Degeneration in religious music and the effect of arabesque culture

Transformation and changes in music are not independent from social movements. The changes that a society experiences in the social, economic and political areas directly affect the music genres performed and accepted in that society. Our country has undergone a change since the Tanzimat Reform Era and has undergone radical system changes with the establishment of the republic. The goal of "reaching the level of contemporary civilizations", based on industrialization the emerging migration movements accelerated the social uheavel. In this study; in the context of the changes that our traditional music has undergone and the factors causing these changes, the music productions that contain "arabesque" motifs and which were created by "dressing" to the melodies of our folk songs were examined in terms of showing the degeneration our religious music is exposed to today. Based on the most known examples of these productions, these examples were analyzed in terms of lyrics, rhythmic structure, melodic features and the instruments used. It has been tried to explain that these productions, which they call "hymn", have no structural similarity with the hymn which is one of our traditional religious music forms. The reasons for this type of music to be listened to by a wider audience compared to classical religious music were emphasized.