Music in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey

Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae

Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Ralf Martin Jäger, Prof. Dr. Christoph K. Neumann & Cüneyt Ersin Mıhcı

Researchers: Salih Demirtaş M.A, Dr. Nihan Tahtaişleyen, Dr. William Sumits

Duration: 2015–2027

Main collaborator: Universität Münster, Institute for Musicology and Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies; Max Weber Stiftung, perspectivia.net

Sponsored by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

From the beginning of the second decade of the 19th century, the repertoire of courtly and urban art music was recorded in the Ottoman Empire (at first in Istanbul) in an increasing number of manuscripts. To this end, a notation method was primarily used that had been developed by the Armenian Hamparsum Limonciyan (1768–1839) before 1813 and was highly suited as a recording medium for the art music repertoire. In addition, Western notation was increasingly common from the mid-1830s. The value of the manuscript holdings in both forms of notation cannot be overestimated for the tradition of art music culture. They were cultivated up until the early 20th century in the major cities of modern Turkey as well as in the urban centers of Syria and Egypt. Besides Oriental Studies, the sources are of primary importance to music research, which is able to uncover historical phenomena and processes in the musical cultures for the first time. The aim of the long-term project is to prepare, in an initial seven-year project phase, critical editions of the pivotal manuscripts in Hamparsum notation from the 19th century. The second five-year phase of the project is primarily concerned with the critical edition of selected manuscripts from this period written in Western notation. In parallel, the edition of the song lyrics will be prepared in an interdisciplinary group. The edition of the Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae (CMO)—Critical Editions of Near Eastern Music Manuscripts will be issued as an open-access database and published online by the editors of perspectivia.net. In addition, the editions of individual manuscripts will be available as print-on-demand titles. The overall project will be carried out at the Institute of Musicology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster in cooperation with the Orient-Institut Istanbul, perspectivia.net, and the Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster. The project is supervised by an international academic advisory council. 

IMS Study Group “Auditory History”

Co-founder, co-chair: Salih Demirtaş (with Tin Cugelj, University of Berne)

Duration: since January 2023

The IMS (International Musicological Society) Study Group “Auditory History” is an international and interdisciplinary forum for scholars at all career stages established to stimulate an exchange of current research on global auditory experiences and sonic environments of the past. To achieve that, the study group favors multisensorial approaches to discourse within sound studies and also encourages inclusion of historical, cultural, and acoustemological perspectives on aurality. It aims to facilitate critical discussion, theory-building, and long-term collaboration across disciplinary boundaries: anthropology, archaeology, architecture and art history, ecology, history, literature, musicology, sociology, philosophy. It focuses on aspects of the acoustic environment such as subjectivity, memory, sonic heritage, emotion and affect, spatial and social dimensions of sound, and history of auditory perception. Importantly, the study group is committed to cultural diversity and inclusivity. The study group is open to scholars at all career stages, encouraging transgenerational exchange of ideas, working in any of the above-mentioned fields. If you wish to become a member, please email the chairs of the study group. Click here for the official page of the study group.

Establishment of the RISM Working Group Turkey

Supervised by: Cüneyt Ersin Mıhcı

Duration: since December 2018

The Répertoire International des Sources Musicales is an international catalogue of sources that documents musical transmission in all kinds of source types worldwide – manuscripts, prints, notations, theoretical literature, textbooks. However, the Middle East has hardly been incorporated in the survey so far, apart from one volume on Arabic-language theoretical literature. The notation sources of the Ottoman Empire have therefore not yet been documented and catalogued in the same systematic way as European manuscripts and prints. In addition, there is the particularity of the Middle Eastern tradition that requires that song text collections must also be listed as music manuscripts, although they do not contain any notation. In close cooperation with the RISM central editorial office in Frankfurt and with CMO, the edition project which has taken on a leading role in this research area, the RISM Working Group Turkey is to be restructured and made operational. This also includes the organisation of the financing. The project is to be understood as a long-term endeavour that will run beyond the current researcher’s term of employment and aims to become permanently institutionalized.

The Architecture of the hâne in Ottoman Vocal Music

Supervised by: Cüneyt Ersin Mıhcı

Duration: Februar 2024 – Februar 2027

Mıhcı, Cüneyt Ersin: Forging National Music on Both Sides of the Aegean in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries (Dissertation; forthcoming)

Mıhcı, Cüneyt Ersin: Codex TR-Iüne 204-2: Music Edition, Critical Reports, Text Edition. 3 vols. Manuscript Sources from İstanbul Üniversitesi Nadir Eserler Kütüphanesi 2. Münster, 2021.

