All About Turkish Music

Turkish music, classical Turkish music, Ottoman music… Even though it is called by many names, it actually has only one sense: Turkish music has been expressing the spirituality and the most enthusiastic feelings of the Turkish people for centuries. It is among the most important elements of Turkish culture.

 Turkish music has a very rich structure. It has a very wide structure, especially with melodies and musical instruments coming from Central Asia, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian Peninsula. Having both musical instruments and melody diversity has further increased the influence of Turkish music.

 What Is Turkish Music?

Turkish music is the style of music developed by the Turks in Central Asia and whose features are evident in the period of Anatolian Seljuks and Ottomans. Like other music that dates back to ancient times, Turkish music had very few frets at first. Over time, the number of frets increased and it became possible for the melodic structure to develop. Turkish Music, which is influenced by different cultures in wide geography, is also rich in terms of unique instruments and the artists who play those instruments.

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3 Turkish Music Artists in World

Aşık Veysel

He is one of the most important folk poets of Turkish music history. Aşık Veysel, one of the last great representatives of the Anatolian ashik tradition in the 20th century, also worked as a baglama teacher at the Village Institutes for a while.

Erkan Oğur

Erkan Oğur is one of our most important musicians who have written his name in Turkish music in golden letters. Due to the need to use sounds in Eastern music, he made the fretless guitar as a gift to the music world. He has many successful albums works from past to present.

Mercan Dede

Mercan Dede is the world-famous Turkish ney performer, composer, producer, and DJ. He enriched Sufi music with ethnic instruments and artists and blended it with electronic music. He has achieved great success with his different style and has made many important albums.

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Turkish Music Instruments

Ney

Ney is a wind instrument that carries the traces of our past and can be regarded as an ancestral heritage belonging to us. It has become a symbol of Sufi music.

Qanun

Qanun is one of the most important members of the stringed instrument family. It is known as the instrument with the highest sound intensity among our plectrum instruments. According to some sources, it is said that qanun was invented by one of the great Turkish scholars Farabi.

Classical Kemenche

Classical kemenche is one of the string instruments used in classical Turkish music, played with a nail. The most interesting feature of the instrument is that it is played by touching the nails near the string.

Cümbüş

Cümbüş is an instrument in the stringed class among Turkish musical instruments. Thanks to its metal body and fretless handle, it not only has a unique tone of voice but also a wide range of sounds. It is played with a plectrum like other stringed instruments.

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