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.
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.
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.