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DOI :10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006   IUP :10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006    Full Text (PDF)

The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women

Nevin Şahin

Turkish citizens who went to Germany for work in the 1960s and 1970s attached themselves to the language and music of their home country to sustain their local or national belongings. In the context of 21st-century globalization, the second and third generation have different ties with Turkey. Despite the differences, music remains important in the identity processes of the German-Turkish youth who grew up under the influence of the cultures of two countries. This study analyzes the relationship between music and identity, in the context of migration, through the musical experiences of German-Turkish young women. This study aims to give a voice to a “muted” group and an unheard genre as compared to the existing literature on the German-Turkish youth, which especially focuses on young men and alternative music styles. For this purpose, a three-month ethnographic research was conducted among the classical Turkish music choirs of Berlin in 2009. The data show that different belongings play role in the transnational musical experiences of these women and there is a contestation between those belongings. When Turkishness and Germanness in the sense of religion, language and nation are considered, music indicates both an escape from the contestation of belongings and a source of these contestations.

Keywords: Migration, Music, Transnationality, German-Turkish young women, Belongings
DOI :10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006   IUP :10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006    Full Text (PDF)

Göç Bağlamında Müzik ve Kimlik İlişkisi: Türk-Alman Genç Kadınlar Örneği

Nevin Şahin

1960 ve 1970’lerde Almanya’ya işçi olarak giden Türkiye vatandaşları, yerel ya da ulusal aidiyetlerini koruyabilmek adına, anavatanlarının dil ve müzikleriyle bağlar kurmuşlardır. 21. yüzyılın küreselleşme bağlamında Almanya’daki ikinci ve üçüncü kuşak Türkler, Türkiye ve Türk kültürü ile daha farklı bağlara sahiptir. Farklılıklara rağmen, iki ülkenin kültürleri arasında yetişen Türk-Alman gençlerinin kimlik süreçlerinde müziğin oynadığı rol, önemini korumaktadır. Bu çalışma göç bağlamında müzik ve kimlik ilişkisini Türk-Alman genç kadınların klasik Türk müziği deneyimleri üzerinden incelemektedir. Türk-Alman gençliği hakkındaki, özellikle genç erkeklere ve aykırı müzik tarzlarına odaklanan araştırmalardan farklı olarak bu çalışma, “görünmeyen” bir gruba ve duyulmayan bir müzik türüne ses vermeyi amaçlamıştır. Bu amaçla 2009 yılında Berlin’deki klasik Türk müziği korolarında, üç ay süren bir etnografik alan araştırması yürütülmüştür. İlgili korolara devam eden genç kadınlarla yapılan derinlemesine mülakatlar ve katılımın gözlenmesi yoluyla toplanan veri, Türk-Alman genç kadınların ulusaşırı müzik deneyimlerinde çeşitli aidiyetlerin rol oynadığını ve bu aidiyetler arasında çekişme bulunduğunu göstermektedir. Din, dil ve ulus boyutlarıyla Türklük ve Almanlık göz önünde bulundurulduğunda müzik, aidiyetlerin çekişmesinden hem bir kaçışa hem de bir çekişme kaynağına işaret etmektedir. 

