Editing Music of Turkey (section)

== Folk music ==
{{Main|Turkish folk music}}
[[Image:Kemenche0.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Kemenche|Kemençe]] is a popular folk music instrument on Turkey's [[Black Sea]] coast]]
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.<ref name="ottomu"/>

Most songs recount stories of real-life events and [[Turkish folklore]], or have developed through song contests between troubadour poets.<ref name="minstrels">{{cite book|author=Erderner, Yildiray|title=The Song Contests of Turkish Minstrels: Improvised Poetry Sung to Traditional Music (Milman Parry Studies in Oral Tradition)|publisher=Garland Science|year=1995|isbn=0-8153-1239-3}}, p 36</ref> 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 dance|Zeybek]], while in other [[Rumelia|Rumeli]] regions the upbeat dance music [[Tsifteteli|Çiftetelli]] is usually played, and in the southeastern regions of Turkey the [[Turkish folklore dances|Halay]] is the customary form of local wedding music and dance.<ref name="soundsofanatolia"/> [[Greeks]] from [[Thrace]] and [[Cyprus]] that have adopted çiftetelli music sometimes use it synonymously to mean [[Belly dance|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]].<ref name="folkmusic">{{cite web|url=http://www.turkishculture.org/music/folk.html|title=Folk Music: Story of a Nation|work=Turkishculture.org|access-date=November 10, 2003 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030810193354/http://www.turkishculture.org/music/folk.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = August 10, 2003}}</ref>

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 song|protest music]].

In the 70s and 80s, modern bards following the aşık tradition such as [[Asik Veysel|Aşik Veysel]] and [[Ashik Mahsuni Sherif|Mahsuni Şerif]] moved away from spiritual invocations to socio-politically active lyrics.

Other contemporary progenitors took their lead such as [[Zülfü Livaneli]], known for his mid-80s innovation of combining poet [[Nazım Hikmet]]'s radical poems with folk music and rural melodies, and is well regarded by left-wing supporters in politics.<ref name="soundsofanatolia"/>

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.<ref name="soundsofanatolia"/>

=== Classical & Folk instruments ===
[[File:Strum sticks, Lark in the Morning (music shop).jpg|thumb|upright|Selection of [[Accordion]], [[Bağlama]], [[Cümbüş]] and [[Oud|Ud]]]]
Folk instruments range from string groups as [[baglama|bağlama]], bow instruments such as the [[kemenche|kemençe]] (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 [[Thrace|Rumeli]] and the [[kemenche|kemençe]] around the [[Black Sea Region|Eastern Black Sea]] region. The folklore of Turkey is extremely diverse. Nevertheless, Turkish folk music is dominantly marked by a single musical instrument called [[baglama|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''.<ref name="alevi">{{cite web|url=http://www.alevibektasi.org/xsufi_music.htm|title=Introduction to Sufi Music and Ritual in Turkey|work=Middle East Studies Association of North America|date=December 18, 1995|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408125913/http://www.alevibektasi.org/xsufi_music.htm|archive-date=April 8, 2007}} The tradition of regional variations in the character of folk music prevails all around Anatolia and Thrace even today. The troubadour or minstrel (singer-poets) known as ''aşık'' contributed anonymously to this genre for ages.</ref>

Due to the cultural crossbreeding prevalent during the Ottoman Empire, the bağlama has influenced various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, e.g. the Greek [[baglama]]s. In Turkish bağlamak means 'to tie' as a reference to the tied, movable frets of the instrument. Like many other plucked lutes, it can be played with a plectrum (i.e., pick), with a fingerpicking style, or strummed with the backs of fingernails. The [[zurna]] and [[davul]] duo is also popular in rural areas, and played at [[wedding]]s and other local celebrations.

Instruments in Turkish classical music include [[tambur]], long-necked plucked lute, [[ney]] end-blown flute, [[oud]] plucked short-necked unfretted lute, [[qanun (instrument)|kanun]] plucked zither, [[violin]], and in [[Mevlevi]] music, [[küdüm]] drum and a [[harp]].

