Martin Greve & Dilek Kızıldağ: Looking for Greater Dersim. Musical Traces of a Lost Past (Volume 50, Istanbul Texts and Studies)
Book Presentation
11 March 2026, 7:00 PM
Venue: Orient-Institut Istanbul
Discussant: Ulaş Özdemir
Musical Contribution: Cihan Çelik
Moderator: Cüneyt Ersin Mıhcı
Languages: Turkish and English
As the outcome of many years of research, this volume explores the musical heritage of a region in central Eastern Anatolia sometimes referred to as “Greater Dersim.” However, the region has never had an official name. It may broadly include parts of the provinces of Sivas, Erzincan, Malatya, Elazığ, Tunceli, Bingöl, Erzurum, and Muş. Clear boundaries of a “Greater Dersim” have never existed—neither culturally, historically, nor geographically—and its population has never been homogeneous or historically stable in terms of ethnicity, language, or religion. Accordingly, its musical traditions are highly diverse, ranging from women’s laments at funerals to semi-professional minstrel singers, from chants performed in Alevi ceremonies and Sunni religious hymns to dance songs at weddings. Throughout the 20th century, the region experienced repeated episodes of extreme violence, military operations, and repression, all of which are reflected in numerous lament songs. Migration and urbanization profoundly transformed rural society. Intimate village music-making increasingly gave way to professionally produced and mediatized, often political music, whose performers became known throughout Turkey and, from the 1960s onward, in Europe. In the 1990s, a nostalgic Neo-Dersim movement emerged, in which musicians and intellectuals sought to revive their culture within contemporary urban settings. The central theme of this publication is the plurality of memory and music in the greater Dersim region.
The publication series Istanbul Texts and Studies (ITS) has been published by Ergon Verlag (Würzburg) since 2003. The series generally includes works by researchers affiliated with the institute or its projects. After three years, volumes are made freely available as e-books via the server of the University and State Library of Saxony-Anhalt. For external publications, at least one independent academic review is usually obtained to ensure quality.
The event takes place as part of the Musicology Lecture Series organized by Dr. Cüneyt Ersin Mıhcı.
Dr. Dilek Kızıldağ received her BA in Anthropology from the Faculty of Language, History and Geography at Ankara University. She completed her MA in Social Anthropology at the Institute of Social Sciences at Hacettepe University and earned her PhD from the Turkish Revolution History Institute at Ankara University. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Orient-Institut Istanbul, where she completed the project “Migration, Memory and Musical Expressions” together with Martin Greve. She is the author of The Koçgiri Rebellion: A Socio-Historical Analysis (İletişim, 2017). Her research and publications focus on Alevism, Koçgiri, and the history of Dersim.
Dr. habil. Martin Greve is a German ethnomusicologist based in Istanbul and Beirut. His doctoral thesis deals with the history of Turkish Art Music in the 20th century. His habilitation thesis is a study of Turkish music in Germany. From 2005 to 2011, Dr. Greve was the coordinator of the Study Program of Turkish Music at the Rotterdam World Music Academy. From 2011 to 2018, Martin Greve was a research associate at the Orient-Institut Istanbul responsible for the research field Music in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. Since December 2020, he is directing the DFG-funded research project entitled “Migration, Memory, and Musical Expression: Musical Traditions from Central Eastern Anatolian Turkey, Berlin, and Paris” at the Orient-Institut Istanbul, together with Dr. Dilek Soileau.
Cihan Çelik is a musician rooted in the Alevi-Kurdish musical tradition. He studied bağlama and solfeggio between 1995 and 1997 and gave his first live TV performance in 1995. He studied Protohistory and Near Eastern Archaeology at Istanbul University and conducted ethnographic research on the music, culture, and history of Koçgiri. He learned the nine-string bağlama (ters düzen) from Haydar Acar and interprets Kurdish laments, halay dances, and Alevi deyiş/nefes in the Koçgiri style. He has performed solo concerts in Turkey, Europe, the USA, and Australia. For his efforts to preserve the Kurdish language, Alevi traditions, and Koçgiri culture, he has received several awards and is a member of the Koçgiri Cultural Association.
The language of the event is English and Turkish. Participation is free of charge. To attend in person, please register below. To join online no registration is necessary. Photos and videos will be taken during the event. By attending, you consent to their use on the OII’s website, newsletter, and social media channels. The event will not be recorded.
VENUE
Orient-Institut Istanbul
Galip Dede Cad. 65, Şahkulu Mah., Beyoğlu, TR – 34421 Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 293 60 67
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