Jazz Music

Cengizhan evirme
Music-Capital Relations:
Akbank Jazz Festivals and the Jazz Music in Turkey
Jazz music reflecting a psychology influenced by sociological events, claiming rights and
showing resistance against the oppression and persecution continues to make humanity feel
the value of democracy, freedom and equality in the 21st century. With these universal
meanings, the jazz has become widespread and an influential music around the world. The
spread of the jazz music around the globe has also revealed its richness of being improvable
and expressible with different thoughts and feelings.
Jazz music is a genre of music that emerged the in the southern states of United States of
America at the beginning of the 1900s. The spread of this music around the world started with
the release of the Dixieland Jazz Bands records in 1917. One of the important features of jazz
music is that it is in communication with many musical genres and traditions. Jazz music is
divided into many sub-genres in the 20th century until its spread from the United States to the
world. For example, sub-genres such as New Orleans, swing, kansas, gypsy jazz, bebop, cool,
avant-garde, free jazz, latin jazz, soul, fusion, jazz-rock, smooth jazz, jazz funk, ethno jazz,
acid jazz emerged.1
Jazz is originated from the ancient African religious ceremonies, blues, ragtime, western
traditions and European military bands. In fact, jazz means energetic, spiritual and vibrating.
In the early 19th century, the jazz music begins to show itself and creates its own styles. These
formations, then, affect the music trends of that period. Jazz music was affected by the blues
at most during the early years. However, blues is the folk music of African slaves in the
United States. Therefore, many jazz musicians argue that this music is introduced by the
South Africans. Even though the jazz music developed in New Orleans in the 1880s, took its
final shape in recordings made in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles in the early 1920s. The
musical instruments in the army bands, such as wind instruments, woodwind instruments and
percussion instruments, have been the most important instruments for jazz music. This music
reached the masses thanks to the renderings of black musicians who were usually roving
rankers playing at funerals.2
Specially trained musicians were trained in the schools in the period after the First World War
and the works produced by these trained musicians ensured their longevity. Thus, the free
tonalities of jazz music, namely its improvised music began to flourish. New Orleans style is
considered as the first style of jazz music. However, Ragtime existed before this style
occurred. Ragtime emerged in the city of Sedalina in the State of Missouri where Scott Joplin
lived. Joplin was born in Texas in 1868, and he was one of the leading pianists and ragtime
composers of that period. The most important things known about Rag are that it has a style
mostly based on composer, it was played with the piano during its early period, and, since the
composing technique is being implemented, there is no improvisation as in jazz music. In
addition, it has a tempo which it tries to keep up with. For this reason, it became inevitable to
be incorporated into the jazz music. Moreover, the musicians not only rendered the rags but
also used the themes within improvisations in jazz music.3
1
Jazz Article (in Turkish), Wikipedia, Accessed December 27, 2015 at https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caz.
Jazz Article (in Turkish), Wikipedia.
3
Joachim E. Berendt, The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond (Caz Kitab: Ragtimedan Fusion ve
Sonrasna) (Istanbul: Ayrinti Publications, 2010), 22.
2
Jazz music contains very rich variety of genres within itself. If we mention them briefly;
ragtime is mostly the songs that blacks sing in their ceremonies, while blues, which is the
most important element that brought jazz music into being, is the folk songs of the black
slaves in the US which they sang while working in the fields. 4 However, white musicians
could play jazz music only when there is a partition in front of them and they were inspired by
what they heard before, while improvising. Yet black musicians can blow the sounds that they
never heard before with their instruments. Improvising, creating new melodies and sounds
came from the depths of their own since the content of this music is their spirit and the sounds
of their souls. It is the attempt to expose the depth of their own through improvisation.5
The meters in the structure of jazz music are four-time meters. Stimulating the desire of the
audience to dance of its tempo by impressing them through emphasizing on the second and
fourth beats in a four-time meter is again one of the most important features of this music. The
human voice in the foreground in jazz and the works being played by improvising makes the
jazz music different.6
Before entering the development of jazz music in Turkey, it is useful to share the statement of
famous jazz musician Wayne Shorter in which he emphasized the universality of jazz. Shorter
states:
It seems to me that here you can get together and talk about it when
differences occur, when different opinions arise. What jazz does is
something like that, and the prerequisite for establishing this dialogue is to
be within the framework of a certain respect. Respect is to listen, to
understand each other and to understand what really is important, to take
differences and use them as an instrument. These differences should be
used as instruments to produce something new.7
The musician Bozkurt lham Gencer states that there was almost no club in Istanbul after the
establishment of the republic in Turkey. Gencer tells that there was Park Hotel and Taksim
night-club. But, there were bars in Beyolu. The part of the society that used to go to these
bars could not go the bars without wearing a tie and suit, and the women cannot be there
without a hat. Therefore, the societys rich segments and elites showed much interest to them.
