TURKEY – TURQUIE Gazeller I – Ottoman-Turkish Vocal Improvisations in 78 RPM Records – Kalan Müsik 19030 (Cassette)

TURKEY – TURQUIE
Gazeller I – Ottoman-Turkish Vocal Improvisations in 78 RPM Records – Kalan Müsik 19030 (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.”

Following our post of the Gazeller II cassette, the music on Gazeller I here features great Gezal masters, accompanied by ud lute, violin or ney flute, including Hafiz Kemal (A1, A3, B2), Hafiz Burhan (A2) Hafiz Sadettin Kaynak (A4, A7), A Celal Tokses (A5, A8), Hüseyin Hüsnü Bey (A6), Bursali Hamid Dikses Bey (B1), Hafız Sami Efendi (B3), Hafız Ahmet Bey (B4), Bahriyeli Sehab (B5), Hafız Aşir Efendi (B6), Hafız Yaşar (B7), Mesut Cemil (B8) and Hafız Osman & Mesut Cemil (B9).

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.

Suite à notre post de la cassette Gazeller II, la musique sur Gazeller I présente des grands maîtres du Gezal, accompagnés par un luth ud, un violon ou une flûte ney, notamment Hafiz Kemal A1, A3, B2), Hafiz Burhan (A2) Hafiz Sadettin Kaynak (A4, A7), A Celal Tokses (A5, A8), Hüseyin Hüsnü Bey (A6), Bursali Hamid Dikses Bey (B1), Hafız Sami Efendi (B3), Hafız Ahmet Bey (B4), Bahriyeli Sehab (B5), Hafız Aşir Efendi (B6), Hafız Yaşar (B7), Mesut Cemil (B8) et Hafız Osman & Mesut Cemil (B9).

Further reading:

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

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Our post of the Gazeller Vol. II cassette:

Gazeller II – Ottoman-Turkish Vocal Improvisations in 78 RPM Records here

Photographs below are from Falnama: The Book of Omens by Massumeh Farhad & Serpil Bagci, Thames & Hudson, 2009, and the Istanbul University Library:

Khaybar: The Conquering Palm of Ali, Iran, Safavid period or Turkey, Ottoman period, c. 1580s, Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul:

“At first glance, this composition recalls images of the ‘Hand of Fatima,’ the Prophet Muhammad’s daughter and Imam Ali’s wife. A popular and ubiquitous symbol throughout the Islamic world, it has long been associated with talismanic and healing properties. In the related Falnama text, however, the illustration is identified as ‘Ali’s Khaybar-conquering palm,’ which refers to the Imam’s celebrated conquest of the fortress in 629.”

Ottoman astronomers at work around Taqī al-Dīn (1526-1585) – an Ottoman polymath presumably on the right of the astrolabe here – at the short-lived Istanbul Observatory built in 1577 and destroyed in 1580 under suspicion of impious astrological investigations.

The painting is from Shahinshah-nama (History of the King of Kings), an epic poem by 'Ala ad-Din Mansur-Shirazi, written in honor of Sultan Murad III (reigned 1574-1595), c. 1574-1595:

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