Ottoman classical and art music
As a country divided between two continents, it is sometimes good to resituate the roots of Turkey. Especially in the field of classical music, where its tradition differs from Europe and draws from its Ottoman past. This can already be seen in the makam, a system of organization of melodic scales different from our scales. Ottoman classical music Klasik Türk Müziği will reach its peak and unparalleled sophistication in the 18th century in the hands of composers such as Mustafa Itri (perceived as the father of Turkish classical music) and Nayî Osman Dede. But its development was interrupted by the Kemalist revolution (while Atatürk adored and listened to it) when the government, opening up to Europe, wanted to promote European classical music. This was a great period of questioning about Turkish identity, and some composers, in the spirit of Mussorgsky or Bartók, worked around the folk music of their country, collecting it and then infusing it into learned music. Their names are Cemal Reşit Rey, Ulvi Cemal Erkin or Ahmet Adnan Saygun and they are among the greatest Turkish composers and conductors of the 20th century. After a period of decline, Ottoman classical music experienced a resurgence in popularity in the second half of the twentieth century, driven by superb classical composers such as Cinuçen Tanrikorur, a Sufi inspired and very great ud (lute) player. But the two names that have fixed Turkish classical music in popular culture are the icons Zeki Müren and Bülent Ersoy. Famous for having democratized learned music, their private lives amply fed their legend. Zeki Miiren, a great classically trained singer, was homosexual and Bülent Ersoy, the diva of Ottoman music, had a sex change in the 1980s. Two "transgressions" for the conservative Turkish society of the time (Ersoy was even the target of an assassination attempt) that did not prevent their success.
The jewel of oriental culture, Ottoman art music has kept its aura intact, kept alive by groups such as the Bezmara Ensemble, the fabulous percussionist Burhan Öçal (often labelled "world" or "jazz" at festivals) and Kudsi Ergüner, master of the ney - the Turkish flute -, virtuoso of Sufi music and great transmitter of Ottoman music.
In parallel with the constant popularity of Ottoman music, European classical music is also very popular and played in Turkey. The career of the great pianist Fazıl Say is a good example. In the capital Ankara, there is the Presidential Symphony Orchestra. The oldest ensemble in the country, it travels a lot and offers very beautiful works of the Ottoman or European classical repertoires, conducted with a vigorous hand by Rengim Gökmen. Still in Ankara, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra invites stars of the world classical repertoire while mixing pillars of the Turkish repertoire (including Ahmet Adnan Saygun) and international art music. But one of the most prominent orchestras is undoubtedly in Istanbul with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra (or BIFO). Conducted by the sparkling Austrian Sascha Goetzel, it has been working hard since its creation in 1993 to democratize polyphonic music in Turkey. A prestigious ensemble, it has invited many virtuosos of the world classical music scene (Ioudenitch, Sgouros, Cerovsek...) to share the stage. For the audience going to the International Classical Music Festival in Istanbul, the BIFO is a must and one of the best orchestras in the world. This festival, launched in 1973, is a very popular meeting place for classical music lovers and invites the biggest names on the international scene. It should be noted that the Turkish public appreciates opera and at least fifteen stages broadcast it on the territory. To see beautiful adaptations and Turkish creations, the best is to watch the programming of the National Opera performing at the Kadıköy Haldun Taner in Istanbul or at the Ankara Opera. The magnificent Opera Sureyya can also provide some lyrical surprises that match the beauty of the place.
Popular and traditional music
During the Kemalist revolution, the desire to define a Turkish identity will push musicians to collect and list popular and traditional music. Authentic Turkish and mostly anonymous, these songs are named turkü or türk halk müziği (Turkish folk music) and can be divided into two camps: rhythmic kirik hava to accompany dances, and non-rhythmic uzun hava , more sophisticated and dedicated to singing. To hear Turkish folk music, a good idea is to listen to Kardeş Türküler. This beloved group advocates unity and peace by singing in Kurdish, Armenian, Turkish, Laze, Zaza and draws inspiration from the folk melodies and sounds of all regions and minorities (Assyrian, Alevi, Yezidi or Arab). A big concentrate of Turkey and a group that tries to promote a modern vision of its country.
