Turkish folklore dances
Encyclopedia
Turkish dance refers to the folk dance
s of Turkey. On the border between Europe
and the Middle East
, facing three seas, straddling important trade routes, Turkey has an ancient and complicated culture, reflected in the variety of its dances. However its dance traditions are dominated by the influence of the Ottoman Empire
. The dominant dance forms are types of line dance
. Turkey is divided into these cultural regions, which have distinctive dance styles: Trakya (European Turkey), Marmara
(on the coast of the Sea of Marmara
, Karadeniz
(North-central, on the coast of the Black Sea
), Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, and Southeastern Anatolia.The costumes worn by the dancers are often very colorful is representing happiness, or either very dull when doing a slow, depressing dance.
Bar (dance)
With their structure and formation, they are the dances performed by groups in the open. They are spread, in general, over the eastern part of Anatolia
(Erzurum
, Bayburt
, Agri
, Kars
, Artvin
and Erzincan
provinces). The characteristic of their formation is that they are performed side-by-side, hand, shoulder and arm-in-arm. Woman and man bars are different from one another. The principal instruments of our bar dances are davul
and zurna
(shrill pipe). Later, clarinet has been added to the woman bars. The dominant measures in bars are 5/8 and 9/8. Occasionally measures of 6/8 and 12/8 are used. Aksak 9/8 measures which are also the most characteristic measures, in particular, of the Turkish folk music are applied with extremely different and interesting structures in this dance.
Halay
This folk-dance, is a part of Turkish dance and is performed to a large extent in the Eastern, South- Eastern and Central Anatolia and it is one of the most striking dance. It has a rich figure structure of simplicity is the symbol of creation and originality of the folk. The rhythmic elements of halay dances are very rich and are mostly performed with drum-zurna combination as well as with kaval
(shepherd's pipe), sipsi
(reed), cigirtma (fife) or baglama (an instrument with three double strings played whit a plectrum) or performed when folk songs are sung. You may experience all the measures of the Turkish folk music in the halay melodies.
Folk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
s of Turkey. On the border between Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, facing three seas, straddling important trade routes, Turkey has an ancient and complicated culture, reflected in the variety of its dances. However its dance traditions are dominated by the influence of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The dominant dance forms are types of line dance
Line dance
A line dance is a choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or more lines or rows without regard for the gender of the individuals, all facing the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. Line dancers are not in physical contact...
. Turkey is divided into these cultural regions, which have distinctive dance styles: Trakya (European Turkey), Marmara
Marmara
-Places:Greece* Marmara, Greece, a beach in Chania Prefecture, CreteTurkey* Marmara District, a district in Balıkesir Province, Marmara* Marmara Island, an island in Balıkesir Province, Marmara* Marmara Region, a region comprising 11 provinces...
(on the coast of the Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black...
, Karadeniz
Karadeniz
Karadeniz means "Black Sea" in Turkish. See Black Sea Region , a region of Turkey.-Surname:It is also a surname and may refer to:* Gökdeniz Karadeniz, Turkish football player* Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish football player...
(North-central, on the coast of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
), Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, and Southeastern Anatolia.The costumes worn by the dancers are often very colorful is representing happiness, or either very dull when doing a slow, depressing dance.
Bar (dance)Bar (dance)Bar is a form of folk dance from eastern Turkey.With their structure and formation, they are the dances performed by groups in the open. They are spread, in general, over the eastern part of Anatolia . The characteristic of their formation is that they are performed side-by-side, hand, shoulder and...
With their structure and formation, they are the dances performed by groups in the open. They are spread, in general, over the eastern part of AnatoliaAnatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
(Erzurum
Erzurum
Erzurum is a city in Turkey. It is the largest city, the capital of Erzurum Province. The city is situated 1757 meters above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 361,235 in the 2000 census. .Erzurum, known as "The Rock" in NATO code, served as NATO's southeastern-most air force post during the...
, Bayburt
Bayburt
Bayburt is a city in northeast Turkey lying on the Çoruh River, and is the provincial capital of Turkey's Bayburt Province.Bayburt was once an important center on the ancient Silk Road and it was visited by Marco Polo and Turkish excursionist Evliya Celebi. Remains of its Byzantine castle still...
, Agri
Agri
Agri may refer to:* As shorthand or prefix referring to agriculture* Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development * Azerbaijan–Georgia–Romania Interconnector * Ağrı, a city in eastern Turkey* the Agri in southern Italy...
, Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
, Artvin
Artvin
-History:See Artvin Province for the history of the region.-Places of interest:* Artvin or Livana castle, built in 937There are a number of Ottoman Empire houses and public buildings including:* Salih Bey mosque, built in 1792...
and Erzincan
Erzincan
-Trivia:Erzincan has the largest man made of Portrait of Atatürk, located north of the city, 176m×43m. It covers 7,500 square meter. Turkish Army made it 1982, in 29 days by 3,000 soldier, 100 tons of black and white paint was used...
provinces). The characteristic of their formation is that they are performed side-by-side, hand, shoulder and arm-in-arm. Woman and man bars are different from one another. The principal instruments of our bar dances are davul
Davul
The davul or tupan is a large double-headed drum that is played with sticks. It has many names depending on the country and region.-Names:Some names of davuls include:*tupan *davul...
and zurna
Zurna
The zurna , is a multinational outdoor wind instrument, usually accompanied by a davul in Anatolian folk music. The name is from Turkish zurna, itself derived from Persian سرنای surnāy, composed of sūr “banquet, feast” and nāy “reed, pipe”...
