Turkish Polyphonic Music

The cultural structure of Turkey has made very rich and diverse cultural experiences from history. Given its geographical position, Turkey is the center of different cultures as Eastern, Western, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Islamic. This wealth with a general culture is also reflected naturally in our culture of music.

The different cultural influences that Turkey faces are at the heart of his music. We can muster a general concept with four titles under the types of music training and living in the geography of Turkey:

Turkish polyphonic music

Already in the mid 19th century, Ottoman music began to be influenced by the West, and these impacts that were imposed towards the end of the century had paved the way for work to make polyphonic music Ottoman Monod. After the proclamation of the Republic in 1923, Cemal Resid (REY) who had received musical training in Europe was entered Turkey and began teaching at the Teacher training school of Music in Istanbul. Meanwhile, some gifted young people were sent by the republican regime in various European cities for further training in music.

On their return, these young people who laid the foundations of the modern Turkish music polyphonic have formed a group called "The Five Turks." Their goal was to build a new modern building polyphonic using the themes of western music which they had received training. In subsequent phases, each composer willing to give free rein to their inspirations interpreted in the way the colors and the mystery of folk melodies and tried to achieve syntheses by different methods of abstraction.

The framework called "The Five Turks" consisted of Cemal Resid REY, Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Hasan Ferit Alnar, Ahmet Adnan Saygun and Necil Kazim Akses. In the generation that followed the Five Turks were Sami Nuri KORAL, Kemal ILERICI, Ekrem Zeki A and Bülent Tarcan, the third generation was represented by Sabahattin Kalender, Nevit KODALLI, Ferit Tuzun, Ilhan USMANBAS.