Arabesk
tagStarted 1960sPeak 1970s–1990sLast big hit 2000s estimate
Arabesk is Turkish popular song steeped in melodrama, heavy string arrangements, ornamental singing, minor-key lament, and a rhythmic feel that can swing between slow anguish and danceable sorrow. It sounds as if the orchestra has just been informed that love is doomed but the nightclub is still open.
History
The style emerged in rapidly urbanizing Turkey among rural migrants and lower-middle-class audiences who heard in it both social displacement and emotional excess; drawing on Turkish art music, Arab popular song, and cinematic melodrama, it reached iconic status through Orhan Gencebay, Müslüm Gürses, Ferdi Tayfur, Bergen, İbrahim Tatlıses, and Kibariye before gradually blending into broader Turkish pop.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Turkish music histories
- artist discographies