A Look at Semah and Sema' Concepts on the occasion of Anatolian and Turkish Music Culture Cover Image

Anadolu ve Türk Müzik Kültürü Açisindan Semah ve Sema’ Kavramlarina Bir Bakiş
A Look at Semah and Sema' Concepts on the occasion of Anatolian and Turkish Music Culture

Author(s): Cenk Güray
Subject(s): Cultural history, Customs / Folklore, Music, Ethnohistory, Ancient World
Published by: Uluslararası Kıbrıs Üniversitesi
Keywords: Traditional music; belief; belief systems; sema; semah; belief-music relationship; cycle;

Summary/Abstract: It would be extremely difficult to perceive and interpret the ancient culture of Anatolia; a geography of spiritual organizations; without giving a specific emphasis on the religious systems lying beneath these organizations. The symbolic and esoteric characteristic of the ancient Anatolian and Turkish belief traditions transformed music to a natural media powerfully reflecting these hidden symbols. Therefore the content of traditional music examples of Anatolia having many symbols and messages of belief reveals the effect of religious systems in the formation of a music culture specific to the geography. When the parallel effect of such symbols in the formation of a public memory is considered, the critical place of the mutual relationship between music and belief in analyzing the current culture in Turkey and the neighboring geographies can be foreseen clearly. This paper presents the primary results of a research study regarding the various evolutionary phases of the Anatolian music culture putting the concepts of “Sema and Semah” in its scope. This paper also constitutes the first stage of a Ph.D. Thesis study being continued within the Turkish Religious Music Department of the Faculty of Divinity of Ankara University under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Dr. Bayram Akdogan.

  • Issue Year: 15/2009
  • Issue No: 58
  • Page Range: 117-132
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Turkish