Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T04:45:45.770Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Istanbul sounding like revolution: the role of music in the Gezi Park Occupy movement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2018

Raffaella Bianchi
Raffaella Bianchi*
Affiliation:
REDESM, International Research Centre on Religion, Law and Economy in the Mediterranean Area – Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Como, Italy E-mail: raffaella.edu@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article focuses on the role of protest music in the biggest social movement of recent Turkish history. It is the result of three years of fieldwork triangulating musical and cultural analysis with ethnographic methods. Motives of the protest, strategies of the movement, agency of musicians and participatory performances are investigated and contextualised in an analysis of Turkey's cultural changes. The function of music shifted from framing the protest to encouraging political action and fostering a sense of belonging to the collective identity of the Gezi Park movement. Music even became political activism. By underlining different functions played by music in the case of the Gezi Park movement, this article problematises the relevance of music for social movements.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , May 2018 , pp. 212 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Ada, S. 2013. ‘Revisiting cultural policy in Turkey: A sense of déjà-vu’, in Cultural Policy and Management Yearbook 2012–13 (Istanbul: Bilgi University Press)Google Scholar
Akbulut, O. 2005. ‘The state of political partiticipation of minorities in Turkey – an analysis under the ECHR and the ICCPR’, International Journal of Minority and Group Rights, 12/4, pp. 375–95Google Scholar
Aksoy, O. 2010. ‘Remembering Ahmet Kaya’, Kurdish Herald, 2, 1 February 2010. http://www.kurdishherald.com/issue/v002/001/article02.phpGoogle Scholar
Aksoy, A., and Şeyben, B. Y. 2015. ‘Storm over the state cultural institutions: new cultural policy direction in Turkey’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 21/2, pp. 183–99Google Scholar
Alemdar, Z. 2013. The Role of Society in Enabling Democracy, contribution at EYCA conference EU Citizenship Crossing Perspectives (Zagreb). http://ey2013-alliance.eu/news-view/towards-a-citizen-based-european-project-eu-citizenship-crossing-perspectives/Google Scholar
Amnesty International. 2013. ‘Gezi Park Protest: Brutal Denial of the Right to Peaceful Assembly in Turkey’, EUR44/022/2013 (London: Amnesty International).Google Scholar
And, M. 1984. ‘Atatürk and the arts, with special reference to music and theater’, in Atatürk and the Modernization of Turkey, ed. Landau, J. M. (Boulder, CO: Wesrview)Google Scholar
Andrews, P. A. 1989. Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey (Wiesbaden: Dr Ludwig Reichart Verlang)Google Scholar
A.P. 2013. ‘“Kiss Protest” held at Ankara Subway Station’, Al-Jazeera, 25 March. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/05/2013525191210116123.htmlGoogle Scholar
Atak, K. 2014. ‘Flap of the butterfly: Turkey's June uprisings’, in Spreading Protest: Social Movement in a Time of Crises, ed. Della Porta, D. and Mattoni, A. (Colchester: ECPR Press University of Essex), pp. 253–76Google Scholar
Atak, K., and Della Porta, D. 2016. ‘Popular uprisings in Turkey: police culpability and constraints on dialogue-oriented policing in Gezi Park and beyond’, European Journal of Criminology 13/5, pp. 610–25Google Scholar
Avtan, H. 2013. ‘Direnişin Meyvesi: Gezici Müzisyenler’, Radikal, 19 August. http://www.radikal.com.tr/hayat/direnisin_meyvesi_gezici_muzisyenler-1146703Google Scholar
Ayata, B. 2011. ‘Kurdish transnational politics and Turkey's Changing Kurdish policy: the journey of Kurdish broadcasting from Europe to Turkey’, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 19/4, pp. 523–33Google Scholar
Baikan, A., and Atuka, T. 2010. ‘Politics and culture in the making of public space: Taksim Square, 1 May 1977, Istanbul’, Planning Perspectives, 25/1, pp. 49–68Google Scholar
