Turkish Music Culture

Turkey’s cultural fabric is made up of a rich combination of diverse cultures rooted deeply in history. By virtue of its geographical position, Turkey lies at the axis of the cultures of the East, the West, the Middle Eastern, the Mediterranean and Islam. Anatolia is one of the world’s oldest human habitats – hosts of civilizations have called it home – and it enjoys a unique cultural richness with its thousands of years of history. Anatolia’s cultural variety is so rich that we can see great cultural differences even in areas geographically quite close to each other.

This colorful portrait holds just as true for Turkey’s music.

We can categorize the types of music heard through the years of Anatolia’s long history into three groups:

Traditional/Local Music

Modern Turkish Classical Music

Popular Music

Other Music Examples