=== Folk literature ===
{{further|Turkish folk literature}}
[[File:Selda Bagcan (cropped).jpg|thumb|A mural of [[Selda Bağcan]], who fuses folk elements with [[Groove (music)|groove]] and [[protest music]]]]
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 [[bağlama|saz]] or [[bağlama]]. They are often taught by other senior minstrels, learning expert idioms, procedures, and methods in the performance of the art.<ref name="minstrellit">{{cite web|url=http://www.discoverturkey.com/english/kultursanat/ozan.html|title=Minstrel Literature|work=Turkish Ministry of Culture|access-date=March 28, 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020914041359/http://www.discoverturkey.com/english/kultursanat/ozan.html|archive-date=September 14, 2002}}</ref> These lessons often take place at minstrel meetings and the [[coffeehouse]]s they frequent. Those bard-poets who become experts or ''alaylı'' then take apprentices for themselves and continue the tradition.<ref name="minstrellit"/>

A minstrel's creative output usually takes two major forms. One, in musical rhyming contests with other bards, where the competition ends with the defeat of the minstrel who cannot find an appropriate quatrain to the rhyme and two, storytelling.<ref name="minstrels"/> These folk stories are extracted from real life, folklore, dreams and legends.<ref name="minstrellit"/> One of the most well-known followings are those bards that put the title ''aşık'' in front of their names.

=== Arabesque ===
{{Main|Arabesque music}}
[[File:Yıldız Tilbe - Konser01 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Yıldız Tilbe]], a prominent arabesque singer]]
Arabic music had been banned in Turkey in 1948, but starting in the 1970s immigration from predominantly southeastern rural areas to big cities and particularly to Istanbul gave rise to a new cultural synthesis. This changed the musical makeup of Istanbul. The old tavernas and music halls of fasıl music were to shut down in place of a new type of music.<ref name="soundsofanatolia"/> 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.

After the [[1980 Turkish coup d'état|coup d'etat in 1980]], Arabesque music was seen by the government as having a negative effect on the Turkish people, so Arabesque artists were not featured on the national broadcast, [[Turkish Radio and Television Corporation|TRT]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Duvar |first=Gazete |date=2020-09-13 |title=Kısa Türkiye Tarihi: Karanlığın başladığı ‘80’li yıllar |url=https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/yazarlar/2020/09/13/kisa-turkiye-tarihi-karanligin-basladigi-80li-yillar |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/yazarlar/2020/09/13/kisa-turkiye-tarihi-karanligin-basladigi-80li-yillar |language=tr-TR}}</ref> Even with this ban in place, its mainstream popularity rose so much in the 1980s that it even threatened the existence of Turkish pop, with rising stars such as [[Müslüm Gürses]] and [[İbrahim Tatlıses]].<ref name="soundsofanatolia"/> The genre has underbeat forms that include Ottoman forms of [[Belly Dance|belly-dancing music]] known as ''fantazi'' from singers like [[Gülben Ergen]] and with performers like [[Serdar Ortaç]] who added Anglo-American [[rock and roll]] to arabesque music.

It is not really accurate to group Arabesk with folk music. It owes little to folk music, and would be more accurately described as form of popular music based on the makam scales found in Ottoman and Turkish classical music. Though Arabesk was accused of having been derived from Arabic music, the scales (makam) used identify it as music, that, though influenced by both Arabic and Western music, is much more Turkish in origin.

=== Religious music ===
==== Islamic Recitation & Anasheed ====
"Islamic Recitation," a term associated with mainstream religion in Turkey, includes the ''azan'' (call-to-prayer), ''Kur'an-ı Kerim'' (Koran recitation), ''Mevlit'' (Ascension Poem), and ''ilahi'' (hymns usually sung in a group, often outside a mosque). On musical grounds, mosque music in large urban areas often resembles classical Turkish music in its learned use of makam and poetry, e.g., a Mevlit sung at Sultan Ahmet mosque in Istanbul. Dervish/Sufi music is rarely associated with a mosque. [[Kâni Karaca]] was a leading performer of mosque music in recent times.<ref name="mosque">See the audio selection from Mevlit at External links below</ref>

