Issues of Musical Identity During The Foundation of The Turkish Republic (1923-1950)

Year 2016, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 1100 - 1110, 15.04.2016

Adem Merter Birson

Abstract

In the early years of the Turkish Republic, music was a central topic in the cultural reforms that

aimed to guide Turkey in the modernism and progressivism that defined the first half of the

twentieth century. Several issues were involved, including the “change of civilizations” from an

Ottoman and Eastern identity to becoming more like a Western European nation-state. This was

a period that saw the establishment of Western-style music conservatories and the employment

of musicians and musicologists to help establish a national classical music based on Turkish

folk elements. At the same time, media outlets such as radio helped to shape and disseminate a

national folk musical style. Private music making and cultural exchange with the West also

played an important role in shaping a new Ottoman style. All of these elements worked together

to form a rich and complex fabric of musical identity during the early days of the Turkish

Republic.

Keywords

Turkish Republic, National Identity, Cultural Reforms, Classical Music, Folk Music

References

• Ahmad, F. (1993). The making of modern Turkey. London: Routledge. Aksin, S. (2007). Turkey, from Empire to Revolutionary Republic: The Emergence of the Turkish Nation from 1789 to Present. New York: NYU Press. Atabaki, T., and Zurcher, E. J. (Eds.). (2004) Men of Order: Authoritarian Modernization Under Atatürk and Reza Shah, London and New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers. Balfour, J.P.D., and Kinross, B. (1964). Atatürk. The Rebirth of a Nation. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Duygulu, M. “Turkish Folk Music in the Process of Social Change and Globalization: Identity, Style, Technique.” Turkish Music Portal, http://www.turkishmusicportal.org/ article.php?id=22&lang2=en, (accessed 13 February 2016). Feldman, W. (1996). Music of the Ottoman Court: Makam, Composition and the Early Ottoman Instrumental Repertoire (Vol. 10). VWB-Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung. Gökalp, Z. (1968). The Principles of Turkism (translated from the Turkish and annotated by Robert Devereux). Leiden: Brill. Karpat, K. H. (Ed.). (1973). Social change and politics in Turkey: A structural-historical analysis (Vol. 7). Leiden: Brill. Keyder, Ç. (Ed.). (1999). İstanbul: Between the Global and the Local, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. “Love and Melancholy,” from Turkish Music from Past to Present. Turkey: Türkiye İşbank Cultural Productions. Say, A. (1995). The Music Makers in Turkey, Turkey: Music Encyclopedia Publication. Saygun, A. A. (1936). Türk halk mûsikîsinde pentatonism. Nümune Matbaasi. Schick, I. C., and Tonak, E. A. (Eds.). (1987). Turkey in Transition: New Perspectives. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. Schulze, K. E., Stokes, M., and Campbell, C. (Eds.). (1996). Nationalism, Minorities, and Diasporas: Identities and Rights in the Middle East. London and New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers. Signell, K. L. (1979). Makam: Modal Practice in Turkish Art Music. “Songs of Passion.” Turkish Music from Past to Present. Turkey: Türkiye İşbank Cultural Productions. Sterling, P. (Ed.). (1993). Culture and Economy: Changes in Turkish Villages, England: The Eothen Press. Stokes, M. (1992). The Arabesk Debate. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Zurcher, E. (2004). Turkey: A Modern History, Revised Edition. New York: I. B. Tauris.