A reconstructivist account of the new music scene in Türkiye

Abstract

This study offers a multi-layered inquiry into the yeni müzik scene, exploring the localized discourse and practices of new music in Türkiye. It adopts a relational perspective, encompassing both micro and macro-level relationships to provide a comprehensive understanding of this 21st-century urban cultural phenomenon. The methodological approach employed in this study aligns with John Dewey's inquiry, emphasizing a dynamic and collaborative approach to knowledge generation. It involves the flexible utilization of multiple research methods, often simultaneously and in a non-linear fashion, tailored to the specific research needs. Drawing from the social study of music, ethnography, the historical method, and critical theory, this inquiry incorporates a diverse set of tools and ideas to address different research questions and problems. The first perspective (Chapter 2) is methodologically grounded in critical readings in 20th-century Eurogenetic Art Music, primarily sourced from the extensive body of new musicological literature. This approach enables a comprehensive examination of the concept of new music within global contexts, with a specific focus on its resonance within local settings. The concept of new music, when considered on a global scale, emerges from a historical trajectory rooted in 20th-century Eurogenetic Art Music. It has since evolved into a pervasive international field of musical expression, driven by processes of institutionalization, globalization, and digital interconnectedness throughout the 21st century. By closely scrutinizing this musical landscape, the chapter concerns how related notions, including contemporary music, various facets of musical modernism, Neue Musik, and vernacular avant-garde practices, have intersected and coalesced, giving rise to a broader, more flexible conception of new music in contemporary discourse. The second perspective (Chapter 3) delves into the intricate socio-cultural history of yeni müzik as a localized concept within the broader context of contemporary music in Türkiye. The chapter serves as a historical account, combining sources of historiography and ethnography to provide a chronological exploration of events, ideas, actors, and musics. This account considers yeni müzik as an alternative and counteractive force in relation to the prior institutionalization of the Eurogenetic Art Music tradition in Türkiye and the national school of composition known as Turkish Contemporary Music. The reading reveals that early 20th-century synthesis discourse, rooted in a fusion of Common Era Practices of art music with reimagined local elements, initially propagated pre-modern aesthetic values, while politically, it was grounded on nation-state ideology. These values underwent aesthetic challenges in the 1950s through the endeavors of pioneering modernist composers, while only later facing institutional negations starting with the yeni müzik discourse in the late 20th century. Yeni müzik's emergence introduced an alternative paradigm within Contemporary Turkish Music, informed by a distinct episteme that drew from the critical tradition of Neue Musik, American vernacular avant-garde practices, and globalization. This transition resulted in the alternative formation of a compositional scene of yeni müzik, as evidenced by institutional developments. However, the study also highlights the limitations of the institutional and social artistic environment, which has provided shared ground for yeni müzik and the national school of Turkish Contemporary Music, having a continuous relationship, facilitating collaborations and intersections among institutions and musicians. The final perspective (Chapter 4) concerns the current state of yeni müzik after two decades of localization and institutionalization, exploring its meanings and conditions from both local and global perspectives. Drawing on the insights of composers and a critical examination of prevalent thought patterns, this collective inquiry seeks to reveal the social and aesthetic challenges facing yeni müzik. The chapter first dissects the socio-economic challenges yeni müzik faces, emphasizing its isolation due to constraints in financial resources, performance opportunities, audience engagement, and mechanisms of documentation. Within this isolation, yeni müzik emerges as a composer-oriented realm, strongly defined by the professional identity of its creators and the act of composition. The subsequent section investigates the 'post-everything' condition of yeni müzik, underlining its pluralism and value-free conceptualizations. It argues that the 'post-everything' condition allows it to be a fluid and inclusive discourse in transcending cultural and stylistic boundaries, yet also a polysemic and sometimes functional concept that may lack in-depth considerations. As the chapter reveals, yeni müzik also remains rooted in the critical tradition of Neue Musik, shifting from socially constructed value to a well-designed sound object and a subject of research. The chapter ends with composers' reflections on the dominant saturated aesthetics rooted in both continental modernisms and the American vernacular avantgarde tradition, encompassing a wide array of contemporary international trends and well-worn ideas. Drawing inspiration from Adorno's influential essay, this subchapter ultimately poses critical inquiries regarding the 'aging of yeni müzik' and its artistic significance.