Papers by Dilara Turan
Open Book Publishers, Jun 28, 2024
This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This l... more This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text for non-commercial purposes of the text providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
Musicologist, 2023
Although the field of contemporary music composition in Türkiye is mainly considered an instituti... more Although the field of contemporary music composition in Türkiye is mainly considered an institutionalization grounded on the nation-state ideology and the cultural policies of the early republic period, the political, economic, and cultural changes experienced in the last 30 years have led to the formation of alternative discourses and new institutionalizations in the field. Among these new formations, the 'yeni müzik' discourse-which can be considered as the local manifestation of the 'new music' discourse that originates in the 20th-century art music canon and the new composition scene shaped around it have marked significant differences in the local contemporary music practice. By providing a critical overview of the local history of the field, examining the early emergence of 'yeni müzik', and documenting the post-2000s development of this new compositional institutionalization, the present paper proposes 'yeni müzik scene' as an alternative formation and discusses how it differs from its predecessor 'Turkish Contemporary Music' in terms of institutional, social and musical practices. Our account of the topic-which has hardly been studied in the literature-benefits from both historiographical and fieldwork practices, hoping to provide a continuous socio-cultural narrative that situates the 'yeni müzik scene' within the local history of contemporary music.
Thesis & Dissertation by Dilara Turan
ISTANBUL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY - GRADUATE SCHOOL, Department of Music Music Programme, 2024
Istanbul Technical University, Institute of Social Sciences, Center for Advanced Studies in Music. , 2017
The term altered states of consciousness is used to express the deviated states of normal awake c... more The term altered states of consciousness is used to express the deviated states of normal awake consciousness, being altered by various causes. Musical trance, as a subcategory of altered states of consciousness, is a cultural and biological based phenomenon observed mostly, but not necessarily, in religious music rituals. As a result of the examination of the previous works on this area, it has been seen that the function of music in trance rituals has been predominantly associated with the cultural, sociological and contextual features, rather than in association with the sensory and psychoacoustic effects of sounds. In this study, besides the specific cultural contexts of traditional trance rituals, sonic qualities of musics accompanying trance experiences and their biological, psychological and perceptual foundations and effects have been examined in terms of their relations with the altered states phenomenon. In the first chapter, the nature of the altered states of consciousness as a general phenomenon has been investigated through studies concerning neural alterations in brain regions and their cognitive and perceptual effects. Additionally, in this chapter, the ideas put forward about the psychological and cognitive mechanisms of the musical trance in specific, have been brought together in order to provide the theoretical landscape of the subject topic. In the following chapters of the present study, set of examples in which the musical trance has traditionally been performed, have been studied in terms of their cultural and sonic qualities in relation to the theoretical ground presented.Within the scope of this survey around the world, 125 different recorded examples of traditional musical trance, which were studied by ethnomusicologists, have been brought together for a systematic examination. In the second chapter of the study, cultural, sociological and contextual features of these samples have been presented in the context of seven geographical regions, and the broad cultural frames, such as the belief systems, intentions and motivations behind the ritual activity and the formal characteristics of ritual settings have been provided. In the last chapter, collected samples have been systematically analyzed via manual ear analysis and music analysis program Sonic Visualizer, in terms of the basic parameters of musical sounds e.g., melody, tempo, have been presented categorically. It has been observed that the cognitive and psychological effects of these sonic attributes relate to the perceptual effects of altered states of consciousness presented before. Among these sound-specific characteristics, the statistical regularity in the musical flow (musical repetition and continuity) has been found to be the most determinant parameter and it has been examined in terms of its effects on time perception. The repetitive, short and clear structure of melodies, the predominant use of percussive instruments and temporal elements, multi- layered and interlocked musical texture and vertical time organization have been observed among the other common means of sonic signification in ASC context. Besides these sonic qualities, tempo variants and their correlates on the types of musical trance, and the psychoacoustic effects of communal chanting have been proposed as the diverging means of sonic signification.
