Although it is related to both Arab classical music and more distantly to Persian classical music, Turkish classical music (sanat or klasik) has a distinct identity, and one that was particularly assiduously cultivated in urban areas during the days of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish (or Ottoman) classical music is at its heart a kind of chamber music. Like the Arab classical counterpart of maqamat, it is also similarly is built on a tonal system called makam, whose stringent rules dictate melodic development. In Turkish classical music, the art of taksim, or improvisation, is of central importance; such improvisations begin long suites that generally also include a prelude, songs and a postlude. Artists performing together in groups are essentially all soloists, with each taking a turn in the spotlight with elaborate taksim, with each individual building their own melodic and rhythmic ideas upon given lines.
Typical instruments include oud, the long-necked tanbur lute, the long, end-blown flute called the ney, kanun zither, klarnet (clarinet), def frame drum and the darbuka, a goblet-shaped drum. As with many other styles of urban music across the globe, Turkish classical music at its peak was an art form performed by various ethnic minorities; in the case of Turkey, the great names of Ottoman classical music include large numbers of ethnic Armenians, Greeks and Jews.
Performances by great virtuosos of yesteryear are happily widely available, particularly thanks to the excellent American label Traditional Crossroads, including multivolume compilations featuring tanbur master Tanburi Cemil Bey (1871–1916) and oud virtuoso Udi Hrant (1901–1978). The contemporary artist Kudsi Erguner is also working to revive this classical repertoire; for Traditional Crossroads, he has recorded two albums of music written by master composer Kemani Tatyos Efendi. —Anastasia Tsioulcas
