Takımı whose emphasis was more on brass and percussion instruments. There has also been considerable influence of Turkish music on the west and vise versa. But at the end of the day even though Western influence was large, they continued with their emphasis on Turkish music as well.  Some of the well known Turkish composers include Cemal Reşit Rey, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Necil Kazım Akses.
Sufism has also influenced the religious music in Turkey by the Sufi sect known as the Mevlevi Order. Fused with modern music artists began experimenting with Turkish rhythm, beats and notes and remixed it to Western tunes. Pop stars from Turkey include well known artists Sezen Aksu, Tarkan and Mustafa Sandal. A large market has been created for hip hop music due to the younger Turkish generation unhappy with Germany’s treatment of its people. As an outlet they found solace in rap and hip hop lyrics.
Arabesque music was a disparaging term given by musicologists to the new type of music brought in by the new urban class, which sounded like someone wailing. Anatolian rock meant the mixture of rock and folk music. Cam Karaca and Barış Manço are two icons from this genre. Mercan Dede and Mert Yucel are some DJ’s credited for giving recognition to the underground clubbing scene in Turkey and also coming up with chart topping albums. Mixing sounds from the past with new electronics has brought in a psychedelic feel into the underground clubbing scene.