Tahtaişleyen, Nihan (Ed.). Current Archival Studies in Musicology. MSFAU Journal of Social Sciences, Issue 27, Spring 2023. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/msgsusbd/issue/77589

Haug, Judith I.: Ottoman and European Music in ʿAlī Ufuḳī’s Compendium, MS Turc 292: Analysis, Interpretation, Cultural Context. Volume 1: Edition; Volume 2: Critical Report. Münster: readbox unipress 2020. https://miami.uni-muenster.de/Record/491e5d83-56d4-4555-8e5f-a41ed04df6f4/HierarchyTree

Haug, Judith I. Ottoman and European Music in ʿAlī Ufuḳī’s Compendium, MS Turc 292: Analysis, Interpretation, Cultural Context. Vol. 1: Monograph. Münster: readbox unipress 2019. https://miami.uni-muenster.de/Record/cdcbc9ca-52a4-4f05-9665-f0df9eca6292

Wendelmoet Hamelink, Ulas Özdemir, Martin Greve (Hrsg.). Diversity and Contact among Singer-Poet Traditions in Eastern Anatolia. (Istanbuler Studien und Texte 40). Baden-Baden: Ergon Verlag 2018.

Greve, Martin. Makamsız – Individualization of Traditional Music on the Eve of Kemalist Turkey. Würzburg 2017 (in press).

Yıldız, Burcu. Armenian Music in Turkey. (Istanbuler Texte und Studien 35). Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2016.

Greve, Martin (ed.), Writing the History of “Ottoman Music.” (Istanbuler Texte und Studien 33). Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2015.

—-. “Traditionelle Musik in der zeitgenössischen westlichen Musik der Türkei.” Jin-Ah Kim, Nepomuk Riva (eds.). Entgrenzte Welt? Musik und Kulturtransfers. Berlin: Ries & Erler 2014. 311–337

—-. “CD booklet.” Marc Sinan. Hasretim—Eine anatolische Reise. München: ECM 2013.

Kyriakos Kalatzidis (ed). Post-Byzantine Music Manuscripts as a Source for Oriental Music (15th to early 19th Century). (Istanbuler Texte und Studien 28). Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2012.

International online workshop: Music and Mirrored Hybridities. Cultural Communities Converging in French, German, and Turkish Stage Productions (17th–20th Century)

Organized by: PD Dr. Judith I. Haug and Dr. Hanna Walsdorf (HMT Leipzig)

Date: 28.–29.05 2021

Partners: Hochschule für Musik und Theater „Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ Leipzig; Boğaziçi University Department for Translation and Interpreting Studies

CMO Online Panel: Reconstructing the Ottoman Music Corpus. Interpretational Issues of Hampartsum Sources

Organized by: Dr. Nevin Şahin

Date: 4.02 2021

International online workshop: Sonic Rituals. Ottoman, Habsburg & Burgundian Festivities (15th–17th Centuries) from an Intermedial Perspective

Organized by: PD Dr. Judith I. Haug, Dr. Margret Scharrer and M.A. Ayşe Tül Demirbaş

Date: 4.–5.09 2020

Lecture series at the Orient-Institut Istanbul: Orality – Writing – Performance. Recent Developments in Music Studies of the Ottoman Lands and Beyond

Organized by: PD Dr. Judith I. Haug

Dates: October 2020–February 2021, additionally two in-house events postponed due to Covid-19

International Conference: Integrative Approaches to Contemporary Cross-Cultural Music Making: Turkey, Italy, Germany

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: 8.–19.03. 2016

Event location: Rome

Main collaborator: DHI Rome

Sponsored by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bahçeşehir University, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Max Weber Stiftung

This two-day event focused on the various attempts of many contemporary composers to incorporate traditional music—whatever the tradition—into their own music. Jin-Ah Kim’s (University of Seoul, South Korea) inaugural lecture already questioned the current common terminology. By the end of the conference, there was a general consensus that the concepts of hybridity, inter- or trans-culturalism, Third Space, etc. were no longer appropriate for describing the variety of individual life worlds and musical approaches. Indeed, the many composers who participated from Italy, Germany, and Turkey reflected an astonishing degree of diversity, which was also evident in the two accompanying concerts. In a lecture-concert, three bağlama players first played contemporary music on their instruments, which was partly avant-garde, partly influenced by traditional music: Kemal Dinç (Cologne/Rotterdam), Erdem Şimşek (Istanbul) and Taner Akyol (Berlin). In a public rehearsal, the musicians of the international Istanbul Hezarfen ensemble talked about the difficulties of simultaneously dealing with Turkish makam melodies and the notational and performative intricacies of newer Western music. Today, many composers are equally researchers looking to gain insights in areas such as acoustics, religious history, or traditional music, which they can then use in their compositions. The highlight of the event was the final concert of the Hezarfen ensemble, featuring several intercultural compositions that had their Italian and global premieres.

