The Arabesk Debate

`The main strength of the book is to be found in Stokes's competent ability to explore both anthropological and musicological aspects of arabesk. His rigorous documentation and analysis of various aspects of Turkish musical life give us an equally vivid picture of contemporary Turkey as a secular Muslim state ... I found Stokes's book extremely informative, and it deserves the attention not only of students popular culture and music, Mediterranean specialists and researchers of the modern Muslim world, but also all ethnomusicologists interested in the study of music in society.'Anthropology Ireland

• Part 1 Introduction: centres and peripheries; cities and migrants; discourses of sentiment; fieldwork. Part 2 Discovering the folk and their music: Turkism; Ziya Gokalp and the Turkish theory of culture; the language reforms; the construction of a national music, from Gokalp to the TRT; reform in action - the institutions of urban halk music; "dernek" and "dershane". Part 3 Rules systems, and techniques - reconstructing Turkish folk music: defining boundaries - "makam" and "ayak"; individuality and invention; notation; the "baglama"; regional style - "tavir" and "duzen"; the "electrosaz", the "piyasa", and the polyphony debate - live and studio performance of halk music. Part 4 Arabesk: musicological critique - arabesk and Arab music; sociological critique - the "gecekondu" problem and "dolmus culture" ; arabesk and "religious reaction" ("irtica"); the musicians; audiences. Part 5 Arabesk lyrics and narratives: predictive metaphors of sound - "yanmak" and "yakmak"; narratives of music - the arabesk film; the arabesk song text and the interior domain; arabesk and protest - the social domain and the "gariban"; fate, love, and self; "hal" and urban space; emotions and secrets. Part 6 The musical organization of Arabesk: inspiriation; the recording studio; "makam" in arabesk - "sevda gozlum"; "fantezi" in arabesk - "dunya donuyor"; "usul" and disorder. Part 7 Arabesk and "sema": "sema" - the language of "sema"; the secret and the feast; the dance; "tasasvvuf" and the music of the spheres.