Turkish folk music

Turkish folk music comprises regionally rooted songs, dances, and instrumental traditions transmitted through performance and community practice. Its styles reflect the languages, histories, and musical cultures of Turkey’s diverse regions.

Bağlama: A long-necked, fretted lute central to many Turkish folk music traditions. Its varied tunings and playing techniques shape the sound of the aşık and türkü traditions.
Halay: A group dance tradition found across parts of Turkey and neighboring regions, often performed in a line or circle. Halay tunes accompany communal dancing at celebrations and social gatherings.
Anatolian music: The diverse musical traditions of Anatolia, shaped by its peoples, languages, and historical exchanges. Turkish folk music forms part of the broader musical landscape of Anatolia.
Âşık Veysel: A Turkish folk poet and bağlama player known for his songs and performances in the twentieth century. His repertory became a widely recognized expression of the aşık tradition.
Turkish classical music: A composed and historically cultivated musical tradition associated with Ottoman and Turkish urban culture. Its courtly repertories and theory offer a useful comparison with regionally transmitted folk styles.
Türkü: A Turkish folk song, commonly associated with regional repertories and oral transmission. The türkü is the principal song form through which regional stories and melodies circulate.
Horon: A fast group dance tradition associated especially with Turkey’s Black Sea coast. Its energetic dance rhythms and regional instruments mark a prominent Black Sea tradition.
Ottoman Empire: A multiethnic empire that governed much of southeastern Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa from the fourteenth to early twentieth centuries. Ottoman-era population movements and cultural contact influenced regional musical life.
Neşet Ertaş: A Turkish folk musician and singer associated with the Central Anatolian bozlak tradition. His performances brought the expressive style of the bozlak and bağlama to broad audiences.
Arab folk music: The varied folk music traditions of Arabic-speaking communities across the Middle East and North Africa. Shared instruments and regional contact coexist with distinct languages and musical conventions.

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