Keywords: Göç, Müzik, Ulusaşırılık, Türk-Alman genç kadınlar, Aidiyetler

EXTENDED ABSTRACT


In a world of migration and transnationality the question of “roots and belongings” can be a confusing question. Music plays an important role in the formation of migrant identities and transnational ties, and as a response to the “tone-deafness” of anthropology to music, this study digs into music and identity in the context of migration, through German-Turkish young women’s experiences of classical Turkish music. The second and third generation of migrant communities, who move from “immigrants” to “settled population”, inevitably experience different identification processes because they are at the intersection of the home country and the host country. The diasporic musics signal multiplicity rather than “a state of being stuck between two stools.” This study is an effort to understand the importance of the “home country” and its traditional musics in the experiences of youth with migration histories. Another reason for focusing this research on a traditional genre was that the young people engaging in this genre do not pose a threat to society in terms of cultural representation. As compared to the abundant literature on genres like rap and hip-hop among migrant youth, this study tries to give a voice to a “muted” genre by referring to the “invisibility” of the majority culture. For this purpose, an ethnographic research was conducted for three months among the classical Turkish music choirs in Berlin in 2009. As several of the interlocutors were German citizens, it was difficult to identify them as Turkish on national level. However, it was also difficult to identify them as German as they all had ties with Turkey. To escape an essentialist fallacy, the migration story was taken as the central point and the young women are referred to as German-Turkish throughout the article. The interlocutors were aged between 12 and 27 years, were unmarried with one exception, and were all learning classical Turkish music in choirs. Identity is a concept of multiple disciplines, and it has evolved from a single and holistic term to a flexible and multi-dimensional understanding, leaving its place in international literature to “belongings”. Similarly to other concepts such as “processual identity,” “positionalities,” and “intersectionality,” belongings also refer to a variety of experiences and “fluid and fluctuating” identifications. Identity and belongings are both used in this study as they involve the memories of the “home country” and the “host country,” and people’s experiences of themselves and of others. Transnationality as a concept also signals a multiplicity of identifications; it explains the state of being both here and there, and feeling of being “at home” in different cultures. Theoretical approaches to identity and transnationality assure that the musical experiences of the German-Turkish young women can be understood as transnational. A broad literature focusing on the musical experiences of GermanTurkish youth is available, and their “sitting on a third chair” can be emphasized, as the German-Turkish youth have not been as Germanized as the nation-state wants them to be, but they have not stuck to the Turkishness of their parents either. This third culture comes out in their musical productions in a glocal sense, especially in rap and hip-hop. But it should be pointed out that research on the experiences of music and identity among migrant youth generally leaves behind issues of gender, which cannot be ignored in a study on classical Turkish music that is mainly performed by women in the German-Turkish context. By classical Turkish music, I refer to the genre that was a crucial part of the Ottoman urban life, which has a variety of vocal and instrumental forms spreading across about 500 makams and 80 usuls. This is sometimes acknowledged as Ottoman music, art music, or merely “musiki,” and the history of its performance in Germany among amateur choirs dates back to the 1970s. The data for this study were collected in a three-month ethnographic research mainly in Berlin in 2009. The classical Turkish music circles focused on were Konservatorium für türkische Musik Berlin and Spandau Türk Sanat Müziği Korosu. Benefiting from methodological approaches of “construction of the field,” “multi-sited ethnography,” and “grounded theory,” I integrated semi-structured interviews and expert interviews into the research. In addition to the data collection, as part of the observation of participation, I attended the weekly practices of the amateur choirs, took part in the organization of a concert at Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg hall, sang in one concert, and played the part of a journalist in the final play of the Spandau choir. The data is analyzed into different sub-groups of definitions of the home country, experience in classical Turkish music, relationship with Turkey, Turkishness by levels of language, religion and nationality, and contestation of belongings. In the first sub-group, it is striking that many young women define their home country in two parts: the Turkish town their parents belong to and the German city they were born in. The start of their experience in classical Turkish music is usually associated with a different motivation than the music itself, such as requirements for studying logopedics or being neighbors with the choirmaster. Concerning the relationships with Turkey, many young women spend their summers there, even traveling with the choir to perform in concerts. In regard to Turkishness, there are examples of comparing Turks with other nationalities, especially on an emotional basis and attaching Turkishness to linguistic and religious elements. Although Turkishness is holistically revered among the young women (despite the despised features attributed to Turkishness, such as tardiness and inappropriate behavior in public), the language of communication among them is usually German. The choirmaster of the conservatory, Nuri Karademirli (d. 2013), felt the need to warn his choir about extra-musical issues before a performance in front of an international audience. He used a Turkish saying (Kol kırılır yen içinde kalır.) for referring to the micro-culturally acceptable mistakes and preferred a German sentence (Es geht um uns.) for emphasizing his intolerance for mistakes within transnational representations. This linguistic duality was a miniature example of the variety of belongings and the contestation in between. Another expression by Nuri Hoca when referring to the German-Turkish people, concerning the contestation of belongings, was half in German and half in Turkish: deutsche Türk. The contestation of revered Turkishness and despised Turkishness not only shapes the everyday experiences of German-Turkish young women but also their taste in music and their differentiation of Turkish citizens visiting Germany from GermanTurkish people. As a researcher from Turkey, I received appreciation from many interlocutors, and the main reason behind this was that I was studying abroad and they felt unable to do this due to the fear of racism. The effort of negotiating the tension between different belongings comes out in the performance of classical Turkish music, which as a genre helps the German-Turkish young women distinguish themselves from German youth and at the same time remain socially integrated in general. Despite being well integrated into German society, their concerns about acceptance create another tension, which is, in their opinion, relieved when performing classical Turkish music. Nevertheless, the genre they perform cannot become the genre they listen to or they share with their friends, which makes the source of relief yet another source of tension. This tension was apparent in the repertory of the conservatory choir, in which a German lied was favored more than a Turkish şarkı, although they are chronologically and musically similar. Another example was in the final play at the Spandau choir at the end of the season, which involves a cultural interaction of Turkish people from different parts of Turkey in Café Neva, where their weekly practices took place. Throughout the play, the characters were in conflict around a variety of topics (signaling the contestation of a variety of belongings) but they danced the halay together at the end of the play. All in all, the intersection between migration, transnationality, youth, femininity, and different tastes brings about the tension of the multi-dimensionality of belongings. Music, both as relief from the tension of contested belongings and as a source of tension, results in a reflection of contestations in the meanings attached to classical Turkish music in the eyes of German-Turkish young women.


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APA

Şahin, N. (2018). The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, 38(1), 179-197. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006


AMA

Şahin N. The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology. 2018;38(1):179-197. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006


ABNT

Şahin, N. The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, [Publisher Location], v. 38, n. 1, p. 179-197, 2018.


Chicago: Author-Date Style

Şahin, Nevin,. 2018. “The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women.” İstanbul University Journal of Sociology 38, no. 1: 179-197. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006


Chicago: Humanities Style

Şahin, Nevin,. “The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women.” İstanbul University Journal of Sociology 38, no. 1 (Aug. 2025): 179-197. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006


Harvard: Australian Style

Şahin, N 2018, 'The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women', İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 179-197, viewed 14 Aug. 2025, https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006


Harvard: Author-Date Style

Şahin, N. (2018) ‘The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women’, İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, 38(1), pp. 179-197. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006 (14 Aug. 2025).


MLA

Şahin, Nevin,. “The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women.” İstanbul University Journal of Sociology, vol. 38, no. 1, 2018, pp. 179-197. [Database Container], https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006


Vancouver

Şahin N. The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology [Internet]. 14 Aug. 2025 [cited 14 Aug. 2025];38(1):179-197. Available from: https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006 doi: 10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006


ISNAD

Şahin, Nevin. “The Relation between Music and Identity in the Context of Migration: The Case of German-Turkish Young Women”. İstanbul University Journal of Sociology 38/1 (Aug. 2025): 179-197. https://doi.org/10.26650/SJ.38.1.0006



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Submitted15.03.2017
Accepted08.08.2017

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