OSMAN BERBER

Arabesk is a Turkish popular music style characterized by deeply emotive singing, melodramatic lyrics, and melodies grounded in the makam (modal) tradition. It blends elements of Turkish classical/urban art music, regional folk timbres (especially the bağlama/saz), and lush orchestral arrangements inspired by mid-20th-century Middle Eastern film music. Typical performances feature melisma, expressive vibrato, microtonal inflections, and frequent use of the Hijaz/Phrygian dominant flavor, often at slow-to-mid tempos with prominent strings and acoustic instruments. Lyrical themes revolve around longing (gurbet), fate, heartbreak, social displacement, and moral struggle—reflecting the rural-to-urban migration experience that shaped modern Turkey.

Karadeniz folk is the regional folk music of Turkey’s eastern Black Sea (Karadeniz) coast, associated with Laz, Hemshin, Pontic Greek (Romeika-speaking), and Turkish communities. It is typified by the piercing, agile sound of the kemençe (Pontic lyra) and the droning tulum (Black Sea bagpipe), propulsive asymmetric dance meters (especially the horon in 7/16), and call-and-response vocals. Melodies often draw on Anatolian/Turkic and wider maqam-based modal practices, while lyrics evoke seafaring, mountain life, migration, tea and hazelnut harvests, and fervent love. In modern practice, traditional ensembles are frequently joined by guitar, bass, and drum set, producing a lively folk-rock crossover that retains the region’s characteristic rhythmic lift and ornamented melodic style.