Music of Turkey
Music of Turkey encompasses folk, Ottoman classical, religious, and popular traditions shaped by Anatolian, Ottoman, and modern influences.
Makam: A system of melodic modes that organizes pitches, characteristic phrases, and pathways in Turkish music. Makam shapes melody across Ottoman classical, religious, and some popular traditions.
Ottoman classical music: A courtly and urban art-music tradition developed in the Ottoman Empire, using makam, composed forms, and distinctive instruments. It supplies one of the major historical foundations of Turkey’s art music.
Mevlevi Sema ceremony: A ritual ceremony of the Mevlevi Sufi order featuring whirling, recitation, and an accompanying musical ensemble. Music guides the ceremony’s sequence and supports its devotional movement.
Dede Efendi: An Ottoman composer and singer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, celebrated for works in Turkish classical music. His compositions became enduring examples of the Ottoman art-music repertory.
Arabic music: A diverse set of musical traditions across Arabic-speaking communities, including classical, folk, and popular forms. Shared regional histories coexist with distinct languages, repertories, and modal practices.
Usul: A recurring rhythmic cycle in Ottoman and Turkish art music, organized into patterns of strong and weak beats. Usul gives composed music rhythmic cycles beyond a simple repeating meter.
Ottoman Empire: A multiethnic empire founded around the end of the thirteenth century that ruled parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa until 1922. Its court and urban culture shaped musical traditions that continued in Turkey.
Turkish classical music performance: A performance practice centered on composed works, makam, instrumental or vocal ensembles, and improvisatory passages. Concert and ensemble settings carry Ottoman-derived art music into modern life.
Tanburi Cemil Bey: An influential Ottoman musician and composer, renowned for his instrumental virtuosity and recordings. His playing helped define later approaches to Turkish classical instruments.
Persian classical music: An art-music tradition of Iran organized around the radif repertory and its modal system. It offers a neighboring modal tradition with a different repertoire and musical framework.