Conference Presentations by Dilara Turan
Music History Beyond State Borders: Micro-, Meso-, and Macro-Regionality of Musical Culture.Book of Abstracts, Biennial Baltic Musicological Conference 29–31 October, 2024, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, 2024
This study aims to understand cultural permeability through Onur Türkmen’s piece Sailing to Byzan... more This study aims to understand cultural permeability through Onur Türkmen’s piece Sailing to Byzantium: A Ritualistic Drama on the Moon, Swans, and Soul, composed between 2014 and 2016. Onur Türkmen (b.1972) is a Turkish contemporary music composer who integrates Turkish Makams and traditional instruments within a timbre-oriented compositional context. In the mid-2000s, he developed a compositional technique called ‘hat,’ meaning ‘line,’ which is inspired by Islamic calligraphy and refers to a unique single-stream sound that blurs the boundary between monophony and polyphony. Türkmen's work seeks to transcend the boundaries of musical micro and macro regionality as well as the East/West dichotomy. He advocates for a concept of ‘culture as a spectrum’ without regional centers, instead revealing transient relations and permeable encounters between seemingly different cultures that share deep mythological commonalities. This idea led to his second compositional concept called ‘ritualistic drama’, in which he composes stage works for trans-traditional ensembles where old and new instruments become the actors and performers engage with themes he considers part of collective unconscious memory, such as melancholy and death. In Türkmen’s music, these ideas are expressed through the multidimensionality of time, supported semantically by his use of symbolist poetry. Sailing to Byzantium is his first work to unify these concepts, bringing together the symbolist poetry of Ahmet Haşim and William Butler Yeats into a 21st-century ritualistic drama with trans-traditional music, inviting the listener to navigate a web of mythical and pre-regional meanings.
8th International Conference of the IMS-Rasmb, Thessaloniki, Greece, 31 August- 2 September, 2023
Turkish-American composer Kamran İnce (b.1960) is among the few internally known diaspora compose... more Turkish-American composer Kamran İnce (b.1960) is among the few internally known diaspora composers who bridge the contemporary music of Türkiye with international scenes. The Montana-born composer has been living in the United States, where he went for his undergraduate study in 1978 after receiving his early music education at the state conservatories in Ankara and Izmir during the 70s. Since he composed Infrared Only (1985), which is an early period orchestral piece that brought him great success as the youngest winner of the Prix de Rome in 1987, his initial compositional style developed through various musical crossovers, gradually incorporating more elements from Turkish and Balkan music into his uniquely American sound. While his post-minimalist style remains in his economy of musical materials, embracement of consonant sonorities and modality and accessibilities in musical flow with raw qualities, two of his later works Concerto for Orchestra, Turkish Instruments and Voices (2002-2009) and Asumani (2012) distinguish from the rest of his repertoire in taking a bold step in his expression of Turkish cultural identity. The present study takes a closer look at these two works, in which the composer reflects on his Turkish background not only through pitch relations, gestures, and textures from the makam tradition but also by employing traditional Turkish musical instruments such as kemençe, zurna, and ney. Both using a score analytical approach as well as drawing from the composer's discourse and receptions, this study discusses İnce's representation of cultural identity with respect to aesthetics of excess and reflects on his poietic stand on issues such as exoticism, post-modernism, and trans-traditionalism.
8th International Conference of the IMS-Rasmb, Thessaloniki, Greece, 31 August- 2 September, 2023
Since the early 20th century, contemporary music composition has not only preserved its historica... more Since the early 20th century, contemporary music composition has not only preserved its historical and cultural ties with the Western Art Music tradition, but increasingly, it has also become an international practice that has gained several momentums with the processes of Westernization, globalization, and lately with digitalization. Hence, it has been discussed in the musicological literature regarding both its role in the construction of cultural identities of nation-states as well as its claims of trans-traditionality, although the parallel histories of this debate in distant cultures are rarely addressed. The present paper sets out from a similar axis, and yet, it examines the manifestations of contemporary music -especially in modernist tendencies- in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkan region through the case of the Mediterranean Contemporary Music Days held in Istanbul between 2003 and 2008. Drawing from the discourses and discussions of the representative composers of the participating countries, namely Turkey, Greece, Spain, Italy, Albania, and Croatia, as well as the musical tendencies in the concert programs of the festival, the 21st-century situation of new music practices in the region is aimed to be discussed in terms of local processes of institutionalization, representation of cultural identity and aesthetic orientations. Through the case of the Mediterranean Contemporary Music Days, questions such as how expressions of cultural identity are constructed through relational positions, how the notions of center and periphery function in this construction, and how these relationalities shape a cumulative representation of Mediterranean contemporary music will be discussed.
