Lysander
Oud Junkie
Posts: 410
Registered: 7-26-2013
Location: London, UK
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Most popular makam-s
In his book The Republic of Love: Cultural Intimacy in Turkish Popular Music, Martin Stokes mentions how nihavent and hicaz are the most
popular makams and questions - seeing as they are both melancholic - what this represents about Turkish society and culture. For his source material
he uses neynev.com and counts the respective records for each makam. Now I dare say that this is one source only but the idea intrigued me. Adam
Good's site would also be a good repository, though it only concentrates on Ottoman music, but including it would show how things have changed [or
not] since Ottoman times.
What other ways would there be of mapping and discerning what are the most popular makams?
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
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This does not answer your question….however: I don't think that the musical expression of melancholy necessarily *creates* melancholy in a listener
or extends the melancholy of the composer or the singer or musician. I suppose it depends on the person listening. I find the core "classical"
repertoire of saz semaisi and pesrev in Nihavent to have a comforting, calming effect, both as a player and a listener. I find Hicaz in all forms to
be a stimulant and a medicinal tonic. I find relentlessly jolly music to be depressing. Three typical polka tunes in a row is my limit. Back to
melancholy, I am remembering the old blues musicians I've met who would sing and play blues because it made them feel happy, not sad.
Slightly more pertinent to your question: in my personal, far-from complete, and perhaps random (but maybe not) collection of recorded Turkish makam
music, comprised of sarki, gazel, taksim, Ottoman instrumental music, Mevlevi music, etc, and spanning the entire era of recorded music, but not
containing much pop music, Hicaz and Rast predominate with equal representation. Next is Husseyni which is just a bit ahead of Nihavent, which comes
in third. Huzzam is not far behind Nihavent. Well behind, but ahead of all the others is Kurdili Hicazjar.
By the way, Martin Stokes uses neyzen.com as his source. "Neynev.com" does not seem to exist and must be a typo.
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Lysander
Oud Junkie
Posts: 410
Registered: 7-26-2013
Location: London, UK
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Apologies Jody, neyzen.com was the correct source.
I find that the emotions a type of music will instill in its listener to be mostly subjective. You may find jolly music depressing, I personally find
it downright aggravating. There are others who would find it energising. I find melancholic music to be calming, even relieving, and I think this is
the emotion that most composers would endeavour to instill on an audience. However there are some people who dislike melancholic music: I had a
flatmate who asked me to turn off Mozart's Requiem Mass because she said it was "horrible". I do not think that a composer - or a performer - wants to
make his listeners sad through his music, but sad music might create a feeling of solidarity that a listener can relate to in its tone. Secondly, if
listeners can - and do - become sad through listening to music, it is generally due to personal associations with a song's feel or lyrics rather than
something intrinsic to the composition.
It's clear that Turkey is a country that has been buffetted by unrest, uprisings, coups and scandals for as long as anyone an remember and if we
choose nihavent or even kurdili hicazjar as prevailing makams both these may bring a sense of relief and calm to an uneasy people. In this way, your
description of hicaz as being a "medicinal tonic" is even more appropriate in this regard. I remember in an instructional oud video someone asking
Yurdal Tokcan to play a hicaz taksim, to which he replies something to the effect of, "why always hicaz? There are happier makams." Maybe happier
makams are not what Turkish people want.
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