Eduard Zuckmayer—A Musician in Turkey

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: 7.03. 2016

Event location: Mimar Sinan University

Main collaborator: Mimar Sinan University, Goethe-Institut Istanbul

Lecture series at the Orient-Institut Istanbul: Music and Musicians in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: October 2014–May 2015

The lecture series was dedicated to musicians and music worlds of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic: cosmopolitans like the Polish-born court musician and interpreter Ali Ufuki from the 17th century or the composer Nazife Aral Güran from the 20th Century; religious Alevi music and its evolution in the 20th century; the vibrant jazz milieu in Beyoğlu in 1920s; the processing of horrific memories in Armenian lullabies; or the close links between Armenian Church Music and Ottoman art music in the early 19th century. Especially in Turkey, but also, for example, in Greece, music was understood as a symbol of national identity. Folk songs and dances, as well as marches, immediately took on political meaning. Minorities, too, often expressed themselves and their identities through music, as in the search for and reconstruction of lamentations about the massacres in 1937 and 1938 in Dersim (Tunceli). The simple, beautiful songs and instrumentals in the villages of South-West Anatolia, the classic Turkish choirs and, for example, the rock scene in Istanbul, have practically nothing in common. There are few countries in the world that have as rich and contradictory a musical life as Turkey.

International Conference: Transfer and Diversity. Music and Transcultural Practice

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: 9.–11. and 17.–18.10. 2014

Main collaborator: Humbold-Universität Berlin and Istanbul Technical University

Sponsored by: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

As part of the German-Turkish 2014 Science Year, the project “Transfer and Diversity. Music and Transcultural Practice: Turkey—Germany” attempted in October to take stock of Turkish-German music relations. Participants included Humbold-Universität Berlin, Landesmusikrat Berlin, the Center for Advanced Studies in Music (MIAM) of Istanbul Technical University, the Orient-Institut Istanbul, and other partner institutions. After panel discussions, concerts and a three-day conference in Berlin, a two-day symposium took place in Istanbul at MIAM. The Orient-Institut Istanbul was responsible for the conceptual planning. In addition to music and cultural scientists, numerous German and Turkish musicians, composers, and cultural managers participated in this experience exchange. Individual panels were devoted to the experiences of political refugees and their influence on music and musical life, as well as the topic of music and gender. Recent developments in Turkish music in Germany were presented such as the efforts to set up bağlama degree programs or to create a “bağlama platform” in Berlin.

At the conclusion of the symposium, Kurt Reinhard’s musicological research, and that of his wife Ursula, was evaluated retrospectively on the occasion of his 100th birthday. For decades, they both shaped the representation of Turkish music in Europe through their books and articles.

Conference: The Bağlama in the Context of Education, Music School, “Jugend musiziert,” and the Concert System

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: 7.–9.09. 2014

Main collaborator: Landesmusikakademie Nordrhein-Westfalen

Sponsored by: Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

The bağlama (or saz) symbolizes Turkish musical culture in Germany and has come to epitomize the Turkish musical identity in the Turkish community. It is not only played in North Rhine-Westphalia, but it is also frequently taught at local music schools. It is featured in “Jugend musiziert” and is taking on a more visible role in public musical life. To further this process, the conference brought together lectures, workshops and panel discussions that aimed to promote the interaction, exchange, and knowledge transfer between bağlama experts, university representatives and music schools, and concert organizers. Key topics included the possibilities for ensemble playing with European instruments and the bağlama; the methodology and didactics of bağlama teaching; the presentation of textbooks, training, and performance opportunities for professional bağlama players.

Conference: Rhythmic Cycles and Structures in the Art Music of the Middle East

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: 27.–28.02. 2014

Main collaborator: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

In the research on Ottoman art music (and related musical styles), rhythmic modes have been greatly neglected up to the present day in comparison to the melodic types of makam. Here, the usul in particular is decisive for the musical form of compositions. The conference was a first substantive cooperation between the Universität Münster (in particular the Institute of Musicology) and the Orient-Institut Istanbul officially entered into in 2013 by means of a cooperation agreement. In addition to lectures from leading music historians like Prof. em. Dr. Eckhardt Neubauer, Prof. em. Dr. Owen Wright, Emeritus of the SOAS London, Prof. Walter Feldman and Prof. em. Dr. Yalçın Tura, numerous young musicologists such as Dr. Judith Haug (Münster), Dr. Jacob Olley (London), Mehmet Uğur Ekinci (Ankara) or Dr. Nilgun Doğrusöz-Dişiaçık (Istanbul) presented current research on historical rhythm and form concepts. A final panel was dedicated to the musical developments of the 20th century: rhythms in fantezi, in the music of gazinos, and in Anatolian folk music. www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/musikwissenschaft/pdf/flyerorient2014.pdf

