Perception of folk music and its change reflecting the idea of tradition as a tool for reconstructing the public in Turkey under neoliberal politics

The issues which are at the center of many studies such as Modernization and Westernization movements started in the Ottoman Period; as the developments of these movements in the Republican Period-with their Kemalist emphasis-popular and statist policies; the transformation in the axis of the World War II and the articulation efforts with the bipolar World order; social and political movements parallel to the libertarian movements experienced by the whole world since the 60s and formations in the shadow of the political tensions in the country; the 1980 coup and consecutive conservative-liberal climate and the dominant neo-liberal understanding of economy, which can be read as an extension of the last 20-30 years, and the socio-cultural changes/transformations in the society which is made conservative and/or has been conservative with what this understanding brought are at the center of this study to understand the art policy of Turkey. In all the process of change, policies produced in the cultural field have undoubtedly affected the art life. The focus of this study, in the aforementioned framework, is the transformation processes of the view of "folk music in Turkey". This transformation shows a continuity which is triggered by numerous social, economic, political and similar factors and reflects parallel paradigm shifts. Within this feature, this study reflects the subconscious as well as the social consciousness shaped in the country.