A musical examination of 20 pieces in Karagöz Music

Karagöz, Shadow Theater is an ancient art that has survived since the Ottoman period to the present day. Karagöz shows that the people of different nationalities, cultures and beliefs, who use the Turkish language in common, have adopted a single national identity, were fused in the Ottoman identity and lived together with tolerance for one another. By living together for centuries, the Anatolian people with their different cultural identities, traditions, beliefs, languages and music, have fused together and formed the Turkish Nation in today's Turkey. One of the best indicators and a mirror of this fusion is, the Karagöz Shadow Theater and Karagöz Music. The ancient art, Karagöz, has formed and nurtured the music of this national identity for centuries. Therefore with its wide cultural spectrum, it created a very colorful structure and style in his music. In this thesis, it is aimed to contribute to the transfer of Karagöz Music to the future as a cultural treasure by its proper examination from a scientific point of view. Our thesis consists of 9 main titles. Together with Karagöz Music, under the main titles, the concept of shadow-light, the history of shadow theaters in the world, the historical development of Karagöz, its literature and mysticism, folk culture and cultural musicology, visual arts and its technical aspects and the hayâli masters (performers of the Karagöz Shadow Theater) will be examined along with the ethical values of the Turkish Nation, its human characters, as well as its sociological aspect. It is believed that our study will contribute to our natianal culture field by examining the features of Karagöz music as a whole, and it will also be a support study for Karagöz's preservation as it is protected by UNESCO as a cultural heritage. Since the 19th century, the science of anthropology has imposed the precondition that in order to define a nation, that nation should be examined within its culture. According to this theory, it is accepted that the definition of a society as "that community" can be explained by the culture-music relationship. Every music carries traces of the society in which it is formed, and therefore it gives information about people's lifestyle, that is, their culture. The traditions, customs, beliefs, social and economic conditions of the society are also reflected in their music. Music is an important element in Karagöz plays. Although our cultural value, Karagöz Shadow Theater, is thought to be much more rich than what is introduced within the scope of this study, it is aimed to determine and record the musical genre and form diversity and repertoire diversity of Karagöz Music, and to bring a national perspective towards its musical content on this basis. Based on this idea, books, articles, theses, bibliographies, personal archives, visual and auditory sources related to Karagöz Shadow Theater and Karagöz Music were scanned to the extent possible, and the musical works were identified. The pieces of music that were determined to be performed in Karagöz, which differ in terms of their type, form structure, maqam and rhythm, were selected to be examined in this thesis while being limited to a certain number. Pieces of music that reflect our national music thoroughly in its entirety and reveal different cultural features have been examined, and it is strived to musically analyze and introduce them in general terms. Karagöz is the cultural memory of the Turkish Nation, so Karagöz Shadow Play is an important cultural heritage. It is observed that Karagöz Music completely covers Turkish Music and that it integrates Turkish Music with the music of different cultures in Anatolia, in a national integrity, accompanied by the characters in the play. Karagöz Music is an art of folkloric value, which can be a source for scientific research in the field of cultural musicology, reflecting the musical taste of the people of the period it belongs to, with all its reality. Keywords: Karagöz, Hacivat, Music, Shadow Theater, Hayâli