Bakıner, O. 2013. ‘Can the spirit of Gezi transform progressive politics in Turkey’, Jadaliyya, 3 JulyGoogle Scholar
Bauman, Z. 1998. ‘On glocalization: or glocalization for some, localization for others’, Thesis Eleven: Critical Theory and Historical Sociology, 54/1, pp. 37–49Google Scholar
BBC. 2013. ‘Turkey Emek Cinema Protesters Released after Clash’, BBC News, 8 April 2013. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22066885Google Scholar
Bianchi, R. 2015. ‘Il Sistema di Potere di Erdoğan’, Antropologia Politica, 11 December. http://www.rivistadiscienzesociali.it/antropologia-politica-il-sistema-di-potere-di-erdogan/Google Scholar
Bianchi, R., and Coşkun, B. 2009. ‘The function of opera across borders: Italian and Turkish identity construction’, Anglistica, 13/2, pp. 59–70. http://www.anglistica.unior.it/content/music-and-performance-identityGoogle Scholar
Bora, T. (ed.) 2008. Modern Türkiye'de Siyasi Düşünce Cilt 2/Kemalizm, Edition 7 (Istanbul: İletişim)Google Scholar
Bora, T. 2014. ‘Gezi ve Orta Sinif’, Birikim, 302/June, pp. 23–33Google Scholar
Bostan-Ünsal, F. 2013. ‘Gezi Park protests’, MESA, Review of Middle East Studies, 47/1, pp. 19–21Google Scholar
Çakir, R. 1998. ‘Political Alevism versus political Sunnism: convergences and divergences’, in Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives, Transaction vol. 8 (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul), pp. 63–8Google Scholar
Cantek, L. 2014. ‘Bizzz Bu Kızı Sokakta Bulmadık’, Birikim, 302, pp. 65–70.Google Scholar
Cemal, H. 2003. Kürtler (Istanbul: Doğan Kitap)Google Scholar
Cizre, Ü. (ed.) 2007. Secular and Islamic Politics in Turkey: The Making of the Justice and Development Party (London: Routledge)Google Scholar
Claësson, O. 2014. ‘Doctors urged to condemn Turkey's emergency care law’, The Lancet, 383/9921, 15 March, p. 941. http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(14)60466-9.pdfGoogle Scholar
Çobanoğlu, Ö. 2000. Aşık Tarzı Kültür Geleneği ve Destan Türü (Ankara: Akçağ Yay)Google Scholar
Daği, I. D. 2005. ‘Transformation of Islamic political identity in Turkey: rethinking the West and Westernization’, Turkish Studies, 6/1, pp. 21–37Google Scholar
Davutoğlu, M. 2001. Stratejik derinlik: Türkiye'nin uluslararası konumu (Istanbul: Küre Yayınları)Google Scholar
Della Porta, D., and Mattoni, A. (ed.) 2014. Spreading Protest: Social Movements in Times of Crisis (Colchester: ECPR Press)Google Scholar
De Zorzi, G. 2010. Musiche di Turchia: Tradizioni e Transiti tra Oriente e Occidente. Con un Saggio di Kudsi Erguner (Milan: Ricordi)Google Scholar
Dressler, M. 2013. Writing Religion: the Making of Turkish Alevi Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press)Google Scholar
Eccarius-Kelly, V. 2010. ‘Nationalism, ethnic rap, and the Kurdish diaspora’, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 22/4, pp. 423–31Google Scholar
Ekmekci, O. 2013. ‘When urban planning gets political. The history of Taksim Square’, ArchDaily, 14 June. http://www.archdaily.com/?p=388271Google Scholar
European Commission (2004) Report 656 final – SEC(2004) 1201Google Scholar
Eyerman, R., and Jamison, A. 1998. Music and Social Movements: Mobilizing Traditions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)Google Scholar
Feigenbaum, A. 2014. ‘100 Years of tear gas: a chemical weapon drift off the battlefields and into the streets’, The Atlantic, 16 August. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/100-years-of-tear-gas/378632/Google Scholar
Flesher Fominaya, C. 2010. ‘Collective identity in social movements: central concepts and debates’, Sociology Compass, 4/6, pp. 393–404Google Scholar
Flesher Fominaya, C. 2014. Social Movements and Globalization: How Protests, Occupations and Uprisings are Changing the World (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan)Google Scholar
Gezi Forums. 2013. Everywheretaksim, August. http://everywheretaksim.net/category/gezi-forums/about-the-forums/Google Scholar
Githens-Mazer, J. 2008. ‘Locating agency in collective political behaviour: nationalism, social movements and individual mobilisation’, Politics, 28/1, pp. 41–9Google Scholar
