Music
Turkey has a rich musical tradition of varied and often contrasting styles. From the folk music which originated on the steppes of Asia to the refined music of the Ottoman court; from the strident military music of the mehter takimi, the Janissary band, played with kettle drums, clarinets and cymbals to the mystical sound of the ney or ‘reed pipe’ which accompanies the Whirling Dervishes as they dance. Classical Turkish music is monophonic ie all instruments essentially play the same tune. There are a number of instruments commonly heard such as the kemence or Violin; ud or lute; kanun, which is similar to a zither; zurna similar to the oboe; and zil or cymbal. It was only with the formation of the Turkish Republic that efforts were made to develop a form of modern polyphonic Turkish music, but there are now numerous successful classical composers. At the other end of the spectrum, there is also a thriving popular music industry in Turkey boosted by the MTV style TV channels playing non-stop music videos. There are a number of prominent music festivals in Turkey including the Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival which is held in June and July and the Istanbul Jazz Festival.
Folk dancing
Turkey has a rich tradition of folk dancing with dances performed at all social occasions. There could be weddings, celebrations held for young men leaving for military service, national and religious festivals, or local festivals such as those marking the return from the mountain plateaux to the village at the end of the summer. Some dances reflect natural events or daily life, and others portray social events and affairs of the heart. Each region has its own dances which reflect the cultural life of that region. Some of the most famous dances are the bar which originates in the province of Erzurum, the halay in the East and Southeast, the hora in Thrace, the horon in the Black Sea and the spoon dances in and around Konya. Recent developments in Turkish folk dance have seen the emergence of Riverdance style troupes performing modern variations on the traditional dances in elaborate, spectacular, stage shows.
Mevlana – Whirling Dervishes
The order of Mevlevi, better known in the west as the Whirling Dervishes, was founded by the 13th century Sufi mystic, Celaleddin Rumi, who was also known as Mevlana. He was a poet, who believed that music and dance provided the means to enter a religious state of ecstasy thereby discovering divine love, and formed a religion, or philosophy based on tolerance. His most famous poem represents the central beliefs of Sufism:
- Come, come, whoever you are, come!
- Heathen, fire-worshipper or idolator, come!
- Come even if you have broken your
- Penitence a hundred times,
- Ours is the door of hope, come as you are.
There were dervish lodges or tekke throughout Anatolia but Konya, where he settled, was the centre of the movement. His museum, situated in the original tekke can be visited there today where there is a Mevlana festival held in December every year. Central to the religion is the sema, the ceremony, the climax of which is the whirling dance. It is performed in traditional symbolic costume of a conical hat or sikke, which represents the tombstone of the ego, and white robes or tenure, which represent its shroud. The dervish whirls with his right hand pointed upwards towards God and his left pointing down to the earth to the accompaniment of the ney or reed pipe.
Karagoz
A sort of Turkish Punch and Judy show, Karagoz is a shadow play performed by traditionally designed puppets, made of translucent stretched and painted camel skin. There are two main characters the eponymous Karagoz and Hacivat. Karagoz is a down-to-earth type who frequently find himself at odds with his friend, Hacivat who is well educated in Islamictheology but ultimately unreliable. There are various other characters who take part in the plays, which always follow the same format but have different story. The plays are humorous, drawing on double entendres, caricatures and mimicry. There is a strong element of satire, which was used during Ottoman times to provide a humorous critique of those in authority.
During this period, Karagoz, was one of the most important forms of entertainment with shows performed at festivals and feasts – even at the circumcision parties held for the young princes – in coffee houses and gardens. It was most popular in the Sultan’s capital, Istanbul, but was spread throughout Anatolia by travelling performers.
Nasrettin Hoca
Nasrettin Hoca was a popular scholar, whose tales are famous throughout Turkey for their satire, wit and humour, beneath which lies a serious message. He was born in the district of Hortu, in Sivrihisar in 1208 and died in Aksehir in 1284. he has acquired such mythical status, however, that fact and fiction have become muddled in the stories surrounding him and the anecdotes attributed to him. His stories refer to everyday situations amongst the common people of Anatolia and his wisdom opposes the stricter elements of Islamic law with humour, as he baffles those around him with his logic. Many of the stories feature his donkey, itself a symbol of suffering, which was an everyday part of village life.
Why he sat on the donkey backwards
One day, Nasrettin Hoca was riding home from the mosque on his donkey, with a large crowd behind him. Suddenly, he got off the donkey, and got on again backwards, facing the animal’s tail. Naturally, the people asked him what he was doing. He replied: ‘I thought about it, and decided to ride my donkey like this, because I have no time for disrespect. If you move ahead of me, then you will be turning your back on me, which would be extremely disrespectful. If I go on ahead, I will be turning my back on you, and that is also quite unacceptable. This way, I can go on ahead of you and you can follow behind, and we can still keep looking at each other!’
