Editing Music of Turkey (section)

===Kanto (Cantare music)===
{{Main|Kanto (music)}}
[[File:Bodrum "İşte Benim Zeki Müren" Sergisi Konser Kostümü 2015.jpg|thumb|[[Zeki Müren]] is a figurehead among LBGT society. His music was also influenced by Kanto.]]
[[Italy|Italian]] theater and opera have had a profound effect on [[Turkish culture]] 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".

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. The troupes orchestra would be made up of such instruments as the [[trumpet]], [[trombone]], [[violin]], [[Drum kit|trap drum]] and [[cymbal]]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.
[[File:DarioMoreno-Harcourt-1952.jpg|thumb|[[Dario Moreno]]]]
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]] (Istanbul Greek) and [[Armenian people|Armenian]] women who performed in musical and non-musical theatre. Institutions like [[Darulbedayi]] (Istanbul City Theatre) and [[Darulelhan]] (Istanbul Conservatory of Music) had long been turning out trained artists.

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.