CIM09 26-29 octobre 2009

168 CIM09
Changing Bagl ama Performance
in Urban Culture of Turkey
Erdem Simsek, Ozan Anlas
Centre for Advanced Studies in Music - Istanbul Technical University (Turkey)
Folk music of Anatolia has undergone a change in the perspective of performance, after the affects of the
establishment of republic, westernization, modernization, urbanization and globalization. This change can
be observed mainly in the case of ba!lama perfomance. Ba!lama is the long-necked Anatolian lute that is
widely being used throughout Anatolia, and at least has about 4000 years old history. Nowadays, in urban
life, both the ba!lama itself, as an instrument, and the playing techniques have become different than the
previous rural ones.

In our presentation we will try to look this topic from two different, but related viewpoints. First of all,
we will analyze the subject from the performance practice perspectives of ethnomusicology discipline.
Secondly, the social backgrounds of this change will be debated both from the ethnomusicological and
sociological perspectives. Moreover, as a method of presentation, different ba!lama playing styles and
techniques will be performed and analyzed lively.

After the establishment of the Turkish Radio, an ensemble performing songs from different regions of the
country was established in 1940. At the radio, the folk lute formed the core of the newly-formed
instrumental ensembles where they functioned somewhat like the violin in a western orchestra. Ba!lama
was chosen as the core instrument due to the fact that it was the oldest instrument of Anatolia and widely
being used throughout Anatolia. Yet another political reason, of course, was the effort for excluding
Ottoman Music. Because of the transformation of the solo instrument ba!lama into an ensemble
instrument the performance practice of ba!lama started to change. Ba!lama started to be used to play all of
the regionss songs, despite the fact that it was not used in some of the musical traditions. So, it is obvious
that some inventions and adaptations were begin to seen in ba!lama performance.

In Anatolia there are various kinds of ba!lamas in different sizes which also have distinct names like cura,
tanbura, ba!lama, !r, divan saz, bozuk, rzva, ruzba and bulgari (Picken 1975; Gazimihal, 1975). Picken
(1975) classifies ba!lama under chordophones, as a necked lute plucked with fingers or a plectrum and
having a carved resonator (oyma saz) or a carvel-built box (yaprak) resonator. Ba!lama has also undergone
an observable structural and constructional change in the period of urbanization. So, the timbre of the
ba!lama also changes.

In mid-1960s, the arabesk music appeared in a period that the music industry was just crawling and
supplying a creative expression way as an alternative to the governments media (zbek, 1998:171). In
those years, ba!lama was used in a different style by Orhan Gencebay, who is the most important arabesk
music performer. This style started to become widespread with the style indicators like a dynamic and fast
performance, intense embellishments, Arabic and Egyptian-like ornamentations and vibratos.
After 1980s, the neck of the ba!lama has been shortened and a new kind of ba!lama called short-necked
ba!lama started to be used widely due to the influences of Arif Sa!, an important virtuoso of ba!lama who
gave the first ba!lama recital in 1982. Ba!lama dzeni, a traditional tuning (La-Sol-Re), started to be used
predominantly in urban, after the late 1980s.

In 1990s playing ba!lama without plectrum became an alternative way of performance as well. In fact,
playing ba!lama without plectrum was not a new style. There are lots of traditions still going on playing
ba!lama with hand techniques. Nowadays, in urban culture, new generation ba!lama players are also
affected by different cultures musical instruments like guitar, tar, sitar and so on. Some performers add a
fourth string on ba!lama. Some performers add a fourth string on ba!lama. Moreover, following Erkan
O!urs studies, arpeggio techniques are adapted to ba!lama and also fretless ba!lama started to be used.

To conclude, ba!lama performance has undergone a change after republic period because of the
modernization and westernization processes, and this change has continued in various ways in following
years because of urbanization. Besides, more hybrid styles are started to be formed. Moreover, new styles
and new performance techniques are being invented. However, nowadays it is very easy to listen, watch and
learn from different performers and performance continues to change in urban culture because of some
26-29 octobre 2009 CIM09


CIM09 169
social changes and lots of hybrid styles will probably form due to the interactions of different cultures, in
the following years.

