Musical Instruments and World History: A Case Study of the Guitar in the Republic of Turkey
Musical Instruments and World History: A Case Study of the Guitar in the Republic of Turkey
This chapter present a preliminary study of the emergence of the guitar in the music, culture and society of Turkey, a transcontinental Republic founded in 1923, noting also the instrument’s presence within Ottoman music culture. It argues that the rise of the guitar in Turkey constitutes a transformative moment in the history of the instrument, if not Turkish music, with the emergence and development of local playing styles and physical modifications made to suit local musical practices, aspirations and sensibilities. Crucially, in reaching back to the near past, the study employs both ethnographic and oral historical techniques of research, including in-depth interviews with key musicians, whilst also drawing attention to the importance of the past—its interpretation, negotiation, contestation and fabrication—in the present.
Keywords: world history, musical instruments, political organology, guitar, Istanbul, Turkish music
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