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 Turkish Music Turkish Music is a broad umbrella encompassing the courtly classical traditions of the Ottoman era, regional folk styles of Anatolia and Thrace, Sufi devotional practices, and modern popular forms that blend local aesthetics with global genres. |
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| Turkish Folk MusicTürk Halk Müziği is the traditional, orally transmitted music of Anatolia and Thrace, shaped by centuries of village life, nomadic routes, and urban courtly exchange. It marries local poetic forms with the modal (makam) vocabulary common across the Eastern Mediterranean, and favors distinctive "aksak" (limping) meters. Core instruments include bağlama - saz (and its family: cura, divan sazı), kaval and ney (end-blown flutes), zurna (shawm) with davul (bass drum), kaşık (spoons), darbuka, kabak kemane (spike fiddle), regional kemençe and|➔| |
ArabeskArabesk is a Turkish popular music style characterized by deeply emotive singing, melodramatic lyrics, and melodies grounded in the makam (modal) tradition. It blends elements of Turkish classical - urban art music, regional folk timbres (especially the bağlama-saz), and lush orchestral arrangements inspired by mid-20th-century Middle Eastern film music. Typical performances feature melisma, expressive vibrato, microtonal inflections, and frequent use of the Hijaz-Phrygian dominant flavor, often at slow-to-mid tempos with prominent strings and acoustic instruments. Lyrical themes revolve around|➔| |
Turkish ClassicalTurkish classical (Ottoman-Turkish art music) is a refined modal art tradition centered on the makam (scale-melodic behavior) system and cyclical rhythms called usul. It developed in the Ottoman court, Mevlevi lodges, and urban salons, using an intimate chamber instrumentation (ney, tanbur, ud, kemençe, kanun, keman) and highly ornamented vocal lines. Compositions follow characteristic forms such as peşrev and saz semaisi (instrumental), as well as vocal forms like beste, kar, semai, yürük semai, and the later şarkı. Improvisation (taksim) introduces|➔| |
| Anatolian RockAnatolian rock (also called Anadolu rock or Turkish psych) is a hybrid style that fuses Western rock idioms with Anatolian-Turkish folk traditions and the makam-based modal system. It emerged in the mid-to-late 1960s as Turkish musicians adapted beat, garage, and psychedelic rock to local melodies, scales, and rhythms. Typical instrumentation combines fuzzed electric guitars and bass with amplified bağlama (saz), Farfisa-Hammond organs, and a rock drum kit, often supplemented by traditional percussion. Songs frequently use "aksak" (limping) meters such|➔| |
Turkish PopTurkish pop is the mainstream popular music of Turkey, blending Western pop songcraft and production with Turkish melodic modes (makam), ornamentation, and rhythmic sensibilities. It typically features hook-driven choruses, polished vocals, and danceable beats, while weaving in timbres or phrases from traditional instruments (such as bağlama, kanun, darbuka) and characteristic micro-ornaments. From the 1960s "aranjman" era of Turkish-language covers of Western hits to the 1990s-2000s wave of glossy, Eurodance-tinged radio smashes, Turkish pop has acted as both a mirror|➔| |
KantoKanto is an Ottoman-Turkish urban stage song tradition that emerged in the late 19th century in Istanbul’s entertainment districts of Pera and Galata. It blends the modal vocabulary and melodic ornaments of Turkish classical (makam) and urban folk music with the showmanship, humor, and catchy refrains of Western music-hall, cabaret, and operetta. Typically performed by charismatic female stars (often of Armenian and Greek background) in tuluat (improvised) theatres, kanto features witty, sometimes risqué lyrics, lively dance rhythms (such as çiftetelli|➔| |