One of the most popular genres in Turkey has beenarabesk. In the 1960s and 1970s, this variety inspired by Egyptian music - which arrived in Turkey through the voice of Oum Kalthoum - burst into the major urban areas. The lyrics speak of love, drama, honor, failure and revenge ... in a particularly dramatic atmosphere. One of the golden voices ofarabesk is Ibrahim Tatlıses (the star) while Orhan Gencebay, the prince of the baglama (a short variant of the saz), is considered the father of the genre. Naturally, with such a vibrant music industry, Turkey has a very active mainstream pop scene. Called türk pop, it began in the 1980s, but would find its first big hit in 1993 with Sezen Aksu's Hadi Bakalım, who has since been considered the "Diva of Turkish pop." The pinnacle of Turkish pop comes in 1997 with Tarkan (remember!) and his cult "Kiss Song": Şımarık. Carved on the same pattern, all the songs present a clever mix of more or less Arabian sounds, flashy electronics and easy to remember and hum choruses. Apart from Tarkan, we can note Sıla Gençoğlu, Sertab Erener (the "local Shakira", winner of Eurovision in 2003) or Karsu, who could be a Turkish equivalent of Amy Winehouse and who is starting to seduce the whole world.
Turkish rock and anadolu pop
Sampled countless times by hip-hop, the sounds of Turkey's psychedelic rock and pop scenes of the 1960s and 1970s have also been repeatedly compiled to tell a forgotten yet fascinating story. When the first rock records arrived in the country in the late 1950s, local bands mostly played covers of English-language greats. But the pastiche did not last. In 1965, a contest called "Altin Mikrofon" ("The Golden Microphone") was set up in Istanbul in order to bring out a new scene that played western genres sung in Turkish. It is around this contest that a new hyper prolific movement will be born: theanadolu pop. This new wave brought with it new faces like Moğollar and his psychedelic pop played on traditional instruments, 3 Hür, from acid rock to electric saz, Mustafa Özkent who almost invented oriental funk or Gökçen Kaynatan, pioneer of Turkish electronic music. All of them offered a fabulously Turkish version of western genres, all of them marked their time, but all of them ended up in oblivion. Fortunately, a series of compilations and reissues - largely thanks to the superb Finder Keepers label - has allowed the latest generations to (re)discover these treasures of local music. Less forgotten, more important and seminal, the three pillars ofanadolu pop are Selda Bağcan, Barış Manço and Erkin Koray. The former is an emblem of the Turkish scene of the 1970s and its psychedelic era. Today she is about as sampled as she is revered. Barış Manço, on the other hand, composed gems of psychedelic folk rock, then progressive rock from Belgium before becoming a much sought-after name in Turkish music. A crucial musician in the history of Turkish rock, Erkin Koray founded the first band of its kind in the country in 1957 and, in the process, electrified a baglama (a revolution!). Legend and pioneer of psychedelic rock, his aura was such that it is said that one of his songs influenced the Rolling Stones' Paint it Black.
In the 1980's,anadolu pop was losing steam to other genres that were taking over the territory: hip-hop, electro, etc. And if groups like Baba Zula (founded in 1996) will maintain an intact Turkish psyche flame, it is the work of labels - between compilations and re-releases - that will bring this scene back to the forefront. And it is by reinterpreting in a modern way great tunes from this psychedelic folk repertoire that the group Altin Gun has become the most prominent Turkish musical project in the world today. Unanimously adored by the public and the critics, the group is the artistic ambassador of Turkey to the hip public here and there. A must. Otherwise, cut off from this heritage, the contemporary Turkish rock scene remains prolific and has seen bands like Duman, Kurban, Manuş Baba or MVÖ (very inspired by Radiohead) achieve a nice national success.
Current music
Alongside Altin Gun, a bunch of young bands from the new scene share the legacy ofanadolu pop. Among them, the most interesting are Umut Adan, some well-crafted folk-rock, Derya Yıldırım and her Grup Şimşek, who craft folk-pop reminiscent of the best hours of Turkish music, or Gaye Su Akyol, almost a psychedelic pop rock star (with an American career). As everywhere else, the Internet has helped to bring the country's young music scene to light, and sometimes even gives it the opportunity to export itself. A real boost in a Turkey where musicians are confronted with daily obstacles, the biggest being the lack of venues available for young local creation, the biggest ones hosting mostly foreign bands. Also, many festivals have been cancelled due to new government regulations around alcohol. But the difficulty does not discourage the Turkish scene, which is working, helping each other and existing despite everything. Among the artists who have succeeded in building an international reputation, we can mention Batu or Baris K (famous for his remixes of Turkish psychedelic artists, we always come back to that) in the electronic field, Jakuzi for his black and icy pop, Ipek Gorgun, a superb sound artist, Sami Baha, futuristic hip-hop signed on a major English label, or Cevdet Erek, a drummer close to the avant-garde.
