Music of Turkey

A brief history

Early Years of The Republic

After the Turkish War of Independence ended in 1923, and the borders were drawn, there was a social and political revolution under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. This revolution opted to Westernize the way of living in Turkey. By 1929, all public and commercial communications were made in the Latin alphabet, completely taking the written Ottoman Turkish language out of circulation. A new constitution was written, one that was modeled after the French. This new constitution was designed to make the new Republic of Turkey into a secular, modern, nation-state. Every aspect of the revolution, from major policy changes to clothing reforms, was made in accordance with the Kemalist Ideology. All affairs were carried out followed by a chain of military command for the purpose of reaching the level of Western civilization. Both religious and Turkish classical music was impacted by this top to bottom revolution. On November 1, 1934 Atatürk made a speech in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Alaturca music was banned on radios, public places as well as private properties.

Popular music

Popular music

Popular music is distinguished from the traditional genres as those styles that entered the Turkish musicality after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, either due to attempts of national modernization from 1924 onwards, the opening of the republic to Western musical influences or modern fusions and innovations from artists themselves.

Turkish pop music had its humble beginnings in the late 1950s with Turkish cover versions of a wide range of imported popular styles, including rock and roll, tango, and jazz. As more styles emerged, they were also adopted, such as hip hop, heavy metal and reggae.

The self-named "superstar" of the "arrangement" (aranjman) era of the 70s was Ajda Pekkan and Aydzhan Bekir who also debuted, along with Enrico Macias, at Olympia, Paris, while MFÖ (Mazhar, Fuat, Özkan) was the celebrated group of the pop scene with an outstanding dexterity in their use of Turkish prosody and their success of amalgamating Western and Turkish cultural ingredients and perspectives. Also one of the most renowned Turkish pop stars of the last decades is probably Sezen Aksu.