Istanbul rock scene, Kadikoy and Taksim scene case

This study covers structure of Istanbul rock life, based on the terms subculture and hegemony to respond "Is there any certain sound in Istanbul Rock Scene or Istanbul Sound? " question with two different ethnographic case. In this study, methods of participant observation and interviews are used. The results on scenes' characteristics and differences between the two ethnography are corroborated by this methods. Fieldwork that collects the samples of this study includes observation process between 2013 and 2014 at Karga Bar on Kadife Sokak in Kadıköy, and Dorock Bar and The Wall Bar on İmam Adnan Sokak in Taksim. In addition to the observations by attending as "audience", this thesis also includes face-to- face interviews with musicians and audiences. Thus, this study aims to make a sense of positions of the bands within the frame of scene and to come to a conclusion about "sound" notion from this point of view. People who were chosen for the interviews are generally men, from different age groups between 25-40. Some of them are high school or university graduates who earn money only from live performances and the other part consists of college students who study at university and earn money by playing music. This thesis is looking for the answers about how listeners engage with spaces,mental distances and relationships between spaces and music industry. These points are being evaluated around the term "scene". Rock venues and bars which form the communities, directly related within districts, prove utilisation forms of venue, production-consumption relationships, and finally the venues which form a basis to make musicians and listeners coalesced, were chosen for the scene study. The characteristics and position of Turkish rock music in Istanbul are examined, around Kadıköy Karga Bar, Taksim Dorock Bar, The Wall Bar, and their frequenters. Kadıköy and Taksim communities are different in tendency, creativity and musical consumption; besides, they do not have any certain local sound. These scene structures, Kadıköy and Taksim, which use counter expressions for each other,keep their features of being communities by having their own musical industries and belongings. Besides, these communities create virtual scenes by using social media, and they enrich their locality by creating their own intellectual backgrounds with their own independent magazines and fanzines as they feed their communities around these terms. Second part of the thesis analyses cognitive definition of "scene" notion and its structures in Istanbul. This part also analyses various notions like popular culture, consumption, domination and changeable character of rock music in Turkey -on İstanbul basis- in terms of consumption routines of rock music. At this point, thesis purposes to look at the pieces which complete "scene" closer by questioning the popular consumption of that scene within "scene". This study also analyses popularity, which is non-industrial but comes from the street, and discusses about "How popularised form of rock music can affect Istanbul Rock Scene?" question and its answer. The term "scene" is related with youth culture and subcultural theory, and geographic scenes have certain sounds in those geography relations with locality. In this case, the third part explains "subculture" notion and discusses questions like "Is it possible to find a subculture within Istanbul Rock Scene? If not, what are the reasons?" This study examines subcultural musical styles in Istanbul with musical expression analysis. It is observed that Turkish rock life, who met a rock music that lost meaning of its style, is deprived of meaning of semiotics, falls into ideological and political contradictions, becomes a part of the consumer culture, and does not contain subcultural communities when we look at recent musical works. Final part of the thesis presents two different ethnographic studies from Kadıköy and Taksim districts in Istanbul. This section of the thesis focuses on differences between musical attitudes of the bands in the city and aims to prove these differences around the terms like "sense of belonging" and "regularity", because these two notions are common values for both of these districts. There is more than one scene structure in Istanbul, and each community includes diverse musical style, and they do not identify themselves with any certain style. In the community of Kadıköy, individuals identify themselves around independent "attitudes", while individuals prefer cover music and bands of rock, metal and their subgenres because of the cover tradition in Taksim. 32 people (including musicians, venue owners and listeners) were interviewed along this process, and these interviews were used to indicate the band characteristics in Istanbul and the differences between scenes. Lastly, this study aims to clarify the main question of the thesis in this way. The field is available for new studies since the structure of Istanbul Rock Scene is changing through a dynamic urban space, music industry, and media. These changes and diversities of Istanbul rock music styles show why there are no certain sound structures in Istanbul rock culture.