Turkish Music

EARLY PERIOD OF TURKIC MUSIC

Turkish musical culture began to form and become distinct around 3000 BCE through traditional Altai music and together. The religious and magical rituals performed by the shamans, the earliest musicians in Turkish history, served as the primary production and performance contexts of this era. Beginning around 2000 BCE, as the Altai peoples migrated from their original homeland in the Altai Mountains toward Central Asia, Altai music spread across a vast geographical area.

By the 3rd century BCE, with the emergence of the Huns on the historical stage, Hun music appeared; from the 6th century CE onward, with the Göktürks, Göktürk music emerged. Subsequently, as the Uyghurs transitioned from nomadic to settled life, Turkic musical culture experienced further development. During the Hun, Göktürk, and Uyghur periods, music expanded beyond religious contexts to assume a broad and diverse character. The distinct religious musical traditions performed by shamans (public, kaman) differed from the heroic, game, entertainment music composed by ozans who played the kopuz; the military music performed with the tuğ ensemble formed the core production and performance environments of Turkic music.

TURKIC MUSIC IN THE ISLAMIC PERIOD AND BEYOND

With the adoption of Islam by the Turks, the Turkic-Islamic musical culture began to take shape among the Karahanlids, while the Ghaznavids witnessed interactions between Turkic music, Arab, Persian and Indian music. In Seljuks, musical culture and maqams diversified.

During the Karahanlid, Ghaznavid, and Seljuk periods, military music performed with the tabl and turn ensembles, religious music in tekkes, and court music performed in palaces formed the main production and performance contexts of Turkic music. Later, the blending of Karahanlid, Ghaznavid, and Seljuk musical traditions gave rise to the Seljuk and Ottoman musical cultures. The centuries-long proximity of Chinese, Byzantine, Indian, Arab, and Persian cultures also had a profound influence on Turkic music.

From the time of the Turks’ settlement in Anatolia until the present day, the production and performance contexts of Turkic music have persisted. In villages and towns, ashiks and saz poets, and in cities, palace, Enderun, mansion, meşkhane like venues hosted composers and saz masters who drove the creation and evolution of Turkic music. In addition, tekkes established their own musical production and performance environments through their original structures.

Since their first appearance on the historical stage, the Turks have shown deep devotion to the arts, particularly music, and have regarded it as one of the most important elements of their civilizations. The musical journey of the Turks, beginning with the kopuz, has continuously evolved while preserving its essence in the geographical regions they inhabited. Turkic music, diversifying to address various segments of social life, has reached the present day with its full accumulation and grandeur.

Classical The history of scholarly studies on Turkic music extends far back in time. The works of Safi al-Din Abdulmumin al-Urmevi, the Şerefiye and the Kitâbü’l Edvar, are regarded as the earliest of these studies. Subsequently, especially from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, theoretical studies gained momentum, numerous work were conducted, and these studies were published in various forms. Today, the AREL-EZGİ-UZDİLEK system has been widely accepted across virtually all institutions offering music education, without any official imposition and spontaneously.

Of course, transcribing Turkic music, which is based on the principles of “Tavır, Üslup and December”, onto paper presents challenges of varying degrees. For this reason, Turkic music has maintained its continuity through the “meşk” lineage and has preserved itself by adopting the most authentic method.