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.
Arabesk emerged in Turkey in the late 1960s amid intense rural-to-urban migration. Working-class communities settling in the gecekondu (informal housing) belts created a demand for music that reflected their emotional and social reality. Musicians absorbed the makam-based aesthetics of Turkish classical (urban art) music, the timbres and storytelling of folk music, and the melodramatic sweep of Egyptian and broader Middle Eastern film music.
Pioneers such as Orhan Gencebay shaped the sound with bağlama-forward arrangements, modal melodies, and heartfelt, fatalistic lyrics. Soon, stars like Müslüm Gürses and Ferdi Tayfur amplified the style’s emotional intensity with powerful, gravelly vocals and orchestral strings, while İbrahim Tatlıses brought a folk-pop crossover appeal. During this period, arabesk was both immensely popular and culturally contentious—sometimes limited on state media (TRT) yet omnipresent via cassettes, cinemas, and nightclubs.
Arabesk became a flashpoint in debates about class, taste, and national identity. Detractors associated it with kitsch and pessimism; supporters saw it as an authentic expression of the migrant experience and modern Turkish melancholy. Despite intermittent institutional pushback, its audience only grew, and arabesk aesthetics seeped into mainstream pop, TV, and cinema.
By the 1990s, arabesk’s tropes—modal melodies, lush strings, lamenting vocal style—were woven into Turkish pop ballads. The 2000s and 2010s saw new fusions such as arabesk rap, as well as reinterpretations by major figures (e.g., Müslüm Gürses covering rock/pop repertoire). Today, arabesk endures as both a classic repertoire and a flexible set of stylistic cues influencing contemporary Turkish music across genres.