| Oyun HavasiOyun havası (literally "dance tune") is a broad Turkish term for lively, groove‑driven pieces played for social dancing at weddings and festive gatherings. It is most closely associated with clarinet‑led urban - Thracian (Rumeli) and Turkish Roma (Roman) ensembles, as well as rural zurna-davul bands. Typical meters include the asymmetrical 9/8 "aksak" (especially the karşılama groupings 2+2+2+3), alongside 2/4 or 4/4 çiftetelli and occasional 6/8. Melodies often follow the makam (modal) system, with ornamented, vocal‑like phrasing and exuberant percussion|➔| |
Uzun HavaUzun hava (literally "long air") is a free‑meter vocal style in Turkish folk music characterized by unmeasured phrasing, wide melodic ambitus, and intensely melismatic ornamentation. Unlike the rhythmic, dance‑oriented kırık hava ("broken air"), uzun hava is usûlsüz (without a fixed beat), allowing singers to stretch lines for expressive effect. The melodies are modal, drawing on Anatolian ayak/modal practice and, regionally, on makam sensibilities with microtonal inflections. Performances are often a cappella or lightly accompanied by bağlama family instruments (bağlama,|➔| |
FanteziFantezi (Fantazi müzik) is a polished, highly melodic strand of Turkish popular music that bridges the emotive vocalism and modal language of Turkish classical and arabesk with the form, arrangement, and production values of mainstream pop. Songs are typically slow- to mid‑tempo ballads in simple meters (often 4/4, sometimes 9/8), with lush string sections, clarinet or ney, and a rhythm section that blends darbuka-def with drum set and keyboards. Vocals are ornamented with melisma and phrasing rooted in makam practice|➔| |
| Ottoman Military MusicOttoman military music, commonly known as Mehter (Mehterhâne), is the ceremonial and battlefield music of the Ottoman Empire. It is one of the world's oldest institutionalized military band traditions, characterized by thunderous percussion, piercing shawms (zurnas), and unison, modal melodies in the Ottoman-Turkish makam system. The ensemble's core function was to project power, instill courage in troops, and intimidate opponents. Typical instrumentation includes large kettledrums (kös), bass drums (davul), small kettledrums (nakkare), cymbals (zil), natural trumpets (boru), and zurna.<br|➔| |
MaftirimMaftirim is a paraliturgical Jewish choral tradition that flourished among the Ottoman Empire's Sephardi communities, especially in Edirne, Istanbul, and İzmir. It sets Hebrew piyyutim (liturgical poems) to the modal and rhythmic language of Ottoman-Turkish classical music (makam and usul). Typically performed by male choirs of hazzanim (cantors) and lay singers, Maftirim pieces are sung a cappella in synagogue contexts (in keeping with Sabbath restrictions) and often feature a leader-chorus format, melismatic ornamentation, and heterophonic unison textures. Outside of|➔| |
Özgün MüzikÖzgün müzik is a Turkish singer‑songwriter and folk‑influenced popular style that emerged in the post‑1970s period, marked by socially conscious, often left‑leaning lyrics and accessible, melodic songwriting. It blends the bağlama (saz) and Turkish makams with Western pop-rock instrumentation to create emotive, message‑driven songs. Musically, it draws on Anatolian folk modes and asymmetric usul (rhythmic cycles) such as 5/8, 7/8, and 9/8, but arranges them within verse-chorus forms familiar to pop. Vocals are expressive and foregrounded; arrangements range from|➔| |
| Karadeniz FolkKaradeniz folk is the regional folk music of Turkey's eastern Black Sea (Karadeniz) coast, associated with Laz, Hemshin, Pontic Greek (Romeika-speaking), and Turkish communities. It is typified by the piercing, agile sound of the kemençe (Pontic lyra) and the droning tulum (Black Sea bagpipe), propulsive asymmetric dance meters (especially the horon in 7/16), and call-and-response vocals. Melodies often draw on Anatolian-Turkic and wider maqam-based modal practices, while lyrics evoke seafaring, mountain life, migration, tea and hazelnut harvests, and fervent|➔| |