(shrill pipe). Later, clarinet has been added to the woman bars. The dominant measures in bars are 5/8 and 9/8. Occasionally measures of 6/8 and 12/8 are used. Aksak 9/8 measures which are also the most characteristic measures, in particular, of the Turkish folk music are applied with extremely different and interesting structures in this dance.
HalayHalayHalay or Yalli is a popular dance in the Middle East....
This folk-dance, is a part of Turkish dance and is performed to a large extent in the Eastern, South- Eastern and Central Anatolia and it is one of the most striking dance. It has a rich figure structure of simplicity is the symbol of creation and originality of the folk. The rhythmic elements of halay dances are very rich and are mostly performed with drum-zurna combination as well as with kavalKaval
The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout Azerbaijan, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, southern Serbia , northern Greece , Romania , and Armenia...
(shepherd's pipe), sipsi
Sipsi
The sipsi is a Turkish woodwind instrument. It is a clarinet-like, single-reed instrument used mainly in folk music. The word "sipsi" is probably onomatopoeic, and is related to "zıpçi" meaning "whistle," or comes from the word meaning small. It can be made of bone, wood, or reed, though the reed...
(reed), cigirtma (fife) or baglama (an instrument with three double strings played whit a plectrum) or performed when folk songs are sung. You may experience all the measures of the Turkish folk music in the halay melodies.
Horon
HORON or the round dance is a typical folk dance of the Black Sea coastal area and its interior parts. Horons appear very different from the folk dances in other parts of the country with their formation of tempo, rhythm and measure. Horons are performed, in general, by groups and their characteristic measure is 7/16 For their melodies are rendered very fast, it is very difficult to render them with every instrument. For this reason, rendering with a drum and zurna becomes practical. Melodies of horon are performed with the small type of zurna which is called 'cura'. In addition, in the interior parts blowing instruments such as bagpipe mey (again, a small zurna) etc. The other measures used are 2/4, 5/8 and 9/16.Zeybek
Zeybeks are, in general, the widespread folk dances of the Western Anatolia. It is rendered by one person or two or by a group of people and its name changes for example as 'seymen' in the central parts of Anatolia. Zeybek dances are formed, in general, of 9/8 measures and have a variety of tempos such as very slow, slow, fast and very fast. Very slow zeybek dances have the measure of 9/2, slow ones 9/4 and some others 9/8. Very fast dances, for instance, teke (goat) dance seen in Burdur - Fethiye region can be regarded as dances of zeybek character, they have the traditional measure of 9/16 There is another folk dance named as BENGI in the zeybek region. It is performed more differently than zeybek and has got a different musical feature and the most characteristic measure of bengi dance is 9/8. Particularly in slow zeybeks, the traditional instruments is drum- zurna combination. The use of 2 drums and 2 zurnas in combination is a tradition, function of one of the zurnas is accompaniment, in other words, it accompanies the melody with a second constant tune. Apart from drum-zurna, a three-double string instrument baglama, reed, marrow bow etc. are used for fast zeybek dances. In particular, the traditional instrument of the teke (goat) dance region is reed.Other forms
- Karsilamas: (a kind of wedding music) and horaHoraHora is a type of circle dance originating in the Balkans but also found in other countries. The name is cognate to the Greek χορός : 'dance' which is cognate with the ancient Greek art form of χορεία; see Chorea. The original meaning of the Greek word χορός may have been 'circle'...
type folk dances with melodic and rhythmic structure and with a fast performance facing one another and different cultural structure of the region and the dominant measure is 9/8 but some other measures are used as well. Their traditional instrument are 2 drum - 2 zurna combination, the most characteristic use of this combination is seen in this region. - Kaşık Oyunları (Wooden-spoon dances): these dances, in general, are mostly spread over the Mediterranean region and have a very different structure with their arrangement performance, rhythmic and melodic characteristics. They are always rendered with wooden- spoons and the characteristic measure is 2/4 or 4/4. The instruments used are beast bow (later violin), baglama and clarinet, in general, they are accompanied by folk songs.
- Samah: Samah melodies have the measures of 5/8, 7/8 and 9/8. Their traditional instruments are baglama, bow etc. There is no rhythmic instrument. Performance by singing (without any instrument) is also widespread. The most developed samahs are of 3 parts, namely: a) agirlama (entertainment b) yeldirme (cloak wearing) c) kogdurma (dismissing).
- KolbastıKolbastıKolbastı is a popular Turkish dance. It was originally created in the 1930s in the seaport of Trabzon on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey...
: Kolbastı is among teens in common and widespread.
External links
- http://www.anatoliafolk.com (Turkish Folk Dances in USA)
- Examples of Turkish Folk Dances in Istanbul, Turkey
- Folk Dance Federation of Turkey