Haydar Tatlıyay and the Movie “Ben Bir Günahsızım” in Arabesque Music Discussions in Turkey
Emre Üstgül, Sıtkı Bahadır TutuHaydar Tatlıyay (1890-1963) is an important figure who stands out as both a violin performer and a composer in twentieth century Turkish classical music. In addition to many corporate and private musical works in Turkey, considering the close friendship relations he established with Arab countries and musicians, the names he sometimes gave to his works that evoke Arab culture, and his personal musical tastes towards Arab music, he is one of Turkey’s most popular musicians of the recent period. It is not a surprise that the name Tatlıyay comes to the fore in arabesque music discussions, which is one of the topics of research and discussion. Tatlıyay’s top cinema project, the film "Ben Bir Günahsızım", is an important source of data to find traces of the view put forward by many researchers that "The pioneer of arabesque is Tatlıyay". The main purpose of this article is; To question the existence of the "pioneering" role attributed to Tatlıyay in arabesque music discussions in Turkey, based on the music-stage harmony of the movie "Ben Bir Günahsızım" and the diversity of the music performed in the movie in terms of genre, and to identify the artist’s function in the development and spread of this music by comparing it with the arabesque elements that developed in the historical process. is to This subject, which also concerns the disciplines of sociology and social psychology, has been approached within the framework of recent music history. In the qualitative research focusing on the arabesque elements in Tatlıyay’s music, literature review and document analysis methods were used. The structural analysis of the film was conducted through qualitative evaluations, and the similarities between the melodrama technique and arabesque f ilms were identified. As a result, it was concluded that Tatlıyay’s musical identity aligns with the social conditions that paved the way for the development of arabesque music in Turkey, and thus the artist secured his place in this process.
Türkiye’de Arabesk Müzik Tartışmalarında Haydar Tatlıyay ve “Ben Bir Günahsızım” Filmi
Emre Üstgül, Sıtkı Bahadır TutuHaydar Tatlıyay (1890-1963), yirminci yüzyıl Türk sanat müziğinde gerek keman icracısı gerek besteci kimliğiyle ön plana çıkan önemli bir figürdür. Türkiye’de ku rumsal ve özel olmak üzere birçok müzik çalışmasının yanı sıra, Arap ülkeleri ve müzisyenleriyle kurduğu yakın dostluk ilişkileri, zaman zaman eserlerine verdiği Arap kültürünü çağrıştıran isimler ve kişisel müzik beğenilerinde Arap müziğine olan yatkınlığı göz önüne alındığında, Türkiye’nin yakın döneminin en popüler araştırma ve tartışma konularından biri olan arabesk müzik tartışmalarında Tatlıyay isminin ön plana çıkması sürpriz değildir. Tatlıyay’ın zirve sinema projesi olan “Ben Bir Günahsızım” isimli film, pek çok araştırmacının ileri sürdüğü “arabeskin öncü ismi Tatlıyay’dır” görüşünün izlerini bulmak için önemli bir veri kaynağıdır. Bu makalenin temel amacı;Türkiye’de arabesk müzik tartışmalarında Tatlıyay’a atfedilen “öncülük” rolünün varlığını, “Ben Bir Günahsızım” filminin müzik-sahne uyumundan ve filmde icra edilen müziklerin tür bağlamında çeşitliliğinden hareketle sorgulamak ve tar ihsel süreçte gelişen arabesk unsurlarla karşılaştırıp sanatçının bu müziğin gelişip yayılmasındaki işlevini tespit etmektir. Sosyoloji ve sosyal psikoloji disiplinlerini de ilgilendiren konuya yakın dönem müzik tarihi alanı çerçevesinde yaklaşılmıştır. Tatlıyay’ın müziğindeki arabesk unsurların odağa alındığı nitel araştırmada, literatür tarama ve belge inceleme yöntemleri kullanılmıştır. Filmin yapısal çözümlenmesi nitel değerlendirmeler kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiş, melodram tekniği ile arabesk f ilmler arasındaki benzerlikler tanımlanmıştır. Sonuç olarak, Tatlıyay’ın müzik kim liğinin Türkiye’de arabesk müziğin gelişimini hazırlayan sosyal koşullarla örtüştüğü ve bu sebeple sanatçının süreçte kendine yer edindiği görüşüne varılmıştır.