One of the "benefits" of Erdoğan's governance on local creation is to have fleshed out and warmed up the ranks of local hip-hop. While the Turkish scene has existed since the 1990s, rap has recently become one of the country's dominant genres, led by a youth who use it as a tool of protest; these Turkish rappers are regularly targeted by the government. The most famous are often the most controversial, such as Ezhel or Server Uraz, who risk prison for their lyrics. Less controversial, Cartel remains the mythical group to listen to. Somewhat equivalent to IAM, these pioneers of the 1990s are also famous for their productions that sampledarabesk. On the fresher R'n'B side, the young Emir Taha is in a way the Turkish The Weeknd. To listen to this young scene live, Istanbul offers some beautiful scenes. One of the favorites of Stambouliotes is the mythical Babylon Bomonti. Relaxed, but a bit preppy, it welcomes a very large audience and programs great local artists. It is generally here that international artists play.
Another important venue, the IKSV Salon is a scene of all kinds of music with a rather design side. As for clubs, head to Kadıköy, the nightlife district of Istanbul and its famous Kadife Street where you can find Arkaoda. Here you can listen to music, but you can also dance. A hybrid bar-box in short, very focused on novelty, evoking some Berlin clubs without ever being snobbish. One of the most underground and trendy electro clubs in the city is Minimüzikhol. Design decoration, cutting edge programming: one of the musts of the Istanbul night. Equally popular, the Zorlu PSM is a very serious place to listen to big names in local and especially international techno. It is also an art center where you can see musicals, traditional music or even stand-up comedy.
Theater and dance
If one speaks of dance in Turkey, images of whirling dervishes immediately come to mind. These Muslim clerics of the Sufi order of Mevlevi (founded by the mystic poet Djaläl al-Dïn al-Rümï in the 13th century) are present today in only two cities: Konya and Istanbul. To commune with the divine, the dervishes use trance dances where one hand is turned towards the sky, the other towards the ground - the first receiving the word of God, the second transmitting it. Although they disappeared with the establishment of the secular state in 1924, they have been tolerated since the 1950s and one can sometimes attend these bewitching and spectacular ceremonies. The Galata tekke, for example, offers them on Sundays. You can also see them - more staged - at the Hodjapasha Cultural Center, not far from the Topkapi Palace. Otherwise, if you want to see ballet or contemporary dance performances in Turkey, the best thing to do is to look at the program of the National Ballet. There are as many great European classics as there are contemporary Turkish creations that travel to the national stages of six major cities (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Mersin, Antalya, Samsun). The Bodrum International Dance Festival, held in the Saint Peter's Castle in summer, is an opportunity to see beautiful performances in a picturesque setting.
As for theater, a Turkish specialty is the karagöz. This shadow theater originating in Southeast Asia presents human or animal figures, always manipulated by a single artist. It is one of the most appreciated entertainments of the population, it is even broadcast on television. Outside of karagöz, there is a very lively theater scene in Turkey with many important authors. During the Tanzimat (the great reforms under the Ottoman Empire), Ibrahim Şinasi (1826-1871), a prominent translator of La Fontaine or Lamartine, wrote the first Ottoman play Şair Evlenmesi(Marriage of a Poet). It is still performed and appreciated. Another great name of the same period, Namık Kemal (1840-1888) was a great playwright, a singer of the Turkish homeland. Differently committed, Nâzım Hikmet paid for his lucid and acid look at Turkish society as well as his communist militancy by going into exile. He was performed in France thanks to the great director Mehmet Ulusoy. Among the contemporaries, Özen Yula is one of the most important. His beautiful and clever texts are unfortunately little performed in France. Sedef Ecer is one of the best known Turkish playwrights here. Because of the censorship of television and cinema, many authors turn to the theater, which explains the dynamism of the sector in Turkey. Two beautiful contemporary theater scenes in Istanbul to remember: the Moda Theater in Kadiköy and the Das Das.
