ABSTRACT
Alaturka is the Turkish spelling of an Italian term alla turca. 1 Meaning literally ‘in a Turkish style’, alaturka was employed in Turkey during the nineteenth century to distinguish between an ‘eastern’ style of Turkish music (alaturka) and a ‘western’ style of Turkish music (alafranga). 2 Meaning literally ‘in a Frankish manner’, alafranga began to replace alaturka as the musical style of choice (see O’Connell 2005b). Following the capitulation of the Janissaries (1826), alafranga was employed to mark sonically the graduation from an ‘eastern’ military ensemble (mehter) to a ‘western’ brass band (mızıka) (see O’Connell 2010). In this respect, alafranga rather than alaturka heralded the cultural reforms that were instituted by Abdlümecit I (r. 1839–1861) during the Tanzimat period. Where alafranga was considered modern, alaturka was deemed pre-modern. Where alafranga articulated musically a contemporary aspiration towards imperial regeneration, alaturka seemed to maintain both in sound and in sense the debilitating legacy of imperial decline.