In sociological view, Ozan Anla! will discuss about the transformation process of urban culture and music
in the sense of social change and identity. This process will include the period from the establishment of
Republic of Turkey (1923) to recent times. Standardization of folk music in early-republican period, rural to
urban migration wave in 1960s and hybridization of Turkish music, social profile of new urban people will
also be debated.

Erdem "im!ek as a ba!lama performer and an ethnomusicologist will try to indicate the ba!lama
performance styles in the rural and urban in the same periods; by performing ba!lama and using recordings.
The ba!lama techniques in and the wide range of performance styles from the Ottomans to present will be
demonstrated with baglama in the direction of urbanization process of Turkey. In addition, the historical
overview of Turkish folk music and ba!lama performance will be presented by Erdem "im!ek.

There are plenty of studies about the Turkish folk music and its main instrument ba!lama, especially in
Turkey. However, the question how Turkish folk music experienced the change in the urbanization process
was not widely debated in the light of sociology, performance practice and ethnomusicology. Thus, our
project aims to investigate the effects of social change process in Turkish Republic in the sense of folk
music and we will use ba!lama as the key structure to observe the change. To some up, the relationship
between the social change and musical change of Turkey will be tried to be debated and determined in the
case of ba!lama performance practice.
REFERENCES
[1] Altnay, F.Reyhan. 2004. Cumhuriyet Dneminde Trk Halk Mzi!i. #zmir: Meta Basm.
[2] Gazimihal, Mahmut Ragp. 1975. lkelerde Kopuz ve Tezeneli Sazlarmz. Ankara: Kltr Bakanl$ Milli Folklor
Ara!trmas Dairesi Yaynlar.
[3] Gkalp, Ziya. 1972. Trkl!n Esaslar, #stanbul: Ba!bk. Kl. Mst. Kl. Yay.
[4] Markoff, Irene Judyth. 1986. Musical Theory, Performance and Contemporary Ba$lama Specialist in Turkey.
Unpublished Ph.D dissertation. University of Washington (pages:
[5] zbek, Meral. 1998. Arabesk Kltr. 168-188. In Sibel Bozdo$an and Re!at Kasaba eds. Trkiyede
Modernle"me ve Mzikal Kimlik. #stanbul: Tarih Vakf Yurt Yaynlar.
[6] ztrk, Okan Murat. 2008. Onyediden Yirmidrte: Ba!lama Ailesi alglar ve Geleneksel Perde Sistemi.
Unpublished article.
[7] Parlak, Erol 2001. #elpe Tekni!i Metodu 1. p.13.#sanbul: Ekin Yaynlar.
[8] Parlak, Erol. 2000. Trkiyede El ile ("elpe) Ba!lama Gelene!i Ve al" Teknikleri. Ankara: T.C. Kltr Bakanl$.
[9] Picken, Laurence. 1975. Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey. London: Oxford University Press.
BIOGRAPHIES
Erdem Simsek
Born in 1984, Ankara, Turkey.
He was graduated from the geological engineering department of Middle East Technical University. Simsek, who plays
ba$lama since he was seven, is one of the important young ba$lama performers. He plays with his Bengi Ba$lama Trio
and Lal Ba$lama Trio; and also plays in TRTs weekly TV music programs. He performed in many albums as well.
He completed his masters degree in ethnomusicology in Istanbul Technical University. Now, he continues his
education in musicology and music theory doctorate program in ITU.
sazende_simsek@yahoo.com
Ozan Anlas
Born in 1982, Bursa, Turkey.
He was graduated from sociology in Bilgi University, Istanbul
He takes stage since he was nine as a performer-singer. Still studies in ethnomusicology for master degree in Istanbul
Technical University and his interested areas are popular music studies, social change, identity, etc...
ozanlas@gmail.com