FOLKLORIC DANCES

The dances differ according to the regions but are generally accompanied with two instruments, the “davul” (drum) and “zurna" (sort of oboe).

“The sabre and shield dance” from Bursa, illustrating the conquest of the town.

“Zeybek” from the Agean Region, is a slow viril dance, where the dancers, a sword accross their wide belt, hit the ground with their knee.

“The spoon dance” from Konya, where rythm is given by beating two spoons the one against the other.

“Halay”, from central Anatolia, is a kind of round where the leader waves a handkerchief.

“Bar” from the eastern region, where women and men perform together.

“Horon” from the Black Sea Region, mimes the movement of the anchovies taken in the nets and the undertow of the waves.


Spoon dance from Konya

Young folklore dancers




MUSIC

Classical music : symphonic music and traditional pieces were played in the Ottoman palaces.

Turkish artistic music (Türk Sanat Müzigi) : pieces of the traditional repertoire played with traditional instruments (ud, kemençe, ney, kanun) and sometimes modern instruments. The charateristic of this style is the oriental way of singing and playing: rythm is very slow and modulations are very high with many tonalities.
 
Military music: the Janissary Band performs in Istanbul every day at 3 pm in the Military Museum or on Wednesdays in the gardens of Topkapi Palace.

Janissary Band
Religious music of the Mevlevi Dervishes is performed with the “ney”, a long reed flute : soufism considers music necessary to meet God.

Choir and musicians accompanying the Sema ritual
at Galata Mevlevihanesi - Istanbul


Arabesque music: is a very special kind of music, greatly appreciated among the people, with Arabic music and texts expressing tragic love, drama, pride and revenge.

Pop music developed considerably after the 1990s and includes very prominent singers like Sezen Aksu who has an impressive repertoire. With Tarkan, Mustafa Sandal and others Turkish Pop Music has become famous in Europe.

Turkey, the winner of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga, was represented by Pop diva Sertab Erener with the song "Everyway that I Can".

Sertab Erener is one of the country’s most popular female vocalists. Her first album was released in 1992, followed by “Lâl” in 1994 and “Sertab Gibi” in 1996. Her duet with opera singer Jose Carreras demonstrated her versatility as a singer of different genres of music, while her duet with Ricky Martin called “Private Emotion” on the Turkish and Middle Eastern versions of Martin's 99 English language album moved her stardom up another notch.

Her 1994 recording of “Lâl” was selected by Sony Music as one of the biggest hits of the century and was included in the “Soundtrack For A Century” collection. In April 1999 she released her fourth album, “Sertab” and less than a year later, in February 2000, she released a European album. Sertab has given numerous concerts, including some at major festivals. Her latest album “Turuncu” was released in 2001. "Turuncu" is the word for the colour orange, signifying happiness and all things positive. Sertab Erener is currently recording her next album, due for release this summer.

Sample Music:



Pop music
Arabesque music
Military music
Religious music
Turkish artistic music
       


Some typical Turkish music instruments


Ney
Kemençe
Zurna
Kabak kemane
Saz
 




THEATRE

Travelling spectacle represents the oldest tradition with showmen (hokkabaz), funambulists, conjuring tricks and acrobatics. Those itinerant artists were very famous in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Folk teller: the “meddah” is a secular tradition of the tellers based on the language, gesture, imitiations, dialogues. They could be met in the cafes.

Puppet show: the puppet (kukla) tradition already existed among the Seljuk Turks. Until the 18th century, puppets were manipulated by hand and threads, and were later replaced by European puppets. The animated themes were comic, sometimes illustrated with love stories. Later they revived the repertoire of the shadow-theatre greatly appreciated.

The Karagöz shadow-theatre: shadow-theatre was introduced in Turkey in the 16th century by Egyptian artists and took root in Istanbul. Ottoman sultans became the patrons of this kind of theatre. The Karagöz’ figures were made of camel skin thinned with glass, tanned and painted with shimmering colours. They have jointed arms, waists and legs. They form a collection of stereotyped characters among which the rough Karagöz (Black Eye), the distinguished Hacivat, a drunkard, a hashish smoker, the Jew, the Armenian, the Arab. As many ethnies that populated the old cosmopolite capital. The aim of the Karagöz was to make people laugh, but it also had a great socio-political value. At the end of the 19th century, the censure established by Abdülhamit, the influence of the European theatre, the lack of artists contributed to the disappearing of this kind of theatre.

Hacivat

Karagöz


Ortaoyunu, revealed in 1834, did exist before this date. It is performed by actors but is very close to the shadow-theatre because of its satyric character, its preference for mimicry and improvisation. The ovoid stage, delimited by poles and wires, gave originality to the spectacle. Themes had tendencies for every day life characters and current events topics.

Contemporary theatre: when the conservatory was founded in 1914, Turkish women shyly started to play on stage. The People’s Houses promoted the kemalist ideology with the help of cultural basis taken in folklore and traditions. They also performed occidental plays. Muhsin Ertugrul who was an actor, a producer and a playwright, schooled many artists, brought European theatre to be known, raising Turkish theatre to the same level. Nowadays, theatre is very florishing in the country.