A general belief exists in Turkish culture that music had developed around the palace. However, when examining traditional Ottoman music, music was seen to have not only been limited to the palace environment but to have also developed in cities, homes, coffee houses, mosques, and Mevlevi lodges. For this reason, Turkish music culture did not follow a Western course to the public.

Ottoman music began being influenced by the West in the 18th century when Selim III brought Western musicians to Istanbul for his opera concert. By including Western music groups in their touring schedules, Istanbul society’s interest in Western music has become fashionable and the people of Istanbul encountered polyphonic Western music in this way. With the proclamation of the Tanzimat, modernization efforts in the field of music intensified, and a Palace Orchestra and Fasıl [program of musical pieces] Committee were included within the body of the Mızıka-yı Hümâyun [military band] founded by Giusepe Donizetti. Despite these modernization efforts, Western music could only be situated academically during the Republican period.

The main idea and infrastructure of the innovations that Atatürk planned to make in the field of music were formed on the framework the Tanzimat had started. The aim was to have the revolution to be made in the field of music be inspired by Western music and to create a new Turkish music that the West would listen to with respect.

Ziya Gökalp’s views on music were also influential in determining the music policy of the period. Although his knowledge of music is controversial, Gökalp wrote in his work “The Principles of Turkism” that two types of music exist in Turkey: The first of which is the Turkish music born out of the people, and the other is the Ottoman music that had been translated from Byzantium by al-Farabi. Gökalp also stated that he found Eastern music to be sick and non-national and argued folk music to be the music of Turkish culture and Western music to be the music of the new civilization.

As a matter of fact, Atatürk thought that national Turkish music could be created by blending folk music, which is seen as the core music of the Turks, with polyphonic Western music. This understanding of music aimed to use the strengths of Western music in Turkish music by adopting the musical institutions of the West and planned in practice to synthesize the polyphonic techniques of Western music with Turkish folk music melodies.

Apart from the institutional reform studies and practices carried out to create a national form of music, another aim was to culturally internalize Western-based Turkish music. In this context, two vocal competitions were organized by the Cumhuriyet newspaper between 1930-1931. The aim of this study is to examine these vocal competitions the Cumhuriyet newspaper held. In this context, the article examines the 1930 for the “Song of the Nations” contest to select the Turkish participant of another international song contest held in Paris to play the leading actress in the French film La Chanson Des Nations; and also the “Nightingale of Türkiye vocal contest” held in 1931 by performing a content analysis of the news published at this time. The study examines within its scope the newspaper issues of Cumhuriyet, which organized the competitions, as well as the issues of Son Posta that involved the competitions between November 1930 and March 1931; and it attempts to determine how much the competitions had been affected by the alafranga and alaturka debates and the extent which the contests affected the reforms to be made in the field of music

In particular, the competition in the field of Western music organized by Cumhuriyet newspaper for people to participate in the movie “Song of Nations” in 1930 created the atmosphere the Republican regime desired. The intellectual personality of Hudadat Şakir Hanım, who came first in this competition, can be said to have been suitable for the Turkish national music culture the Republican regime wanted to create.

Nightingale of Türkiye vocal competition held in 1931 did not attract as much attention as the movie “Song of Nations” contest in 1930. Cenap Şahabettin said that the songs in Nightingale of Türkiye competition made his soul feel old, that he had listened to all the “Istanbul nightingales” with his ears closed, and that he had a hidden sadness in his mouth upon leaving the hall. Şahabettin’s comments are in line with Atatürk’s criticisms of Turkish music.

The alafranga-alaturka debates appeared in the vocal contests and continued into early 1930s. These debates even lasted until the end of the ban on Turkish music radio broadcasting in 1934. Later Atatürk tried to express that his words on the subject were misunderstood in different environments. Because his greatest desire was to ensure that Türkiye adopted the modern music technique as well as to have the Turkish compositions that were loved and listened to in the country also be heard in Europe.