Cneyt Sermet, who is a musicians and a music critic, says that the Armenians and the Jews
have a large contribution for the basis of artistic life and the pioneers of art in Turkey in the
art of music as in theater. Another musician Emin Fndkolu also shares this opinion, because
the Armenians were coming from the western polyphonic music. They were using music
based on three-voice classical harmony for their church music. Because of the period, the
polyphony sounded very distant to the Turks except for the non-Muslims.
In the light
of this information, the idea that the jazz music in Turkey was established by the Armenians
and the Jews also gains strength.8
According to Orhan Tekeliolu who is a sociologist and a music researcher, the places used to
make music at those times were the community houses. In fact, the community houses had a
4

Jacques Attali, Noise: The Political Economy of Music (Grltden Mzie: Mziin Ekonomik Politii
zerine) (Istanbul: Ayrinti Publications, 2014), 146-147.
6
7
Jazz in Turkey Documentary, Director: Batu Akyol, Loyka Productions, 2013.
8
5
very important function for the development of western music in Turkey. Hlya Tunca, a
jazz researcher, states that the Armenians brought jazz to Turkey and adds that these
Armenian were mostly businessmen and artisans. Tunca tells that for example Leon Avigdor
goes to Paris for a job interview and he hears the jazz music there for the first time in the
1920s. Afterwards, he begins to learn alto saxophone there. When he returned to Istanbul, he
gathers his other friends interested in music and establishes an orchestra. Tunca also
mentions another man bringing jazz music to Turkey. She tells that an Afro-American
business manager named Tomas living in Czarist Russia comes to Turkey during the invasion
and first opens a dancing club in ili district. Then, he establishes an orchestra Seven Palm
Beach only composed of Afro-Americans in Maksim nightclub in Taksim. The oldest records
of jazz in Turkey belong to this group.9
The jazz music in Turkey first began with the orchestras. While the jazz music groups were
being established, especially the wind instruments were provided from the military bands. At
first, the jazz music groups evolved over time by expanding their orchestras as sextet and
octets. At that time, jazz vocal performers become prominent; for example Sevin-Sevim
sisters and then Ayten Alpman have given life to jazz music with their voices.10
Five years after the September 6-7 events during which racist attacks targeted non-Muslims,
certain places inhabited by the Greeks and Armenians in Istanbul were still in ruins and many
good musicians have already left the country. And those who stayed were performing other
types of music. Nevertheless, there were lots of Greek and Armenian composers and
performers in the country. The best musicians performing jazz music were mostly from the
minority groups settled in Turkey since the times of the Ottomans. For example Hrant
Lusigyan was a great musician. And in 1956 the first jazz club named 306 was opened at
Hasan Kocamazs place in Bebek Street, Saryer. Saryer was selected particularly, because
the Robert College was not far away. At that time, customers of the jazz club were mostly
from the American students and tourists.11
Jazz music has also been important in terms of the spread of the American culture in Turkey.
Musical interaction between the United States and Turkey was like a bridge that has united the
cultural differences as well as, if existed, similarities between the two peoples. However, the
US could have also aimed to use jazz music in order to spread the American values around the
World and shape the opinions of other peoples about these values positively. During the Cold
War years especially in 1950s and 1960s, jazz music had been used as a tool for political
warfare since the US has been in cultural rivalry with the Soviet Union. The Russians had the
Bolshoi Ballet, David Oistrakh, the renowned violinist, and Emil Gilels, one of the greatest
pianists of the 20th century.