Gitlin, T. 2012. Occupy the Nation. The Roots, the Spirit and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street (New York: Harper Collins)Google Scholar
Gökay, B. and Xypolia, I. (eds) 2013. ‘Reflections on Taksim-Gezi Park protest in Turkey’ (Keele: Keele University Series)Google Scholar
Göktürk, D. 2010. ‘Projecting poliphony: moving images, traveling sounds’, in Orienting Istanbul: Cultural Capital of Europe?, ed. Göktürk, D., Soysal, L. and Türeli, I. (London: Routledge)Google Scholar
Gramsci, A. [1975] 2001. Quaderni dal carcere. Edizione critica dell'Istituto Gramsci a cura di Valentino Gerrentana (Turin: Einaudi)Google Scholar
Gül, M., Dee, J., and Cünük, C.N. 2014. ‘Istanbul's Taksim Square and Gezi Park: the place of protest and the ideology of place’, Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38/1, pp. 63–72Google Scholar
Gündoğar, S. 2004. Muhalif Müzik: Halk Şiirindeki Protesto Geleneğinden Günümüz Politik Şarkılarına (Istanbul: Devin)Google Scholar
Gunter, M. 2010. A Historical Dictionary of the Kurds (Lanham,MD: Scarecrow Press)Google Scholar
Hardt, M. 2014. ‘On continuity and leadership’, interview by Hakan Topal, 6 October, New York. http://vimeo.com/76658716Google Scholar
Houston, C. 2008. Kurdistan: Crafting of National Selves (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press)Google Scholar
Hurriyet Daily News. 2015. ‘Hundreds gather for Iftar dinner on main Istanbul street’, 19 June. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hundreds-gather-for-iftar-dinner-on-main-istanbul-street.aspx?pageID=238&nid=84227Google Scholar
Inal, K. 2013. Gezi, İsyan, Özgürlük (Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayınları)Google Scholar
Isin, E. F., and Nielsen, G. (eds) 2008. Acts of Citizenships (New York: Zed Books)Google Scholar
Johnston, H. 2009. ‘Protest culture: performance, artifacts and ideations’, in Culture, Social Movements, and Protest, ed. Johnston, H. (Farnham: Ashgate)Google Scholar
Kahyaoğlu, O. 2003. Grup Yorum: And Dağlarından Anadolu'ya Devrimci Müzik Geleneği ve Sıyrılıp Gelen (Istanbul: neKitaplar)Google Scholar
Kinna, R. 2012. Bloomsbury Companion to Anarchism (London: Continuum)Google Scholar
Koerbin, P. 2011. ‘Pir Sultan Abdal: encounters with persona in Alevi lyrics songs’, Oral Tradition, 26/1, pp. 191–220Google Scholar
Küçük, H. 2002. The Role of Bektashi in Turkish National Struggle: A Historical and Critical Study (Leiden: Brill)Google Scholar
Kugay, K. 2007. ‘The way of Kurdish music’, Sign Out, 51, Summer, p. 2Google Scholar
Kushner, D. 1977. The Rise of Turkish Nationalism: 1876–1908 (London: Frank Cass)Google Scholar
Kütahyali, R. O. 2014. ‘Is Turkey heading towards an Alevi–Sunni clashes?’, Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East, 16 March. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/tr/originals/2014/03/turkey-alevi-sunni-clash-erdogan-secular-media.htmlGoogle Scholar
Lustiger-Thaler, H. 2000. ‘The miniaturisation of collective action: ghettos and global space’ in Urban Movements in a Globalising World, ed. Hamel, P., Lustiger-Thaler, H. and Maler, M. (London: Routledge)Google Scholar
McDonald, 2006. Global Movements: Action and Culture (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell)Google Scholar
Mélikoff, I. 1975. ‘Le Problème Kızılbaş’, Turcica, VI/I, pp. 49–67Google Scholar
Mélikoff, I. 1998. ‘Bektashi/Kızılbaş: historical bipartition and its consequences’, in Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives, Transaction vol. 8 (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul)Google Scholar
Milliyet. 2013. ‘Tencere-tavada ilk dava açıldı’, 20 August. http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/tencere-tavada-ilk-davaacildi/gundem/detay/1752224/default.htmGoogle Scholar
Melucci, A. 1995. ‘The process of collective identity’, in Social Movements and Culture, ed. Johnston, H. and Klanderman, B. (London: Routledge)Google Scholar
Nettl, B. 2005. The Study of Ethnomusicology. Thirty-one Issues and Concepts (Champaign, IL: The University of Illinois Press)Google Scholar
Newman, S. 2010. The Politics of Postanarchism (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press)Google Scholar
