The transformation of the song genre in Turkish makam music and the influence of Egyptian films: the example of the film "Harun al-Rashid's Favorite"

Abstract

The Egyptian film we are discussing, originally titled ‘Denanir’ and released in Turkey in 1941 under the name ‘Harun Reşid'n Gözdesi’ (Harun al-Rashid's Favourite) in İpek cinemas, was directed by Egyptian director Ahmed Bedirhan (1909-1959) on 29 September 1940. In line with the “nationalisation” or “indigenisation” policies of the period, Sadettin Kaynak, who created Turkish “adapted songs” instead of the film's original Arabic songs, opened up an important field in Turkish classical music composition. In our study, the original songs and the adapted Turkish songs in the film Harun Reşid’in Gözdesi were analysed comparatively in terms of form, and their effects on song form were examined in the context of the interaction between Egyptian music and Turkish classical music. The interaction between Turks and Arabs since the Ottoman period can be seen both in social life and in music. Although this exchange weakened politically during the Republican period, it continued in the cultural and social spheres. As a result, this interaction, which became widespread with the cinema sector, affected Turkish makam music in terms of form, instrument and makam usage, especially within the framework of Sadettin Kaynak's composition. In addition to discussing these issues in our study, suggestions are presented in line with the common points of the two music in the corpus, which we can call ‘makam geography’ as a common culture.  For example, works composed by Sadettin Kaynak that do not conform to the song form can be considered as ‘kaside song’ or ‘cycle song’ in line with their structures, instead of collecting them under the name of ‘fantezi song’. These suggestions are of course open to discussion. They can be varied as a result of new propositions and can be used for analyses when a common consensus is reached.