Symposium: Germany’s First Bağlama Symposium

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: 14.–15.09. 2013

Main collaborator: Landesmusikrat Berlin

On 14–15 Sept. 2013 “Germany’s First Bağlama Symposium” was held in Berlin, jointly organized by Landesmusikrat Berlin, the Orient-Institut Istanbul, the State Conservatory of Turkish Music of ITU Istanbul, and the Universität der Künste Berlin. To begin with, the instrument, its structural variants, and its regional distribution were presented. This was followed by its history, theory, and notation. Today, the instrument is taught at various music schools and conservatories in Turkey but also in Europe. For purposes of illustration, the bağlama was discussed in the context of Istanbul, Berlin, Vienna, and Ghent. Since the 1990s at the latest, a number of structural, technical, and compositional innovations have strongly changed the instrument and its music, while dramatically extending its musical possibilities.

Link to the opening bağlama concert—Instrument of Year 2013, Berlin:

http://vimeo.com/80550805

http://vimeo.com/80550804

http://vimeo.com/80550803

DVD Germany’s First Bağlama Symposium. Berlin: Ethnological Museum, National Museums in Berlin 2015

Documentary filmmaker Özay Şahin created at the Orient-Institut Istanbul a two-hour documentary on the bağlama and its music using presentations by musicians and musicologists, recordings of bağlama teaching sessions in Berlin, and musical recordings of a concert with Erol Parlak, Okan Murat Öztürk, and others. The film has been released as a double DVD together with a documentary about the bağlama construction of Derya Takkali in the DVD series of the Ethnological Museum Berlin.

Symposium: Hören Sie—Erfahrungsaustausch Deutsch-Türkischer Musiktherapie

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve and Dr. Alexandre Toumarkine

Event date: 25.–26.05. 2012

Main collaborator: Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal

Practical experiences in music therapy in Turkey, Germany and Austria were exchanged for the first time at an international conference in May 2012. In Turkey, music therapy is still largely uncharted territory. The few currently active Turkish music therapists usually combine, in their own way, highly diverse methods. At the same time, they have also accumulated a great deal of experience. Here, two different music therapeutic approaches come into conflict. On the one hand, in the Islamic Middle Ages there already existed a doctrine of healing through music. In the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman art music was deliberately used for therapeutic purposes at several hospitals. Around the mid-19th century, however, this tradition was abandoned, only to then be taken up again over the course of the last twenty years by individual musicians and therapists. In particular, Rahmi Oruç Güvenç became known both in Turkey and in Europe with his “ancient oriental music therapy.” On the other hand, the medical field in Turkey—including psychiatry and psychotherapy—works with international (mainly Western) methods. Psychotherapy especially has experienced a significant upsurge in Turkey in the past few years. An increasing number of therapies are being practiced and more and more international literature is available in translation. Western music and dance therapy, however, have only been used in Turkey very recently for experimental purposes.

The situation in Germany is quite different: Here, music therapy is now well established (although the same can hardly be said for dance therapy); there are degree programs, regular conferences and training opportunities and a professional association. At the same time, however, psychotherapists find themselves confronted everywhere in Europe with the utterly new task of working with patients with migrant backgrounds.

The entire conference, including all the workshops and discussions, was video recorded by the documentary Özay Şahin and supplemented with additional recordings of music therapy sessions in Istanbul. From this material, the Orient-Institut created together with Özay Şahin a two-hour documentary film, which appeared on DVD in early 2013.

DVD Erfahrungsaustausch Deutsch-Türkischer Musiktherapie / Türk Alman Müzik Terapi Tecrübelerinin Paylaşımı. A film by Özay Şahin, Istanbul 2013.

International Conference: Writing the History of “Ottoman Music”

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Event date: 25.–26.10 2011

Main collaborator: Istanbul Technical University

This international and interdisciplinary conference dealt with approaches to, and the problems of, Ottoman music history. In view of the sources of individual written music collections and theoretical treatises, and mostly orally transmitted music, the focus was on the question of whether it is possible to arrive at a coherent narrative of Ottoman music history, and if so, in what form. The first step in this direction would be a periodization of the music from a musicological standpoint. Another area of concern was Anatolian folk music: To what extent is it possible here to overcome political and historico-philosophical ideologies to arrive at a scientifically grounded historical research? Finally, the conference discussed the issue of the practical reconstruction of historical Ottoman music.