O'Connell, J.M. 2005. ‘Sound sense: Mediterranean music from a Turkish perspective’, in The Mediterranean in Music: Critical Perspectives, Common Concerns, Cultural Differences, ed. Cooper, D. and Dawe, K. (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press)Google Scholar
Öktem, N. 1994. Laiklik, Din ve Alevilik Yazıları (Istanbul: Der Yayinlan)Google Scholar
Olsson, T., Özdalga, E., and Raudvere, C. (eds) 1998. Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives, Transaction vol 8 (Istanbul: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul)Google Scholar
Öncü, A. 2008. ‘The politics of Istanbul's Ottoman heritage in the era of globalism. Refractions through the prism of a theme park’, in Cities of the South: Citizenship and Exclusion in the 21st Century, ed. Drieskens, B., Mermier, F. and Wimmen, H. (London: Al Saqi), pp. 233–64Google Scholar
Özgür, I. 2006. ‘Arabesque music in Turkey in the 1990s and changes in national demography, politics, and identity’, in Turkish Studies, 7/2, June, pp. 175–90Google Scholar
Özkirimli, U. (ed.) 2014. The Making of a Protest Movement in Turkey (Basingstoke: Palgrave)Google Scholar
Öztürk, L. 2012. ‘Ethno music therapy and traditional Turkish music in the context of cultured oriented music therapy’, in Kalpe Tibba, Tiptan Kalbe (From Heart to Medicine, from Medicine to Heart). Proceedings of Seminars 2006–2012 (Istanbul: Tümata)Google Scholar
Potuoğlu-Cook, Ö. 2010. ‘The uneasy vernacular: choreographing multiculturalism and dancing difference away in globalised Turkey’, Anthropological Notebooks, 16/3, pp. 93–105. http://www.drustvoantropologov.si/AN/PDF/2009_1/Anthropological_Notebooks_XV_1_Sanders.pdfGoogle Scholar
Rodnitsky, J. 2006. ‘The decline and rebirth of folkprotest music’, in The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest, ed. Peddie, Ian (Aldershot: Ashgate), pp. 17–29Google Scholar
Rumelili, B. 2011. ‘Turkey: identity, foreign policy, and socialization in a post-enlargement Europe’, European Integration, 33/2, pp. 235–49Google Scholar
Saatci, M. 2002. ‘Nation-states and ethnic boundaries: modern Turkish identity and Turkish–Kurdish conflict’, Nations and Nationalism, 8/4, pp. 549–64Google Scholar
Sassen, S. 1991. The Global City (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press)Google Scholar
Sehlikoğlu, S. 2013. ‘Kissing the Mahrem in Ankara’, Cultural Anthropology, 31 October. http://www.culanth.org/fieldsights/405-kissing-the-mahrem-in-ankaraGoogle Scholar
Shankland, D. 2003. The Alevis in Turkey: The Emergence of a Secular Islamic Tradition (London: Routledge)Google Scholar
Spinetti, F. (ed.) 2010. Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha: Musical and Historical Trajectories between Italy and Turkey/Giuseppe Donizetti Pascià: Traiettorie musicali e storiche tra Italia e Turchia (Bergamo: Fondazione Donizetti)Google Scholar
Steinberg, M. W. 2010. ‘when politics goes pop: on the intersections of popular and political culture and the case of Serbian student protests’, Social Movements Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest, 3/1, pp. 3–29Google Scholar
Stokes, M. 1992. The Arabesque Debate: Music and Musicians in Modern Turkey (Oxford: Clarendon Press)Google Scholar
Stokes, M. 1994. ‘Turkish Arabesque and the city: urban popular culture and spatial practice’, in Islam, Globalization and Postmodernity, ed. Akbar, A. and Donnan, H. (London: Routledge)Google Scholar
Stokes, M. 2003. ‘Turkey’ in Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World (Locations 6 Africa and the Middle East), ed. Sheperd, J. (London: Continuum), pp. 273–8Google Scholar
Stokes, M. 2010. The Republic of Love. Cultural Intimacy in Turkish Popular Music (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press)Google Scholar
Street, J. 2005. Politics and Popular Culture (Cambridge: Polity Press)Google Scholar
Street, J. 2006. ‘The pop star as politician: from Belafonte to Bono, from creativity to conscience’, in The Resisting Muse: Popular Music and Social Protest, ed. Peddie, I. (Farnham: Ashgate)Google Scholar
Street, J. 2012. Music & Politics (Cambridge: Polity Press)Google Scholar