For the Americans, the major cultural tool to be used as a weapon against the Soviets was the
jazz music. One of the major cultural elements advocated by the Cultural Presentations
Program (CPP), an American cultural propaganda agency established in 1950s was the jazz
music.12 The US even aimed at increasing the popularity of jazz music behind the Iron Curtain
in a way to spread the American popular culture. The Americans had launched radio shows
broadcast in the Voice of America to promote jazz music and as a result the popularity of the
9

11
12
Lisa E. Davenport, Jazz Diplomacy: Promoting America in the Cold War Era (Mississippi: University Press of
Mississippi, 2009), 39.
10
jazz grew inside the Soviet Union despite the Communist Partys efforts against it. 13 Thus the
US during the Cold War had considerable efforts to spread jazz music even inside the Soviet
Union let alone within the friendly and allied countries like Turkey.
The capitalist transformation in Turkey in fact started after gaining the NATO membership in
the early 1950s. Turkey joining NATO entered in a close alliance with the west and
subsequently the western capital, in a way, the global capital began to reach Turkey. In this
process the Hilton Hotel emerged as a place for promoting jazz music. In 1955, the Hilton
Hotel was opened as a great hotel in Istanbul where until that time there were mainly lowprofile state-run hotels. During the opening ceremony of the Hilton Hotel jazz music was
played and since then the Turkish people started to associate good quality music with jazz
music. The reputation of the Hilton Hotel contributed to the initial perception of jazz music in
Turkey and the Turkish people liked this Western superior music in accordance with
westernization mood of the time.14
Since jazz music is not like arrangement music, the musicians performing this music and the
audience listening to it, in time, turn into a small group of elites disengaged from the society.
This process towards elitism expands the gap between jazz music and society, and the
tendency among people to learn and listen jazz is weakened. In the early 1960s, arrangement
music has progressively been prevalent in Turkey. While jazz music was getting increasingly
elitist and to some extent marginal for the general people in this period, arrangement music
filling the gap started to be a trend.15
Regarding the development of the jazz music in Turkey, Murat Beer indicates the stark
differences between the rise of the original jazz in America and the way it has spread in
Turkey. Beer argues that the jazz music started to spread in Turkey with wrong dynamics
which have nothing to do with the original meaning it had when it first emerged among the
black community in the US. He says the jazz music, in the beginning, was the music
performed and adopted by the black slaves and field-workers as way of expressing their
suffering. However, in Turkey jazz music developed in a very different environment and
instead of working class or disadvantaged groups, the Turkish elites and bourgeoisie adopted
it as entertainment music. Beer states that jazz music entered Turkey as an extension of the
American imperialism and the US authorities have supported the certain cultural associations
and important performers visits to Turkey in order to promote the jazz among the Turks.16
During the development of jazz music in Turkey, there had been initiatives to create Turkish
jazz and to this end some Turkish musical tones and instruments were blended with jazz
music. The notable musician Terence Blanchard, pointing out to the common aspects of the
Turkish music and jazz music, argues that both the Turkish music and the jazz make
improvisation and although their practices to improvise are different, the concept is same.
Blanchard maintains that the passion and impetus behind both the Turkish music and jazz
music are similar to each other. Turkish Musician Oktay Temiz also mentions about the
interaction between the Turkish music and jazz music. Temiz states that when jazz musicians
get bored with always repeating their own pieces and looked for different tones, they were
attracted by the Turkish musical tones. Especially the Turkish rhythms 5/8, 7/8, 9/8 were
regarded very different and thus usually preferred by them. They called this new emerging
13
Davenport, Jazz Diplomacy.., 33.