Music and Spiritual Realities International Workshop. University of St Andrews. 21 June , 2023
Transformations of Musical Creativity in the 21st Century A Conference of the Transtraditional Istanbul (TTI) Project. 24 June, 2021
Since the music reforms of the early Republic period, Eurocentrism has been subject to serious cr... more Since the music reforms of the early Republic period, Eurocentrism has been subject to serious criticism, as an exclusive exercise of power in music institutions in Turkey (Erol, 2012; Ayas, 2014; Kutluk, 2016). Justifiably, the focus of the criticism lies in the exclusion of traditional music practices – yet along with Turkish Art Music, an enormous variety of regional oral traditions- outside of the public sphere for ideological reasons (O’Connell, 2000; Balkılıç, 2009; Greve, 2017), while imposing Eurogenetic art music practices such as the use of equal temperament and notation as the hegemonic standards in formal music education (And, 1984; Tekelioğlu, 2001). This initial subordination of art to ideology created polarized narratives of music between the "superior, yet foreign Western" and its "suppressed, yet local Other(s)", leading to misconceptualizations of both as pure, homogeneous, and static musical cultures. Whereas, in confrontation with various types of hegemonies, each has been undergone several transformations that resulted in alternative discourses. The present study offers a critical view on the legacy of Eurocentrism in Turkey from the perspective of musicians in the current New Music (Yeni Müzik) scene, which is often considered as part of the Eurocentric institutionalization, despite their rejection of ideological and musical hegemonies rooted in the music reforms. Drawing from my ongoing field research, I will discuss how Yeni Müzik discourse emerged as a challenging alternative to previously established "contemporary Turkish music" notion, how do current musicians approach the compositional resourcing of local and global music cultures, what are some novelties as well as limitations in music curricula of relevant departments, and musicians' reflections on identity issues in negotiating with Eurocentrism.
Field Notes by Dilara Turan
is a music society first started by American violinist Ellen Jewett and her husband Hüsam Süleyma... more is a music society first started by American violinist Ellen Jewett and her husband Hüsam Süleymangil who is a historian and a tour guide. Starting from 2008, they had organized summer festivals in Mustafa Paşa Köyü (Sinasos) near Cappadocia, in collaboration with local businesses. Festivals include concerts of Western art music in the historical sites and caves, workshops on ensemble and solo performance practices and composition workshops for young composers. KK became an official association in 2011 and it started to build long term collaborations with
Festivali (the new and the newest music festival) was held on the 6 th , 7 th , and 8 th of Febru... more Festivali (the new and the newest music festival) was held on the 6 th , 7 th , and 8 th of February in 2020 1. The publicity of the festival was attention-grabbing; a relatively rare invitation for a contemporary music audience in Istanbul with its well-designed banners, social media posts, and large-scale marketing, in comparison to a more usual case of contemporary music concert situation, which often takes place in a university department with a limited budget and a lot of voluntary efforts for non-profit motivations. While it was a curious mark, events like Arter's festival, organized by private capital for general audience, are not at all new in Turkey, since the 1980s, when many privately founded art associations were established and developed a gradual interest in contemporary arts. Other central examples of this can be the events of Borusan Müzik Evi, or Sonar Music Festival despite the differences in preferred musical aesthetics. Arter is one of these few contemporary art venues in Istanbul and it has been operating under the Vehbi Koç Foundation (VKV) since 2010 2. Melih Fereli who is among the pioneers of creating the "art space" idea in Turkey, has worked with the VKV since 2005 as an art consultant, taking leading roles not only in Arter's organizations but also in İstanbul Biennale and at the Pavilion of Turkey in Venice Biennale.
Book Chapters by Dilara Turan
Open Book Publishers, 2024
This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This l... more This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the text; to adapt the text for non-commercial purposes of the text providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
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Papers by Dilara Turan
Thesis & Dissertation by Dilara Turan
Conference Presentations by Dilara Turan
Field Notes by Dilara Turan
Book Chapters by Dilara Turan