Music and professional musicianship in sinop within the context of bourdieu's "cultural capital, field, habitus" relationship

The social and cultural dimensions of live music production are examined through a sociological perspective in the specific context of Sinop, a province located in Turkey's Black Sea region. This process is analyzed within the framework of Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital, habitus, and field. Accordingly, the aim of the study is to investigate the stage practices, repertoire strategies, spatial preferences, forms of social representation, and processes of professional identity construction among professional and semi-professional musicians active in the Sinop city center and the Gerze district. The research is structured following an ethnographic approach and supported by qualitative data collection tools. Throughout the study, interviews were conducted with 22 participants; direct and participant observations were carried out in four live music venues in Sinop and two in Gerze. These observations took place in both indoor and open-air venues and included five weddings, two open-air concerts, practices in 13 live music venues, two choir ensembles, four music recitals, and two Helesa rituals—resulting in a total of 28 observation sessions. Data collection involved semi-structured interview forms, audio recordings, observation sheets, and field notes. During observations, the physical structure of venues, stage arrangements, audience profiles, and forms of performance were examined in detail, while interviews explored participants' socio-cultural identities, musical backgrounds, repertoire preferences, and their relationships with venue owners. The findings show that musical practice is not merely an aesthetic or entertaining activity, but also a social space where cultural identities are expressed, social status is constructed, and symbolic capital is transformed. In this context, the research demonstrates that the music field in Sinop presents a multilayered structure shaped by the intersection of traditional cultural codes and modern industry dynamics, offering a significant example of how Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital, habitus, and field function within a local context.