15
16
14
type of jazz as oriental jazz in which the Turkish instruments were used and they enjoyed
performing and listening to these pieces.17
Akbank Jazz Festivals
The sponsor of the first jazz festival that took place in 1991 was Akbank, therefore it was
named Akbank Jazz Festival. The festival started with 8 concerts performed by Ahmed
Abdullah & The Solomonic Sextet, Max Roach Quartet, Airto Moreira & Flora Puim Quartet,
Art Ensemble of Chicago and Senem Diyici Sextet.18
Later the organization became widely known in the international arena, promoting jazz artists
and coming-up young musicians. In a span of 20 years, 463 concert performances have been
organized, and a total of 1405 jazz artists and musicians from 402 bands have been hosted at
the festival. Akbank Jazz Festival has also provided an opportunity through these
performances for various subgenres of modern jazz to gain recognition. Each year, the
festival stages over 50 concerts, as well as incorporating various activities like panel
discussions, workshops, film screening sessions, and social responsibility projects into its
programme.19
Having celebrated the 20th year of Akbank Jazz Festival in 2010, the sponsor bank crowned
the festival projects carried out in 20 years with a special retrospective documentary, book and
compilation album. In 2011, 20. Akbank Jazz Festival proved to be a success, being rewarded
Corporate Social Responsibility - Culture and Arts award at Altn Pusula (Golden Compass)
Public Relations prize-giving ceremony hosted by Turkish Public Relations Association
(THD). Thanks to its different and innovative structure, Akbank Jazz Festival has reached
numerous cities other than Istanbul with the motto Jazz on Campus every year. This festival
is extremely important in terms of introducing jazz music to large audiences. Besides, the
festival has carried out projects aimed at acquainting the youth with jazz music. One of them
is JamZZ Young Talents Competition, which shows the impact of jazz music on socialization
by providing an opportunity for young musicians to get on stage with professional jazz
artists.20
Completing its 25th year in 2016, Akbank Jazz Festival has become a meeting point for
diverse music genres from 1990s to present through festival organizations. The festival has
come to be a crucial haven of sounds for different subgenres of jazz in Istanbul starting from
the first event to our day. Akbank Jazz Festival assumes a function not only as a festival but
also as a school for jazz enthusiasts of all ages. Hosting thousands of artists and reaching large
audiences for the last 25 years, Akbank Jazz Festival has invited people from all walks of life
to the Jazz State of the City and now it reinterprets this motto as Good State of the City
with the introduction of a new social responsibility project.21
17

Akbank Jazz Festival (in Turkish), Wikipedia, Accessed December 28, 2015,
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akbank_Caz_Festivali.
19
Akbank Jazz Festival (in Turkish), Wikipedia.
20
Akbank Jazz Festival (in Turkish), Wikipedia.
21
Akbank Caz Festivali 25 Yldr Trkiyeye Ses Veriyor, Akbank, Accessed December 28, 2015,
http://www.akbanksanat.com/caz-festivali/hakkinda.
18
In addition, this year Jazz on Campus activities will be organized in the universities of 8 cities
between 3 and 14 November 2016. Young people will have a chance to get to know jazz
music and instruments in the workshops organized in high schools.22
Chief Editor and Advertising Director of Jazz Magazine published in Turkey, Zuhal Focan
claims that a sector for jazz music has not developed in Turkey; that jazz music can be made
through one-to-one education, therefore college programs are necessary. Concerning this
issue, Focan expresses that there used to be a jazz performance program at Bilgi University,
which has been closed for 5 years, and that a jazz performance program has been opened at
Baheehir University yet it is a graduate program. In this respect, Focan explains that the
state of jazz music in Turkey is underwhelming, and yet that the genre has a small but
effective community including audiences and musicians. 23 Akbank Sanat Press & PR Manager
Bora eki states that jazz music attracts larger audiences compared to previous years, and
this audience has been growing thanks to jazz festivals organized in Turkey. eki points to
the fact that Akbank Jazz Festival, organized for the last 25 years, has been increasing the
number of jazz listeners.24
Thinking that jazz festivals have a positive impact on the development of jazz music in
Turkey, Bora eki also asserts that these festivals excite people. Thanks to these festivals,
especially guest bands and musicians find the opportunity to promote themselves, as the
media give extensive coverage to jazz artists and jazz music during these periods. eki
purports that this situation arouses curiosity in people. Even if curiosity is not the case, he
suggests that people who are always looking for activities around them also attend the
festival.25 Here on this matter, Zuhal Focan states that there are a few important festivals
organized in Turkey and these are the festivals sponsored by Garanti Bank and Akbank under
the name of Istanbul Jazz Festival in addition to Ankara Jazz Festival ve Izmir Jazz Festival.
