Have you ever noticed how much Turks love to sing? When they socialize, they may start singing a tune they all know -- maybe even Kalamış?
Yok başka yerin lütfu ne yazdan ne de kıştan
(No other place has grace in either summer or in winter)
Bir tatlı huzur almaya geldik kalamış’tan, ah kalamış’tan
(We came to enjoy the sweet tranquility of kalamış)
Yok zerre teselli ne gülüşten ne bakıştan
(There’s no bit of consolation in either laughs or in looks)
Bir tatlı huzur almaya geldik kalamış’tan, ah kalamış’tan
(We came to Kalamış to relax…)
Music has always been a very important part of the life of Turks of all ages. You can see young kids dancing around and learning how to belly dance at an early age. The youth love Turkish pop and adults enjoy all their old favorite tunes. If we stop and think about it music has both a physiological and psychological effect on all of us.
Then, of course, there is the influence of Western rock or classical music. How many young Turks do you know who can sometimes sing in English more than they can speak? Using music to learn a foreign language is creative. When I first came to Turkey, I could sing more songs in Turkish than I could speak Turkish.
Music therapists insist that the use of music and its many therapeutic qualities can affect how we feel and develop. Music can relax us and reduce our stress. It inspires and helps us have a better self-esteem. Music can lighten the heart and be fun.
Someone once said, “Music is what feelings sound like.”
Turks and their ancestors, the steppe nomads, love music and festivals -- whether it is for religious or personal reasons such as weddings, everyone enjoys feasting, games and all-night line dancing to improvised chants. The Turkic nomads would include horseracing and wrestling, of course!
Turkish music has changed a lot over the years.
Turkish folk music bears the signs of local cultures and values. It has a lot of diversity, with regional characteristics contributing significantly. There are six main regions: İstanbul and Thrace, the Black Sea, the Aegean, Central Anatolia, eastern Anatolia and the Southeast. If you have had a chance to travel around Turkey, you will have noticed some of the regional variations. Melodies differ in style and can be either sad or joyful.
Classical Turkish music or Turkish artistic music was popular in the Ottoman era and is still loved today by many. It is a synthesis of rich sounds and themes dealing with love, religion and war. It tends to be heavy and serious.
If you have a chance to go to a concert of classical Turkish music, you’ll see a Turkish kanun (zither) player sitting with the kanun set flat on his knees, playing it with small ivory plectra placed on the index fingers of both hands. The instrument is a narrow wooden box which consists of 24, 25 or 26 sets of strings of two or three strings each (generally giving a total of 75). The strings are tuned flat.
Mehter (Janissary) music is an indication of grandeur, splendor and magnificence in Turkish tradition; it is not a means of gaiety. The booms of drums are meant to carry across the concepts of the unity of people and the loftiness of the state.
Nomadic Turkish tribes also used to beat drums. The ceremony of beating a large drum placed in front of the tent of the Khan, who was the head of the state, at certain times of the day was a demonstration of his power.
Contemporary young Turks go more for Turkish pop musicians such as Kenan Doğulu, Sezen Aksu, Şebnem Ferah, Candan Erçetin, Mustafa Sandal and Tarkan.
Concerts and music festivals are becoming more popular in Turkey. Appreciation for Western classical music is growing. Trained in Germany and now an internationally famous Turkish composer and pianist, Burçin Büke desires to see the trend in music appreciation drastically improved in his homeland. Büke has also carved out a niche for himself in the Turkish music market with his recently released album “W.A. Mozart for Babies.”
If you have visited Turkey you know it is a land of contrasts, a heady mixture of oriental mystery and romance and ultramodern city life, deep-rooted religious faith and determined secularism. Turkish culture is a distinctive blend of European and Middle Eastern ways of life.
Enjoy some of your favorite music today! Music is very special and full of magic.