Martin Greve (ed.), Writing the History of “Ottoman Music.” (Istanbuler Texte und Studien 35) Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2015.

Sonic Occidentalism and the Infrastructure of the Extraordinary: Classical Music in Turkish Modernity                                           

Supervised by: Erol Koymen (University of Chicago);

Duration: 1 September 2019 – 15 March 2020

Sponsored by: OII (doctoral scholarship)

Over the past several decades, Turkish urban centers—Istanbul in particular—have been host to a significantly expanding classical music scene. This growth might appear to realize the Kemalist state’s modernist sonic and musical project—what I call “Sonic Occidentalism.” However, as perhaps most dramatically evidenced by the 2018 demolition of the Atatürk Cultural Center in Taksim Square, the Turkish state has not played a primary role in this dynamic. Rather, classical music has flourished in the civil society and corporate sectors and in a network of spaces that bracket the state modernist project at its imperial and neoliberal limits, such as Ottoman-era churches, missionary schools, and corporate holding-sponsored museums and performance spaces. In this project, I employ ethnographic methods to examine these spaces of classical music as an infrastructure. I ask: how does this infrastructure facilitate particular modes of musicking and particular fantasies, imaginaries, and modes of belonging? What are the limits of Occidentalism at the nexus of the Turkish state’s 20th-century modernist project and late-20th and 21st-century liberalization? Finally, how does thinking about music and sound as parts of a network of infrastructural systems open new possibilities for thinking the ways in which these shape and are shaped by urban social life?

Movement and Adaptation of the Alevi Semah in Turkey and Western Europe

Supervised by: Sinibaldo De Rosa (University of Exeter/School of Music at Cardiff University)

Duration: 13 November 2017 – 15 August 2018

Sponsored by: OII (doctoral fellowship)

As part of urbanization, migration, folklorization and heretigization processes, over the last decades the rich musical and choreographic traditions of the Alevis became a source of inspiration for several performing arts works. For instance, the Alevi semah-s, which are frequently considered to be at the nutshell of Alevi aesthetics and symbolism, have been adapted and re-invented beyond their primary ayin-i cem ritual context. Sinibaldo de Rosa’s PhD research explores these adaptive processes of the semah-s on novel artistic and transnational stages. Grounding the perspective in performance, anthropology and dance theories, as well as employing movement analysis tools (such as the Kinetography Laban), over the last years Sinibaldo de RosaI conducted ethnographic fieldwork in such artistic contexts, both in Turkey as well as abroad. Reflecting on the themes of embodiment, interactivity, participation and presentation in Alevism, he wish in this way to shed light on historical changes in the transmission of semah kinetic contents and the participation into semah events.

Anatolian Rock and Turkey’s 1960s

Supervised by: Kenan Behzat Sharpe (University of California, Santa Cruz)

Duration: 15 September 2018 – 15 December 2018

Sponsored by: OII (doctoral fellowship)

Anadolu Rock was a genre that came to prominence in the 1960s combining the international current of rock and instruments like the electric guitar with Anatolian folk music traditions. Acts such as Cem Karaca, Barış Manço, and Moğollar were at the forefront of this musical movement. This research project investigates the historical, social, and political factors that shaped the emergence of Anadolu Rock.

Anadolu Rock rose to prominence just as the movements of the radical left were gaining influence. In Turkey the relationship between left-wing politics and rock was more ambiguous, as the fierce acrimony of those years between left and right also divided the cultural sphere, with some artists expressing closeness to ultra-nationalist organizations while others were associated with the socialist movement. Similarly, those who listened to this genre were linked to a variety of political tendencies. This mostly sociological information pushes this research project to a more fundamental question: Exactly what relationship does this genre, which came into being in the midst of the turbulent 1960s, have to the dominant political ideologies of the period? In a certain sense, by combining western instrumentation with Anatolian folk culture Anadolu Rock can be said to have fulfilled the dream of cross-cultural synthesis that was the Republic’s official ideology. At the same time, however, this hybrid genre opened up new space for protest, allowed for different expressions of gender and sexuality, and increased visibility for Alevis and other repressed cultures. In this sense, there is something thoroughly political about Anadolu Rock–and not only when the lyrics specifically refer to political events.