Focan mentions Afyon Jazz Festival, and Alanya and Antalya Jazz Festivals, which are
sponsored by small municipalities; however states that these are small-scale festivals in their
own right and not to be taken as large organizations like the jazz festivals in Istanbul.26
When it comes to whether jazz festivals in Turkey increase the number of jazz listeners, eki
claims that young generations willing to improve themselves show a keen interest in the
festivals, and that also people who like to explore new things have an impact on the growing
audiences of especially the favourite bands at the festival. 27 Focan says that the musicians
invited to jazz festivals in Turkey are selected by respective consultation committees, and
Istanbul Jazz Festivals usually invite more popular musicians. Focan also adds that Akbanksponsored festivals select the musicians in consultation with Positif Music.28
When asked whether jazz music all over the world is promoted through festivals just like in
Turkey, Focan comments that except Europe, no country in the world promotes jazz music,
including United States and Turkey. Focan explains that in Europe, jazz music is specially
22
25. Akbank Caz Festivali 21 Ekimde Balyor, Jazz Magazine, Year: 20 No: 80, (October-NovemberDecember 2015): 28.
23
Interview with Zuhal Focan, Advertisement and Publication Manager of Jazz Magazine, at Nardis Club in
Taksim/Istanbul, December 16, 2014.
24
Interview with Bora eki, Akbank Sanats Press & PR Manager, at Akbank Sanat in Taksim/Istanbul,
December 25, 2015.
25
Interview with Bora eki, Akbank Sanats Press & PR Manager.
26
Interview with Zuhal Focan, Advertisement and Publication Manager of Jazz Magazine.
27
28
Interview with Zuhal Focan, Advertisement and Publication Manager of the Jazz Magazine.
endorsed by governments, and in addition to a great deal of economic support, tax support is
provided, and alcoholic beverage companies offer sizeable sponsorships. The situation in
Turkey is exactly the opposite, says Focan, stating that there has never been government
support, and through censorships and bans on alcohol consumption, the state is even making it
difficult to sign up for sponsorship.29 On the other hand, eki comments that organizations
that support culture and arts particularly invest in young talents, and that jazz music is
endorsed not only by way of festivals but also through the support provided in the field of
education.30
Regarding the topic of sponsorship to jazz music, eki asserts that Akbank Sanat offers
sponsorship for the sake of leading jazz music to earn recognition in Turkey. Besides, eki
expresses that Akbank Sanat also aims to support young talents, as well as promote jazz music
and establish an audience in the Anatolia region. As part of these projects, he says, bands have
visited many cities in Anatolia, and have received extremely positive impressions and
reactions. eki states that one of the projects undertaken by Akbank as the sponsor is
organizing jazz workshops in high schools, which includes taking jazz musicians to various
high schools for both performances and introducing jazz instruments, creating a field of
interest for high school students and orienting them towards music. 31 Here Focan claims that
sponsor companies create the concepts, for instance introducing the argument that jazz is an
urban music genre. She explains that sponsors such as Garanti and Akbank are engaged in
these organizations as they aim to reach their audiences in the first place.32
In response to the question as to why Akbank assumes sponsorship for a jazz festival, Bora
eki says that this is not for material purposes, and the idea behind the sponsorship is to earn
prestige on behalf of the bank. eki remarks that one of Akbank Sanats most important
principles is to ensure permanence and maintain a certain quality in any project.33
Considering the messages conveyed to the audiences through Akbank Jazz Festival
commercials, eki states that the motto of the festival is Jazz State of the City, which
expresses the idea to adapt the sounds of the city to jazz music. eki explains, however, that
this changes from year to year; for example, this year social responsibility projects have been
selected rather than the city. According to eki, the other purpose behind the commercial is
providing information, as well as giving importance to aesthetic concerns, rendering jazz
more attractive and highlighting the mesmerizing aspect of jazz music. 34 On this matter, Focan
expresses that the latest Akbank Jazz Festival commercial was shot at Nardis Jazz Club, and
that the festival aims to convey a message to its own audience based on the music of the city
concept. Focan also states that sponsorship to jazz festivals depends on the person leading the
company, that if the general manager is fond of jazz music then the company becomes a
sponsor, and therefore one cannot speak of an official sponsorship here. Chief Editor of Jazz
Magazine for 21 years, Focan points to the fact that the magazine was initially sponsored by
OYAK, and yet after a change in management in 1998, the same company became a sponsor
to brahim Tatlses.35
29
31
32
33
34
35
30
When asked about how the level of interest would have been if there had been no jazz
festivals sponsored by large corporations in Turkey, Focan responds by saying that festivals
have more of a socializing purpose, and jazz is a passion. Thus, listeners of jazz are in a
totally different direction. This is because listeners of jazz do not have to go to clubs or
festivals in order to listen to this music; they may as well indulge in their musical tastes
listening to their own archives at their homes.36 eki, on the other hand, firmly suggests that
festivals definitely contribute to the level of interest in jazz music, and yet it is very hard to
ascertain this contribution. According to eki, the fact that so many world-renowned
musicians and artists come to Turkey for jazz festivals contributes to this growing interest.37
On the question as to which income group jazz audiences in Turkey are substantially from,
Focan comments that people who love jazz in Turkey acquire a listening culture not according
to their income but their education. A well-educated ear is a must for being a jazz listener.
