TURKEY Gazeller II – Ottoman-Turkish Vocal Improvisations in 78 RPM Records – Kalan Müsik 18872

TURKEY – TURQUIE
Gazeller II – Ottoman-Turkish Vocal Improvisations in 78 RPM Records – Kalan Müsik 18872, (Cassette)

This cassette on the Turkish Kalan label presents a choice selection of traditional Gazel vocal improvisations recorded on shellac 78 RPMs between the early 1910s and the 1930s. The Turkish/Ottoman version of Ghazal poetry, which originated in Arabia in the 7th century, was a spiritual and metaphorical art form connected to Sufism that expressed “Divine Love.”

The early 20th century also marked the end of the Ottoman Empire and the advent of Mustapha Kemal Atatürk’s Turkish Republic in 1923 which sought to modernize the country and reform the old order and aesthetics. The burgeoning recording industry initially revived this dying art, but driven by changing tastes and commercialism, Gazel music became increasingly sentimental and about “earthly love.”

The music here features great Gezal masters, accompanied by ud lute, violin or ney flute, including Hafiz Kemal (A3, B1, B5, B6), Münir Nurettin Selçuk (A1) Hafiz Sadettin Kaynak (A2, A4), Udi Marko (A6), Hafız Osman (A5), Hoca Izak Algazi (A9), Hafiz Burhan (B2), Nevzat Akay (B9), N. Bey (B7), Hafiz Memduh (B3), A. Celal (B4), Hafız Sami (A7), Hafız Aşir (A8) and female Gazel singer Hamiyet Yüceses (B8).

Cette cassette sur le label turc Kalan présente une sélection pertinente d'improvisations vocales traditionnelles de Gazel enregistrées sur disques 78 tours entre le début des années 1910 et les années 1930. La version turque/ottomane de la poésie Ghazal, née en Arabie au 7ème siècle, était une forme d'art spirituelle et métaphorique liée au soufisme qui exprimait « l'amour divin ».

Le début du XXe siècle fut également marqué par la fin de l'Empire ottoman et l'avènement de la République turque de Mustapha Kemal Atatürk en 1923 qui s’efforça de moderniser le pays et de réformer l'ancien monde et son esthétique. L'industrie du disque en plein essor relança dans un premier temps cet art mourant, mais poussé par l'évolution des goûts et le mercantilisme, le gazel devint plus sentimental et s’éloigna peu à peu de ses racines religieuses.

La musique ici présente des grands maîtres du Gezal, accompagnés par un luth ud, un violon ou une flûte ney, notamment Hafiz Kemal (A3, B1, B5, B6), Münir Nurettin Selçuk (A1) Hafiz Sadettin Kaynak (A2, A4), Udi Marko (A6), Hafız Osman (A5), Hoca Izak Algazi (A9), Hafiz Burhan (B2), Nevzat Akay (B9), N. Bey (B7), Hafiz Memduh (B3), A. Celal (B4), Hafız Sami (A7), Hafız Aşir (A8) et la chanteuse Hamiyet Yüceses (B8).

Further reading:

*The Life and Death of the Turkish Gazel by ethnomusicologist John Morgan O'Connell here

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Many thanks to João for sharing his cassette collection!

Our other Turkish music shares:
Nuit Précieuse au Sérail - ARION 30 U 97, 1970 here
Musique de Turquie - ALFA 5018, 1973 here
Rythmes et Mélodies de Turquie - Le Club Français du Disque 92, 1957 here
Orient-Okzident - Musik Aus Südost-Europa - Museum Collection Berlin, 1968-1980 here

Photographs below are from Treasures of Turkey, by Akurgal, Ekrem, Cyril and Ettinghausen, Skira, 1966, and The World of Islam by Ernst J. Grube, McGraw-Hill, 1967:

Portrait of Sultan Mehmet II the Conqueror (1451-1481) by Sinan Bey:

Painting from a copy of Siyar-i Nabi (Life of the Prophet), 1594. 

The Prophet Muhammad, Abu Bakr, and Ali on the Way to Mecca.

"All in the Ottoman court school style, a mixture of hieratic abstraction and almost popular realism in detail, the Siyar-i Nabi paintings are unique in Islamic art in the way their intensity of religious feeling transcends the historical events depicted."

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