This research project centers on the music of Tülay German, Cem Karaca, and Selda Bağcan in order to unpack both the official and subversive elements of this genre. A comparative method is employed which combines the study of monographs published in Turkish, resources on global psychedelia and rock movements, as well as oral history and archival studies in order to locate Anadolu Rock in relation to other local manifestations of the international rock scene such as the examples of Mexico and Cambodia. This project places Anadolu Rock within the context of both the world and the Turkish 1960s. Another important dimension of the project is interviews with musicians and the study of popular music magazines from the period such as Hey, Ses, and Müzik Ekspres. At the same time, the project also draws on the rich Cultural Studies scholarship on popular music as exemplified by Greil Marcus, Simon Frith, Michael Denning, and others.

Music Recordings of Armenian Prisoners of War in Germany

Supervised by: Dr. Melissa Bilal (Columbia University, New York)

Duration: 2015–2016

Main collaborator: Ethnological Museum, Berlin State Museums, Ethnomusicology Dept.

Sponsored by: OII (postdoctoral fellowship)

The recordings of Armenian prisoners of war made in various prison camps in Germany during the First World War are to be documented and analyzed. A CD with an extensive booklet will be published through the Ethnological Museum Berlin.

Mitrip and Community Dances in the Urfa Region: A Portrait of the Music, the Musicians and Dances in Their Changing Social Context

Supervised by: Sara Islán Fernández (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Sponsored by: OII (doctoral scholarship, 1 July–31 Dec. 2015)

The community dances of the Şanlıurfa region and their music are a vibrant example of a popular repertoire that is rich and diverse. The aim of the project is less to offer a static portrait of a musical corpus than to describe an ongoing transformational process involving music and dance, as well as the factors that determine this process. Special emphasis is placed on the relationship of the members of different communitiesnot least the mıtrıps (i.e. the musicians) themselves—to this repertoire, as well as the transformations of this relationship. It will be shown that music and daily life in this society remains so tightly interwoven that major changes in the human habitat and the social context have an immediate and significant impact on dance, music, and its performers.

The Formation of National Music on Both Sides of the Aegean Sea in the 19th and 20th Century

Supervised by: Ersin Mihci (Universität Heidelberg)

Sponsored by: OII (doctoral scholarship, 15 May–15 Aug. 2014)

Following the establishment of an independent Greek state in 1830 and Turkey in 1923, both states dedicated themselves to the project of constructing an individual national identity. In this attempt to form new national identities, music played an important role. Both countries sought to create a new national music by combining the modes, rhythms and forms of performance of traditional music with the compositional style and instrumentation of Western music, which at that time had become a symbol of progress and modernity. This dissertation focuses on exemplary works that were composed shortly after the founding of the respective independent states. Contemporary concepts of culture and aesthetics are also to be considered in a global context within a musicological framework. The dissertation undertakes a comparative approach and seeks to identify helpful criteria for elucidating national music and the nationalization of music in Greece and Turkey.

Women Composers’ Creative Conditions Before and During the Turkish Republic

Supervised by: Melike Atalay (Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien)

Sponsored by: OII (doctoral scholarship, 15 Mar.–15 June 2014)

This dissertation centers on three female Turkish composers, who, though representative of many other female composers of similar musical thought, belong to three different historical periods of Turkish history. Leyla Saz (1845–1936) was an Ottoman composer who, after being educated in the harem until 1861, was then active as an artist for the remainder of her life; Nazife Aral Güran (1921–1993), born shortly before the founding of the Turkish Republic, was a representative of the new, republican woman and reflected the Kemalist female ideal; and Yüksel Koptagel (b. 1931) belongs to the second generation of contemporary Turkish composers after the founding of the Turkish Republic. She mainly lived and worked outside of Turkey, however. The aim of the dissertation is to investigate how these trained composers were able to develop their musical identities in differing national historical constellations.

Villages in Modern Sasun

Supervised by: Dr. Wendelmoet Hamelink

Duration: 2013 (completed)

Sponsored by: Gerald D. Feldman Travel Grants of the Max Weber Foundation for the Orient-Institut Istanbul, the Orient-Institut Beirut and the German Historical Institute Paris

Building on previous work on dengbêj, this research project dealt with the fate of Armenians from Sasun (South-East Turkey). Before 1915, this region was characterized by a mixture of Kurdish and Armenian villages. Few Armenians live there today in the aftermath of the mass murders and expulsions of 1915. In many cases, they have adopted the culture and language of their Kurdish environment. Many migrated abroad. What happened to the Armenians from Sasun and their culture? How do they experience their Armenian identity and how do they express it in music and in songs? How do they relate to their Armenian past and to other identities? The transnational focus of this study sheds light on the various experiences of people who are all from the same region. What stories did they hear from their parents and grandparents about life in Sasun? These issues are examined by means of music and songs in connection with the development of identities in living conditions of conflict and exile.