Focan claims concert tickets are expensive because the audience is limited, and that is the
reason why jazz music is mostly heard in small venues and clubs. 38 eki, nevertheless, states
that generally young people and university students are interested in Akbank Jazz Festival.
According to eki, people from all layers of society are interested in jazz, thus one can see
that jazz is not an elitist genre of music by looking at the festival audiences.39
When asked on what level jazz festivals affect sales of jazz albums, Focan says that jazz
festivals have no impact on the sales of jazz albums, and that no one necessarily buys the
album of an artist that he/she has listened to at a festival or in a club. 40 eki explains that
they have made a special CD and vinyl for the special occasion of 25. Akbank Jazz Festival,
which has attracted a great deal of interest, and yet agrees with Focan that festivals do not
have any impact on album sales. 41
On the economic return of jazz festivals in Turkey for jazz artists, eki addresses the
spiritual gains rather than material, even though they are not significant, and expresses that
performing at festivals gives a sense of satisfaction to musicians. eki states that their
extensive communication network and media promotions of all festival artists even including
the billboards in subway stations are important in terms of enabling the artists to reach the
masses.42
Responding to the question as to why the recording companies which release jazz records
have an interest for jazz music, Zuhal Focan comments that there are almost no company that
show interest in jazz music apart from A.K Mzik, Kalan Mzik, Sony, Equinox Mzik, DMC
and LINN; and these firms do not make money from sales, it is rather a matter of prestige for
them. Focan says that jazz artists themselves pay for recording, studio and other expenses, and
that it is the only way records are published nowadays, adding that distributors make more
money in this process than the recording companies releasing these albums.43
36
38
39
40
41
42
43
37
Reflections on the Jazz Music in Turkey

One of the major reasons leading to the lack of audience and the lack of popularity of the jazz
music in Turkey is its incompatibility with the capitalism of the music industry. The factors
behind the Turkish peoples lack of interest in jazz music are not limited to Turkeys cultural
gap with the societies in which the jazz originated. The capitalist behavior of the record
companies which tend to decide which albums to publish according to the potential market
value of the recording should also be taken into consideration. The Turkish record companies,
like other record companies around the world, have a profit-oriented perspective and usually
do not pay attention to the jazz albums since these albums are not expected to be among the
best-sellers. Thus, from the record companies capitalist point of view, it is not profitable to
publish jazz albums in Turkey. For this reason, many jazz musicians pay to the record
companies to publish their albums and these albums reach to market and the audience remain
quite limited. A few exceptional record companies which, despite there is no expectation to
profit, publish jazz albums aim at gaining only prestige. Therefore, the dominant profitoriented perspective in music industry makes the record companies interested only in certain
genres consumed easily and promising high profits. In Turkey, the jazz music is preferred
only by a small group of people with educated ears and does not attract the record companies.
Due to the indifference of the record companies to jazz albums, jazz musicians have much
less advertisements and a low publicity compared with the other popular musicians and thus
cannot reach potential jazz listeners in Turkey. As a result, the jazz audience does not increase
and remains in general an unpopular genre. This is how the market-oriented behavior of
record companies has affected negatively the development of the jazz music in Turkey. The
festivals organized to promote jazz music in Turkey also show the negative effects of the
music-capital relations. In jazz festivals, the sponsors, when it comes to pay to the jazz
musicians, mention about moral yield instead of material yield making musicians
performance worthless. During the festivals despite their extraordinary performances, the jazz
musicians cannot earn the value of their labor and sponsors attempt to explain the lack of
payment to the musicians out of the discourses like satisfaction of passions.