Street, J., Hague, S., and Savigny, H. 2007. ‘Playing to the crowd: the role of music and musicians in political participation’, The British Journal of International Relations, 10/2, pp. 269–85Google Scholar
Suny, R. G. 2009. ‘Truth in telling: reconciling realities in the genocide of the Ottoman Armenians’, American Historical Review, 114, pp. 930–46Google Scholar
Tanıl, B. 2014. ‘Gezi ve Orta Sınıf’, Birikim, 302, pp. 23–33Google Scholar
Thelwall, M. 2014. ‘Analysing YouTube audiences reactions and discussions: a network approach’ in Analysing Social Media Data and Webnetworks, ed. Cantijoch, M., Gibson, R. and Ward, S. (London: Palgrave Macmillan)Google Scholar
Tocco, L. 2014. ‘Turkish civil society: a reading of Kadin Gazetesi through a Gramscian Lens’, in Contemporary Turkey at a Glance. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Local and Translocal Dynamics, ed. Kamp, K., Kaya, A., Keyman, E. F. and Onursal Besgul, O. (Berlin: Springer)Google Scholar
Tore, H. 2013. ‘12 Eylül sonrası muhalif müzik part 2’, Taraf, 17 April. http://www.taraf.com.tr/hakan-tore/makale-12-eylul-sonrasi-muhalif-muzik-2.htmGoogle Scholar
Turino, T. 2008. Music & Social Life. The Politics of Participation (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press)Google Scholar
Turkish Medical Association (2013) ‘The health status of the demonstrators’, 15 July 2013. http://www.ttb.org.tr/index.php/Haberler/veriler-3842.htmlGoogle Scholar
Van Gelder, S. (ed.) 2011. This Changes Everything: Occupy Wall Street and the 99% Movement (San Francisco, CA: Berret-Koheller)Google Scholar
Way, L. C.S. 2015. ‘YouTube as a site of debate through populist politics: the case of a Turkish protest pop video’, Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 10/2, pp. 180–96Google Scholar
Yörük, E. and Yüksel, M. 2014. ‘Class and politics in Turkey's Gezi protest’, New Left Review, 89. https://newleftreview.org/II/89/erdem-yoruk-murat-yuksel-class-and-politics-in-turkey-s-gezi-protestsGoogle Scholar
Zekiyan, L. B. 2010. ‘Armenian–Turkish relations in the framework of Turkish and Armenian scholarships’, Iran and the Caucasian, 24, pp. 367–86Google Scholar
Zürcher, E. J. 2010. Turkey: A Modern History (London: Tauris)Google Scholar
Akın, F. Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul [Motion picture]. Istanbul RTV Film. 2005Google Scholar
Azem, I. Ekümenopolis: Ucu Olmayan Şehir (Ecumenopolis: City without Limits). Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Kibrit Film, York Street Productions International. 2012. https://youtu.be/maEcPKBXV0MGoogle Scholar
Çapulcular. Çapulcu Sarkılar. 2013. http://capulcular.bandcamp.com/album/apulcu-ark-lar (accessed 7 June 2013)Google Scholar
Diren Gezi. ‘Eyvallah’. 2013. https://youtu.be/UHnv6tGmIGIGoogle Scholar
Duman. ‘Eyvallah’. Istanbul. 2013. https://youtu.be/JpvUSjaSeLgGoogle Scholar
Kardeş Türküler, Tencere Tava Havası. Istanbul. 2013. http://youtu.be/o-kbuS-anD4Google Scholar
Lermi, A., Çorak, M., Yıldız, Ö. et al. Diren Karadeniz. Diyen Gitti Film Yapım. 2012. https://youtu.be/AWF-Y_tdsk8Google Scholar
Özgür, G., and Severgnini, M. Gezi'nin Ritmi. Motion picture. Tunnel Production. 2014Google Scholar
Akın, F. Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul [Motion picture]. Istanbul RTV Film. 2005Google Scholar
Azem, I. Ekümenopolis: Ucu Olmayan Şehir (Ecumenopolis: City without Limits). Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Kibrit Film, York Street Productions International. 2012. https://youtu.be/maEcPKBXV0MGoogle Scholar
Çapulcular. Çapulcu Sarkılar. 2013. http://capulcular.bandcamp.com/album/apulcu-ark-lar (accessed 7 June 2013)Google Scholar
Diren Gezi. ‘Eyvallah’. 2013. https://youtu.be/UHnv6tGmIGIGoogle Scholar
Duman. ‘Eyvallah’. Istanbul. 2013. https://youtu.be/JpvUSjaSeLgGoogle Scholar
Kardeş Türküler, Tencere Tava Havası. Istanbul. 2013. http://youtu.be/o-kbuS-anD4Google Scholar
Lermi, A., Çorak, M., Yıldız, Ö. et al. Diren Karadeniz. Diyen Gitti Film Yapım. 2012. https://youtu.be/AWF-Y_tdsk8Google Scholar
Özgür, G., and Severgnini, M. Gezi'nin Ritmi. Motion picture. Tunnel Production. 2014Google Scholar