Alevi Folk MusicAlevi folk music (Alevi - Bektaşi music) is the devotional and vernacular song tradition of the Alevi communities of Anatolia. It is centered on the bağlama (saz) and the sung poetry of the âşık-ozan lineage, conveying mystical, ethical, and communal teachings. Core forms include deyiş and nefes (didactic, mystical hymns), düvaz-ı imam (praise of the Twelve Imams), and semah (songs accompanying the ritual turning-dance). Melodies often draw on folk-modal practice related to the Turkish makam world, while rhythm favors|➔| |
Turkish MevleviTurkish Mevlevi music is the sacred repertoire of the Mevlevi (whirling dervish) Sufi order founded in the milieu of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī in Anatolia. It is a modal, monophonic, and highly ornamented tradition performed for the Sema ceremony, where music, poetry, and ritual movement converge to induce remembrance of the divine. The core large-scale form is the Ayîn-i Şerîf (Mevlevi ayin), a multi-movement work in a specific makam (mode) and usul (cycle), typically for voice and a chamber ensemble|➔| |
| ZeybekZeybek is a traditional musical-dance style from Western Anatolia (the Aegean region of Turkey) characterized by asymmetric aksak meters - most commonly 9/8 divided as 2+2+2+3 - and a proud, heroic bearing. It exists in two main tempo families: ağır zeybek (slow, weighty, processional) and kıvrak zeybek (lively, agile). The music typically features modal (makam-based) melodies ornamented with slides and grace notes, performed on instruments such as bağlama (saz), cura, zurna and davul in rural settings, and clarinet, oud,|➔| |
Karadeniz TürküsüTurkish Black Sea Region folk music (Karadeniz Türküsü) is the lively, dance‑centered folk tradition of Turkey's eastern and central Black Sea coast. Its hallmark sound features the high‑pitched, agile Karadeniz kemençe (a small bowed fiddle) and the droning tulum (Black Sea bagpipe), often driven by tight, breathless rhythms for the horon dance. Vocals tend toward bright, nasal timbres and quick melismatic turns, with texts in Turkish as well as local minority languages such as Lazuri and Hemşince. Melodically, tunes|➔| |
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| Oyun Havasi Oyun havası (literally "dance tune") is a broad Turkish term for lively, groove‑driven pieces played for social dancing at weddings and festive gatherings. |
Uzun Hava Uzun hava (literally "long air") is a free‑meter vocal style in Turkish folk music characterized by unmeasured phrasing, wide melodic ambitus, and intensely melismatic ornamentation. Unlike the rhythmic, dance‑oriented kırık hava ("broken air"), uzun hava is usûlsüz (without a fixed beat), allowing singers to stretch lines for expressive effect. |
Fantezi Fantezi (Fantazi müzik) is a polished, highly melodic strand of Turkish popular music that bridges the emotive vocalism and modal language of Turkish classical and arabesk with the form, arrangement, and production values of mainstream pop. Songs are typically slow- to mid‑tempo ballads in simple meters (often 4/4, sometimes 9/8), with lush string sections, clarinet or ney, and a rhythm section that blends darbuka-def with drum set and keyboards. Vocals are ornamented with melisma and phrasing rooted in makam practice |
| Karadeniz Folk Karadeniz folk is the regional folk music of Turkey's eastern Black Sea (Karadeniz) coast, associated with Laz, Hemshin, Pontic Greek (Romeika-speaking), and Turkish communities. |
Alevi Folk Music Alevi folk music (Alevi - Bektaşi music) is the devotional and vernacular song tradition of the Alevi communities of Anatolia. It is centered on the bağlama (saz) and the sung poetry of the âşık-ozan lineage, conveying mystical, ethical, and communal teachings. |
Turkish Mevlevi Turkish Mevlevi music is the sacred repertoire of the Mevlevi (whirling dervish) Sufi order founded in the milieu of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī in Anatolia. It is a modal, monophonic, and highly ornamented tradition performed for the Sema ceremony, where music, poetry, and ritual movement converge to induce remembrance of the divine. |
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