[[Islam]]ic anasheed was popular among some of the Turkish people in early 2000s. The most popular artist in Turkey is the British Azeri, [[Sami Yusuf]], a concert in [[Istanbul]] drew an audience of over 200,000, his biggest concert so far around the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/awakeningrecords/biography/index.htm|title=Awakening Music - YouTube|via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=9 June 2022}}</ref> He is one of the most notable singers of anasheed, and can speak in many different languages, which includes [[Turkish language|Turkish]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} To date he has performed at sell out concerts in over 30 countries across the world from Istanbul to Casablanca, United States to Germany. Some albums selling more than a million copies in comparison to western music. In Jan 2009 Sami travelled to Turkey where he was invited by Emine Erdoğan, wife of the Turkish Prime Minister [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]], to attend a rally in support of peace in [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.samiyusufofficial.com/?p=195 | title=Sami in Turkey |website=Samiyusufofficial.com| access-date=2009-03-16}}</ref> Another popular Turkish singer is Feridun Özdemir, who mainly sings of God and true faith. His records are most successful in the anasheed genre.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-310/_nr-388/i.html |title=Qantara.de - Islamic Pop Music in Turkey - Combining Rock Music with an Islamic Message |access-date=2008-09-25 |archive-date=2008-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403194121/http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-310/_nr-388/i.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==== Alevi influences: The Aşık (Ashik) traditions ====
[[File:Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu - Bağlama Çalarken.jpg|thumb|[[Aşık Veysel]]]]
It is suggested that about a fifth 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 [[baglama|saz]] or [[baglama]], an iconic image of Turkish folk music.<ref name="alevi"/> These songs, which hail from the central northeastern area, are about mystical revelations, invocations to Alevi [[saint]]s and [[Muhammad]]'s son-in-law, [[Ali ibn Abi Talib|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, for example as in [[Aşık Veysel]].

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 Middle Anatolian music, singing songs of a large spectrum, including works of premodern [[Turkmen people|Turkoman]] aşıks like [[Karacaoğlan]] and [[Dadaloğlu]] and the modern aşıks like his father, the late [[Muharrem Ertaş]]. Around the city of [[Sivas]], aşık music has a more spiritual bent, afeaturing ritualized song contests, although modern bards have brought it into the political arena.<ref name="minstrels"/>

==== 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.

[[Dervish]]es 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|Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mevlana.net/sema.htm|title=The Sema|work=Mevlana.Net Owned by Mevlana's family|access-date=January 11, 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050124085451/http://www.mevlana.net/sema.htm|archive-date=January 24, 2005}} The sema dance is very ritualistic and full of symbolism.</ref> With the musical instrument known as the [[ney]] at the forefront of this music, internationally well-known musicians include Necdet Yasar, Niyazi Sayin, [[Kudsi Erguner|Kudsi Ergüner]] and [[Ömer Faruk Tekbilek]].

=== Regional folk styles ===
[[File:Silifke Taşeli cultural centre in 2015 2402.jpg|thumb|A folk ensemble from [[Silifke]]]]
Minorities and indigenous peoples have added and enhanced Turkish folk styles, while they have adopted Turkish folk traditions and instruments. Folk songs are identifiable and distinguished by regions.

==== Aegean and Rumeli regions ====
[[Rumelia]] (or ''[[East Thrace|Trakya]]'') refers to the region of Turkey which is part of [[Southeast Europe]] (the provinces of [[Edirne Province|Edirne]], [[Kırklareli Province|Kırklareli]], [[Tekirdağ Province|Tekirdağ]], the northern part of [[Çanakkale Province]] and the western part of [[Istanbul Province]]). Folk songs from this region share similarities with Balkan, Albanian and Greek folk musics, especially from the ethnic minorities and natives of [[Thrace]]. [[Northern Cyprus|Cypriot]] folk music also shares folk tunes with this region, e.g. the Çiftetelli dance. These types of folk songs also share close similarities with Ottoman court music, suggesting that the distinction between court and folk music was not always so clear.<ref name="lesartsturcs"/><ref name="ottomu"/> However, folk songs from Istanbul may have been closely influenced by its locality, which would include Ottoman rakkas and court music.

Cities like [[İzmir]] share similar motifs, such as the [[zeybek dance]].

==== Black Sea and Caucasus 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 [[Karapapakh]].

[[Pontic Greeks]] on the eastern shore of the [[Black Sea]] or ''Karadeniz'' regions have their own distinct [[Music of Greece|Greek]] style of folk music, motifs from which were used with great success by [[Elena Paparizou|Helena Paparizou]].<ref name="pontic">{{cite web|url=http://www.scimitarmusic.com/pontos/music.html|title=Pontic Music Page|work=Cline, Leigh|access-date=February 2, 2006}}</ref> 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, trygona, kots, [[omal]], [[serra (dance)|serra]], [[kotsari]] and [[tik (dance)|tik]].<ref name="pontic"/>

==== Southeastern regions ====
Southeastern regions carry influences from [[Turkmen people|Turkmen music]], [[Zaza people|Zaza motifs]] and [[Armenian music]]. These usually include epic laments.