Ottoman classical music understandings and its influence on the social classes were tackled at Yunus Emre Institute with a panel. The event took place on the 24 November, an academic on Ottoman music studies Federika Nardella met with the community for a conference. “Social rise of the Ottoman şarkı:Emergence of the Ottoman bureaucracy and transformation of the fasıl from the 17th to the late 19th century were very widely talked at the event.
“The evolution of the şarkı from musical episode of the fasıl in the mideighteenth century to main focus of composition by the late nineteenth century reflects the transition of the palace service (kalemiye) into a bureaucratic system (mülkiye)” said Nardella. Both processes reveal a complex game of shifting relations between the structures of power and their constitutive elements. Federica Nardella argue that the şarkı is the musical transliteration of a social phenomenon. Proposing a sociological approach, Federica Nardella will use sociologist John Lie’s ‘mode of exchange’ theory (1992) and her own model to identify patterns in structural change and examine the social rise of the Ottoman song.
Nardella then led a Q&A session answering the audience’s questions.
More on Federica Nardella:
Federica Nardella gained a BA English Literature & Creative Writing degree from Royal Holloway University in 2009, and has recently completed the MMus Ethnomusicology at SOAS. He research focuses on late Ottoman/Turkish music – particularly on the şarkı, or song. In addition to her academic interests, she is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (vocals, guitar, flute Turkish ut). She wrote, recorded and produced an EP (Ishtar) and album (Babylon Mood) between 2012 and 2013, and has been active as a performer in Italy and UK from 2004 to 2014. Her love for Ottoman music took her to Istanbul, where she studied with ut master Necati Çelik. She is currently in the process of submitting her PhD. research proposal, which she hopes to develop under Martin Stokes’ supervision at King’s College, University of London
