The dances differ according to the regions but are generally accompanied
with two instruments, the “davul” (drum) and “zurna"
(sort of oboe).
“The sabre
and shield dance” from
Bursa, illustrating the conquest of the town.
“Zeybek” from the Agean Region, is a slow viril dance,
where the dancers, a sword accross their wide belt, hit the
ground with their knee.
“The spoon dance” from Konya, where rythm is given by
beating two spoons the one against the other.
“Halay”, from central Anatolia, is a kind of round where
the leader waves a handkerchief.
“Bar”
from the eastern region, where women and men perform together.
“Horon” from the Black Sea Region, mimes the movement
of the anchovies taken in the nets and the undertow of the waves.
Spoon
dance from Konya
Young
folklore dancers
MUSIC
Classical
music : symphonic music and
traditional pieces were played in the Ottoman palaces.
Turkish artistic music (Türk Sanat Müzigi) : pieces
of the traditional repertoire played with traditional instruments
(ud, kemençe, ney, kanun) and sometimes modern instruments.
The charateristic of this style is the oriental way of singing
and playing: rythm is very slow and modulations are very high
with many tonalities.
Religious
music of the Mevlevi Dervishes
is performed with the “ney”, a long reed flute : soufism
considers music necessary to meet God.
Choir
and musicians accompanying the Sema ritual
at Galata Mevlevihanesi - Istanbul
Arabesque music: is a very special kind of music, greatly
appreciated among the people, with Arabic music and texts expressing
tragic love, drama, pride and revenge.
Pop music developed considerably after the 1990s and
includes very prominent singers like Sezen Aksu who has
an impressive repertoire. With Tarkan, Mustafa Sandal
and others Turkish Pop Music has become famous in Europe.
Turkey, the winner of the
2003 Eurovision Song Contest in Riga, was represented
by Pop diva Sertab Erener with the song "Everyway
that I Can".
Sertab
Erener is one of the country’s most popular female vocalists.
Her first album was released in 1992, followed by “Lâl”
in 1994 and “Sertab Gibi” in 1996. Her duet with opera
singer Jose Carreras demonstrated her versatility as
a singer of different genres of music, while her duet
with Ricky Martin called “Private Emotion” on the Turkish
and Middle Eastern versions of Martin's 99 English language
album moved her stardom up another notch.
Her 1994 recording
of “Lâl” was selected by Sony Music as one of the biggest
hits of the century and was included in the “Soundtrack
For A Century” collection. In April 1999 she released her
fourth album, “Sertab” and less than a year later, in February
2000, she released a European album. Sertab has given numerous
concerts, including some at major festivals. Her latest
album “Turuncu” was released in 2001. "Turuncu"
is the word for the colour orange, signifying happiness
and all things positive. Sertab Erener is currently recording
her next album, due for release this summer.
Travelling spectacle represents the oldest tradition
with showmen (hokkabaz), funambulists, conjuring tricks and
acrobatics. Those itinerant artists were very famous in the
16th and 17th centuries.
Folk teller: the “meddah”
is a secular tradition of the tellers based on the language,
gesture, imitiations, dialogues. They could be met in the cafes.
Puppet show:
the puppet (kukla) tradition already existed among the Seljuk
Turks. Until the 18th century, puppets were manipulated by hand
and threads, and were later replaced by European puppets. The
animated themes were comic, sometimes illustrated with love
stories. Later they revived the repertoire of the shadow-theatre
greatly appreciated.
The Karagöz
shadow-theatre: shadow-theatre was introduced in Turkey
in the 16th century by Egyptian artists and took root
in Istanbul. Ottoman sultans became the patrons of this
kind of theatre. The Karagöz’ figures were made of camel
skin thinned with glass, tanned and painted with shimmering
colours. They have jointed arms, waists and legs. They
form a collection of stereotyped characters among which
the rough Karagöz (Black Eye), the distinguished
Hacivat, a drunkard, a hashish smoker, the Jew,
the Armenian, the Arab. As many ethnies that populated
the old cosmopolite capital. The aim of the Karagöz was
to make people laugh, but it also had a great socio-political
value. At the end of the 19th century, the censure established
by Abdülhamit, the influence
of the European theatre, the lack of artists contributed
to the disappearing of this kind of theatre.
Hacivat
Karagöz
Ortaoyunu,
revealed in 1834, did exist before this date. It is performed
by actors but is very close to the shadow-theatre because of
its satyric character, its preference for mimicry and improvisation.
The ovoid stage, delimited by poles and wires, gave originality
to the spectacle. Themes had tendencies for every day life characters
and current events topics.
Contemporary
theatre: when the conservatory was founded in 1914, Turkish
women shyly started to play on stage. The People’s Houses
promoted the kemalist ideology with the help of cultural basis
taken in folklore and traditions. They also performed occidental
plays. Muhsin Ertugrul who was an actor, a producer and
a playwright, schooled many artists, brought European theatre
to be known, raising Turkish theatre to the same level. Nowadays,
theatre is very florishing in the country.