Since the 21th centurys capitalist relations of production are intact in Turkey, the perspectives
using cultural and commercial arguments are useful to explain the reasons why the jazz
musicians are not in the place they deserve in Turkish music market. In this respect, Theodore
Adornos cultural industry approach based on the argument that art cannot be independent
of industry and commerce could be a useful perspective. Adorno states that formation of
culture follows a similar course to the production process of industrial commodities and as a
result of such a course driven by the same capitalist relations of production a standard mass
culture is created.44 In Turkey, jazz musics failure to turn into mass culture could partly be
explained by understanding the capitalist dynamics in Turkish music industry where the
record companies do not have commercial interests in this genre due to low profits of the jazz
albums.
The cultural gap between the Turkish society and the experiences of the African-American
community could be indicated as one of the reasons behind the jazz musics lack of audience
in Turkey. Because the Turks usually tend to preserve their traditions, it is important for them
to see their own cultural mark on music when they are to choose what to listen. Although
there were some attempts to blend the jazz music with Turkish musical tones and efforts to
create a new genre called Turkish jazz, these attempts did not increase the jazz audience.
44
Keith Negus, Music Genres and Corporate Cultures (London and New York: Routledge, 1999), 21.
However, one can argue whether these attempts were enough to introduce jazz music to
Turkish people in an effective way. The renowned Turkish jazz musician Kerem Grsev
argues these efforts are like baby steps compared with the rest of the world. Grsev also
maintains that there is no such thing as Turkish jazz since jazz is a universal music and it is
better to label such efforts as Turkish touch on jazz instead of Turkish jazz.45
Regarding the development of the jazz music in Turkey, there is another debate as to whether
this music belongs to upper classes or should be the voice of lower classes. In order to make a
correct assessment, there is need to remember that jazz music originally emerged in the form
of uprising of the black slaves and as an expression of their grief. However, irrespective of
such initial motives among the African-American community, the elites and the wealthy
began to adopt jazz music for enjoyment and also as a way of westernization in the republican
Turkey. Therefore, from the beginning the true meaning of the jazz music was understood in a
wrong way in Turkey. Among the Turkish elite, the tendency to listen jazz music was driven
from the idea that whatever comes from the west, it is good and superior, and we should
listen and perform jazz music in a period during which westernization was the predominant
trend. Thus listening jazz music was like emulation of the western culture and part of an
identity construction in line with the western values.46
In a country, if the state-promoted philosophy of education values the music, the education
curricula of that country take music teaching into consideration seriously and include
sufficient music classes.47 Since jazz music requires education, there is need for state support.
Unfortunately, the Turkish state does not support many arts performed in the country and jazz
music is no exception. The Akbank Jazz Festivals should be appreciated since these festivals
create awareness for the jazz particularly among the Turkish young people. However, the state
should be doing much more than Akbank Festivals do by allocating resources for the jazz and
by sponsoring jazz music events. It is the states responsibility to promote art in the society
and in accordance with this responsibility state authorities should give financial assistance to
art events and back performers including the jazz musicians. And finally if the national
education curricula give importance to jazz music and if jazz music education becomes
widespread, the jazz could be understood better and listened more in Turkey.
Bibliography
45
Ali Pekta, Kerem Grsev: There is no such thing as Turkish jazz, Sundays Zaman, December 5, 2015,
Accessed December 29, 2015, http://www.todayszaman.com/arts-culture_kerem-gorsev-theres-no-such-thing-asturkish-jazz_406091.html.
46
47
Glen Haydon, Introduction to Musicology: A Survey of the Fields, Systematical & Historical of Musical
Knowledge & Research (New York: University of North Carolina, 1946), 190-193.
10
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Cengizhan evirme

Jazz Article (in Turkish), Wikipedia.

Jazz in Turkey Documentary, Director: Batu Akyol, Loyka Productions, 2013.

Davenport, Jazz Diplomacy.., 33.

Jazz in Turkey Documentary, Director: Batu Akyol, Loyka Productions, 2013.

Reflections on the Jazz Music in Turkey

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