Ottoman Song Text Collections (güfte mecmūʿaları) as Sources for Music Historiography

Supervised by: PD Dr. Judith I. Haug

Duration: December 2018 – June 2023

The historical-philological project deals with the development of Ottoman vocal genres in the 16th–17th century. Specifically, the question is how the vocal genres of Ottoman-Turkish art music developed between the decrease of the Persian influence during the 16th century, as evidenced by the still-present kār or naḳş, and the emergence of today’s dominant genres beste and şarḳı, and what influences may have played a role in this process. By “art music” we mean here those vocal genres that are based on texts of the dīvān poetry tradition and are written for courtly and urban elites, in contrast to the repertoire of the poet-singers ʿāşıḳ. In the absence of notation, research into this hitherto barely explored repertoire segment is based on the so-called güfte mecmūʿaları (song text collections). These sources, which are often compiled by singers for practical use, contain the repertoire current at the time in text form, accompanied by paratext such as headings and annotations that provide indications of musical characteristics. The project will approach the problem from two directions, namely 1. with respect to the development of the vocal genres of Ottoman-Turkish art music and – in particular – 2. with respect to the non-notational transmission of music as text and paratext. These two aspects influence each other, raising the question as to which known parameters and which variables can be worked with analytically.

Extensive source studies will trace the development of genres and the formation of lines of tradition. The aim of the research project is to contribute to the historiography of Ottoman-Turkish music in the context of orality and writing as well as to fundamental questions of tradition and memory. The study is part of a larger, culturally comparative research project with the working title Writing Music Histories: Non-notational Cultures of Memory.

The Sound of Power: Sound as an Intermedial Category of Courtly Festive Rituals in an Intercultural Perspective in the 15^th–17^th Centuries

SNF funded project at the Institute for Musicology, University of Bern, in cooperation with OII and İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi

Supervised by: Prof. Dr. Cristina Urchueguía

Duration: 2019–2023

Researchers: Dr. Margret Scharrer und M.A. Ayşe Tül Demirbaş

Music and sound events play an important role in courtly festival cultures across continents. In interaction with various other medial forms of expression and artefacts, they are in manifold ways important in the performances of ritual and ceremonial acts. Two subprojects investigate the intermedial interaction in the courtly festive-sound cultures of the Ottoman sultans and of the Burgundy-Habsburg “varieties”. On the basis of particularly well-documented festivities of a political-dynastic or religious-initiative nature, such as circumcision ceremonies, entries of rulers, weddings, elections of kings or emperors or enthronements, the project will by means of cultural comparison develop a model of a sounding festival culture from an anthropological perspective. Within the framework of an international conference, the perspective will then be broadened by including other court cultures, such as those from the Meso-American or Chinese sphere. In preparation for this conference, two workshops will be held: Sonic Rituals. Ottoman, Habsburg & Burgundian Festivities (15th–17th Centuries) from an Intermedial Perspective (04.–05. September 2020; online) sowie Between Court and City: Soundscapes of Power in East and West (15th – 17th centuries) (05. Februar 2021; Bern).

Intercultural Musical Encounters

Supervised by: PD Dr. Judith I. Haug

Duration: October 2020 – June 2023

A group of different projects, carried out in various collaborations and dealing with issues of mutual sonic perception and musical representation of the Other in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, is subsumed under the heading “Intercultural Musical Encounters”. Those projects are rooted in Historical Musicology, but extend into adjacent disciplines such as Theater, Dance or Translation Studies as well as Literature and Cultural History, and connect scholars of diverse geographical and scholarly backgrounds. Historically, the focus is on (from a Western perspective) the Middle Ages and Early Modern period up to c.1800; geographically speaking, interactions between the Ottoman Empire and Europe are in the center of attention with the perspective of including Iran and Central Asia to China.

Mutual perception of music and other sound phenomena was expressed in various textual and musical works with diverse audiences and objectives: Travelogues, journals and letters, diplomatic accounts, novels, stage plays, and opera libretti show where contact took place and how information regarding sound events was processed. However, research has been focusing on the European view of the Other; this needs to be complemented by other lines of vision: How did the Ottomans perceive European music, and what did they think about music cultures further to the east?