The arabesque music debates that have been going on for nearly half a century in Turkey are still valid today. In order to determine the starting point of this music, researchers focus on the sociological and political fractures in Turkish society in the historical process. The change and transformation movements that took place in the last century of the OttomanEmpireandarecalledtheTanzimatperiodareevaluatedinthiscontext.DuringtheTanzimatperiod,traditional Turkish music wasrelegated to the background, and the music supported by the palace was Western music. This process accelerated the introduction of traditional Turkish classical music to foreign elements. Arabic music, which rose in the last period of the Ottoman Empire, can be seen as one of these foreign elements. Haydar Tatlıyay (1890-1963) is an important figure in twentieth-century Turkish classical music who stands out as both a violin performer and a composer. In addition to many corporate and private musical works in Turkey, considering the close friendships he established with Arab countries and musicians, the names he sometimes gave to his works that evoke Arab culture, and his personal musical tastes towards Arabic music, he is one of Turkey’s most popular musicians of the recent period. It is not a surprise that the name Tatlıyay comes to the fore in arabesque music discussions, which is one of the topics of research and discussion. Discussions about arabesque music continue around the impact of music on the individual, and therefore on society, and the names that played a role in the spread of this genre in Turkey. This article focuses on the reasons why violin player and composer Haydar Tatlıyay is considered among the pioneers of arabesque music by many researchers, and aims to make a detailed evaluation beyond the brief information given about these reasons. In his article for the Republic Period Turkey Encyclopedia, Oransay (1983, p. 1507) stated that the development of Arabic music started in the 1850s and spread especially in cities such as Cairo, Damascus and Aleppo. Oransay, who defines Arabic style performance as the repetition of very short musical expressions one after the other and the movement of the human voice with the instruments, particularly drew attention to the performances made from the upper eight. He underlines that Tatlıyay is an important musician in the spread of this style, which he defines as Arabic style. Tatlıyay, who took part in four films throughout his career, is his peak project in this field, the 1959 film "Ben Bir Günahsızım". In addition to being the musical director of the film, the artist also composed special musical pieces for the film and took part as a violin performer. In the discussions, the role of the cinema industry in the spread of arabesque was emphasized. This emphasis was effective in determining the focus of the article, and also made it necessary to focus on the relationship between melodramas and arabesque films, which were popular in the years when the examined film was released. In the movie "Ben Bir Günahsızım", which can be seen as Tatlıyay’s top project in the cinema industry, the answers to the questions "What are the indicators of the arabesque elements in Tatlıyay’s musical identity and how were they established?" were deemed important in terms of identifying the arabesque elements in the composer’s musical identity. In the film, the relationship between scenes and the music accompanying them are the scenes was especially emphasized, the representation of lifestyles and social segments through music are examined, and Haydar Tatlıyay’s role in the process of constructing arabesque elements is focused on. The context is placed at the center of the qualitative evaluations based on the structural analysis performed. The problem of the research is whether the structural arabesque indicators in the artist’s performance can be determined through a certain performance. In this study, it is aimed to provide explanations to the problem, which is of particular interest to disciplines such as sociology and social psychology, within the framework of the field of recent music history. The qualitative research method was preferred as a method in this study because it enables the parameters affecting the phenomenon to be considered together. In line with the purpose of the research, it was necessary to exhibit an interpretive perspective in the examination of the phenomenon that took place in a geography and history where the indicators of arabesque music were not yet definite. The research sample was selected purposefully. The document used in the analysis of arabesque elements, the film "Ben Bir Günahsızım", is the only film in which Tatlıyay took part as a music designer and performer after his musical identity was definite. The only sample used in the study is the sample type that can be expressed as atypical, sparse, special or unique. The role of the cinema sector has been emphasized in the discussions on the spread of arabesque. This emphasis was effective in determining the focus of the article, and it made it necessary to examine the relationship between melodramas and arabesque films, which were popular in the years when the film was released. In the content analysis, the relationship between the film scenes and the music accompanying the scenes was emphasized, the musical representation of the lifestyles and social segments reflected in the film was interpreted, and a structural analysis was carried out by focusing on Haydar Tatlıyay’s role in the construction of arabesque indicators.