Özet:

To borrow from Eric Hobsbawm, “Age of Empires” is now replaced by the age of nation states, while tones between the past and the present are combined with a motive for rediscovery and re-adoption. As people emotionally identify themselves with their nations, the merge of moments reinforce their readiness for political action leads to the emergence of symbolic elements associated with constructions of nationalism. Myths, rituals and mementoes become a social reality through historicity. Language, meanwhile, is a factor of collective consciousness of the repertory that will help cultural elements make decisions as a single voice. Language as well as traditions shared over time as a product of collective memory, turn into a discourse which creates a sense of continuation of the real existence of previous generations by way of creating historical knowledge. In addition to language, national anthem or flag also help consolidate this sense of national identity. Music is an instrument with an ideological use network that creates the highest influence in the inner worlds of members of a nation. This is because music is a unifying sign of culture, an emotion in a political context, an attitude and a network of common relations. In order to reach out to an independent and real past, truth will be derived out of the voices inside the concept of “national.” Construction of politic nations in the Balkans, Middle East or in Europe were to turn into a cultural construction process at the same time. The process in Turkey, meanwhile, was shaped in the historical continuum between the last century of the Ottoman Empire and the foundation of the Republic. In particular, the ideas about the roots of Turkish music as argued by ideologist Ziya Gökalp led to heated debates in Republican Turkey. The situation was also a sign of how decisive a cultural issue could be in the political climate of 1930s. The present paper will discuss the situation between music and national identity in early Republican period within a historical musicological perspective alongside effects of sociocultural syntheses.

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