Arabesque music

Infobox Music genre
name=Arabesque music
bgcolor=#87CEEB
color=black
stylistic_origins=Turkish music, Pop music,Arabic music,Middle Eastern music
cultural_origins=1970s for most of the Turkey
instruments=Electric baglama,Bass guitar,Drum kit,Keyboard,Synthesizer,Turntablism,Drum machine,Sequencer,Sampler,Personal computer, Zurna,Traditional Middle East instruments
popularity=Continuous in Turkey,Middle East
derivatives=
subgenrelist=List of pop music genres
subgenres=Turkish music - Traditional pop music - Turkish RnB - Middle Eastern music
fusiongenres=
regional_scenes=
other_topics=Turkish music,Middle Eastern music

Arabesque or Arabesk (Turkish: Arabesk) is a genre termed so by Turkish musicologists for a type of sound to come out of Turkey in the 1950s and 1960s. It has counterparts in a Greek form of pop music known as Skiladiko, Arabic pop music, Serbian Turbo folk, Bulgarian Chalga, Romanian Manele, and Israeli Muzika Mizrachit.

Arabesk involves a versatile collection of music inspired by Turkish folk music and Middle Eastern music. Due to its predominantly Arab-influenced melodies it is considered to be music of the working class. As a result of its declining popularity in Turkey, more recently it has merged with other genres such as rock music and dance music to achieve a more contemporary sound.

Along with Turkish pop music, hip-hop combined with Turkish Arabesk sounds have arrived in the German music scene, also. [cite web|url=http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-301/_nr-75/_p-1/i.html|title=Bassturk, Muhabbet, Tarkan & Co. The German-Turkish Pop Scene|work=Bax, Daniel © Qantara.de 2006 (Translation from German: Nancy Joyce)|accessdate=April 21|accessyear=2006]

Performers

Orhan Gencebay is generally considered the founder of the genre, though he disagrees with the usage of the term. Other well known singers are Müslüm Gürses and Ferdi Tayfur, who have die-hard followers, usually in conflict with each other. In recent years through remixing his tracks into dance friendly club tracks Turkish folk singer Ibrahim Tatlıses has gained popularity amongst the Arabesk scene. However, younger singers such as Emrah and Ozcan Deniz have tried to move away from this genre and into contemporary Turkish pop music.

Traditionally a male dominated genre, its image has changed largely due to an injection of female singers, with most critics attributing to these female singers the "dance" influx of upbeat sound into the genre, that became known as arabesque/fantasy music. [cite web|url=http://tarkandeluxe.blogspot.com/2004/05/Turkish-music-and-artists.html#arab|title=Turkish Music and Artists: Arabesque|work=Yildirim, Ali © Tarkan DeLuxe 2006 |accessdate=March 21|accessyear=2006]

Other notable performers

*Ebru Gündeş
*Seda Sayan
*Sibel Can
*Sotis Volanis

References

Sezen Aksu

External links

*cite web|url=http://tarkandeluxe.blogspot.com/2004/05/Turkish-music-and-artists.html#arab|title=Turkish Music and Artists: Arabesque|work=Yildirim, Ali © Tarkan DeLuxe 2006 |accessdate=March 21|accessyear=2006
*cite web|url=http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-301/_nr-75/_p-1/i.html|title=Bassturk, Muhabbet, Tarkan & Co. The German-Turkish Pop Scene|work=Bax, Daniel © Qantara.de 2006 (Translation from German: Nancy Joyce)|accessdate=April 21|accessyear=2006
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0459242/ Crossing The Bridge]