ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author describes the elongation and the elaboration of a vocal composition during the twentieth century, the Kar-i nev in the makam rast by the renowned composer Ismail Dede Efendi. The kar-i nev is a type of kar, one of the oldest vocal forms in Turkish music. Mentioned as "is" in the Babur Nameh, the kar can be found in Persian and Turkish sources, in both instances the genre being considered a long and a serious piece. The author argues that the literate transmission of the kar-i nev was responsible for a distinctive evolutionary tendency, one in which elongation was not accompanied by elaboration. The kar-i nev is a unique variant of the kar genre. Like the kar, the work is idiosyncratic with respect to poetic form and musical setting. The musical structure of the kar-i nev was indeed new.