Music

Music in Turkey is usually understood under three broad categories, designated in this chapter by the English-language terms “Turkish art music” (Türk sanat müzigȈi), “Turkish folk music” (Türk halk müzigȈi) and “popular music” (pop müzigȈi).¹ Art music is, generally speaking, the music of the cities, palaces, and the Sufi lodges (tekkes). It is the music of the Ottoman legacy, transformed in the twentieth century by the ideological currents of nationalism and conservatory practice. Folk music is understood as the music of the Anatolian countryside, of the peasantry and tribes. Related to the folk practices of Turkish speakers across Central Asia and the Balkans, this music was heavily promoted as a national music in the early years of the Republic on national radio and television. Popular music is a more diffuse category, referring usually to Turkish-language translations of Western pop, or to Turkish adaptations of Balkan or Middle Eastern music, like “Arabesk.”