Migration, Memory, and Musical Expression. Musical Traditions from Central Eastern Anatoliain Turkey, Berlin, and Paris

Principal Investigator: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Researcher: Dr. Dilek Soileau Kızıldağ

Duration: December 2020 – November 2022

The DFG-funded research project “Migration, Memory and Musical Expression” focuses on music traditions in central eastern Anatolia and their changes during the past decades. Beyond this concrete aim, however, it is intended as a pioneering study on music in Anatolia in general: On the one hand, it aims to question the relevance of ethnic categories for music. On the other hand, the project for the first time applies methods of Historical Ethnomusicology on folk music in Anatolia. By dealing with the history of central eastern Anatolia over the past 100 years, it will further investigate the impact of experiences of violence on music traditions. Five main focus regions of this research include: 1) Sivas-Koçgiri; 2) Malatya-Arguvan; 3) Tunceli; 4) northern Bingöl; 5) Muş-Varto, Erzurum-Hınıs. Identity discourses with their historical development over the past decades will be investigated and, as part of them, consequences of historical experiences of violence during local rebellions (Koçgiri 1921, Şey Said 1925, Dersim 1937, Dersim-Bingöl 1994). Can any effect of these experiences on music life be proved, e.g., a growing importance of laments or changes of religious music? Eventually, effects of urbanization in the region, abandonment of villages and migration to Turkish or European cities, on musical traditions will be investigated, with a focus on migrants in Istanbul, Berlin, and Paris. Throughout the project, a focus will be laid on the changing social roles of women and their effects on female musicians.

Editing Post-Byzantine Notations

Supervised by: Dr. Kyriakos Kalaitzidis and Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Duration: October 2016 – 2019.

Sponsored by: Alexander Onassis Foundation

In numerous manuscripts on Byzantine church music and several special collections of musical scores, there are also scattered notations with non-religious music, folk music, the art songs of the Phanariots, but also Ottoman art music. In a preliminary pilot phase, the transcription and editing process of these still largely unknown sources will be refined and tested.

For the publication of these notations, a joint collaboration is planned with the project Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae (CMO). A volume has already been published on this subject as part of the Institute’s series “Istanbul Texts and Studies”: Kyriakos Kalaitzidis,Post-Byzantine Music Manuscripts as a Source for Oriental Secular Music (15th to early 19th Century). Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2012.

In a concert to inaugurate the Institute’s new building, Kyriakso Kalaitzidis (ud), Şevhar Beşiroğlu (kanun), Yelda Özgen (cello) and Neva Özgen (kemençe) played rediscovered works in post-Byzantine notation: a tasnîf from Azerbaijani music theorist and composer Abdülkadir Marâghî (1353–1453), an instrumental piece from Hânende Zacharias (18th century) and two songs from Istanbul composer Petros Peloponnesios (1740–1778). The recording can be found at:

http://vimeo.com/66142818

Post-Traditional Music in Turkey

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Duration: 2011 – 2016

The subject of this research project is the recent changes in traditional music in Turkey. Four trends are being studied:

– the tendency towards historicizing and the historical reconstruction of traditions,

– the tendency towards internationalizing the traditional music of Turkey, including the musicians and the audience,

– the constant search for new hybrid combinations of ensembles, repertoires, and for musical arrangements, and

– the effort to standardize in light of growing musical diversity.

Music in Dersim

Supervised by: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Duration: 2012 – 2019

This project dealt with the music of the eastern Anatolian region of Dersim – today’s Tunceli province and its surroundings. The first research phase dealt with music in the context of the social history of the region and its diaspora in Turkey and Europe during the last forty years. In addition to ethnographic field research, interviews with musicians in the region were conducted during this phase. Furthermore, historical recordings were indexed and evaluated.

Dengbêj Gazin. The Private Music Archive of a Kurdish Singer from Van

Responsible: Dr. habil. Martin Greve

Researcher: Özay Şahin

Project Duration: 2021

Dengbêjs are Kurdish singers who sing songs of by-gone times, about tragic love, fights, and death. As central sources for Kurdish culture and history their songs have been transmitted orally and only recently have been penned down. While almost only male dengbêjs perform in public spaces, female dengbêjs sang privately and also their songs tell more about private pain.

Dengbêj Gazin (Raziye Kızıl), born in Tatvan (Bitlis Province), never had the chance to learn to read and write in a school. Instead, she acquired a large repertoire of songs and collected cassette recordings from other dengbêjs of her region. She became one of the first female dengbêjs to release her own albums and she performed at numerous concerts. In 2018, however, this extraordinary artist died of a brain haemorrhage at the age of only 58.

Mediated by the anthropologist Marlene Schäfers, the family of Dengbêj Gazin donated their valuable cassette collection to the Orient-Institut Istanbul. The cassettes are currently being digitized to be made accessible for detailed research. The collection provides a unique overview of the repertoire of female Dengbêjs in eastern Anatolia.