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Historical overview of Turkish pop music

For nearly 50 years, pop music has been one of the most popular branches of music in Turkey. This is in the broad musical spectrum, of music in Turkey. Popular music because of the fact that, primitive music could not be related to either the traditional ottoman music or from the western form of music. Popular music were sung by chiefly the non-Muslim women. In the 1960s, there was fusions of the pop music and the Ottoman psyche which was particularly common in Turkey. In the 1970s, Sezen Aksu a female song writer and singer became popular and changed the scene of the music scene (Richard, T. 1999).
In the 1990 pop music began to find its true meaning, this is because, it is not merely a type of music as it may be considered, but as a culture, it became part of everyday city-life that cannot be separated with the lifestyle and sentiments of city life. During the Ozall administration, in the 1980s, the free market economy which became a state policy, brought new acceleration to the Turkish music industry. World class studios and consumer ideology to the youth, this brought a new, fast rhythmic urban life and pulse (Simon, B. 1999). After 1990s, the most influential form of sentimental style and perception was pop music. It affected the mode of dressing to trends of entertainment. Unbelievable variety sprung up each and every day. Momentary incidents of joy, disappointment and the relationship were based on the sensibility of pop music as the momentum. Every sector of the society experienced change without noticing, whatever corresponding to the cosmopolitan mood that was related to pop music. All this shows that indeed pop music found their counterpart in turkey (Mark, E. 1999).

Primary setting

In the process of shaping the media, pop music became the most valuable guide. It was largely featured in the radio, television and magazines. Pop music grew to a point it bewitched the urban dwellers. People from the upper classes to those in the suburbs was directed to a common cultural antenna, although they did not have a common standard of living. Public taste has always been the determinant of the directive and ideology role of the media.

Significance of Turkish pop music

This drew out the complex link between politics music and emotion. According to strokes a famous scholar in Turkish music the popularity of Sezen Aksu, was more than the aesthetic element exhibited in her work. The elevation articulated the political condition and played a critical role in the public discourses. The emotional concept was drawn from the more importantly the voice of the artist, the lyrics, the demeanor of a broad audience finding something affectionate to relate to and her persona. The sentiment of love was tremendously developed (Stokes, M. 1994). Pop music also signifies the turkey political life in the 1990s. According to stokes point in the lyrics of most pop music contributed to the political undercurrents. The public sentiment evoked by the pop musician to engage in power directly as they pointed out ways of being modern. This was immensely different from the thoughts of Turkish officials. Stroke in his book explains that in listening to pop music we understand that music is not a thing that occurs in the society but also the society occurs in music (Stokes, M. 1994).

Musical description

In most cases, the Turkish pop songs, and most of the songs that we hear in the popular genre of Turkish music does not in any way tell us stories. It is a storytelling this has dominated the song form in Turkish music for quite along time, it was abandoned in the past few years. This were caused by the lack of inspiration on the part of the song writer or concept that everything should entertain and not tire people with heavy stuff. In this entertainment oriented popular music culture. One of the superstars in turkey, and also a popular name in Europe and the Middle East, Sezen Aksu remains as one of the few song writer and singer whose songs whose songs still talk about something and still tells us something. That means her songs do have significance (stokes, M. 1994). In her song poetic “Tukenecegiz”, which means, “been exhausted”. In the first stanza, she states in her lyrics “Shame it is not possible to live neither with , nor without you for neither reason it is impossible to be neither together nor apart”,-translated from Turkish, this brings out the concept of cultural intimacy as the emotional perspective (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-WiA8txq2U). In the second stanza, she brings out the social-political perspective in her lyrics, “With such dreams, such hopes we wish to be happy”- translated, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-WiA8txq2U). This shows that with the historical background, she has to look into the future, not only of her social life but also the future of her country men would hope for a happy ending in all perspective including the political arena of her country (http://www.turkishclass.com) Aksu, in her lyrics evidently captures the human emotion, she sings about her fans. Although Turkish is a little bit difficult to understand. Any listener can find a way in it. Aksu voice sings in a foreign language but can still capture someones attention. A person can not quite understand a word she says but on another level done (Serap, R. 2007).

Reference 1. Stokes, M. Introduction: Ethnicity identity and music, the musical construction of place, Oxford, 1994, Berg. 2. Simon, B, Mark, E, Richard, T. World Music: The rough guide Africa, Europe and Middle East, Rough guide, 1999. 3. http://www.turkishclass.com 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-WiA8txq2U.