FROM TRANSOXIANA TO ANATOLIA INVESTIGATING THE DIFFUSION OF IRANIAN AND TURKISH MUSIC

The whole territory of the Islamic East, from Uighur to Morocco, has been fertilized by the distribution of traditional Makam music which rooted in same tradition. Such a wide distribution in historical geography has been made possible by the leverage of Islam and wars and by the transmission of cultural trade. This thesis aims to investigate the diffusion of music from Transoxiana to Anatolia with the focus on the Iranian music and Ottoman music. In this research, we mainly focused on Iranian and Turkish Traditional Makam music which had been developed in courts and important cities of dynasties through history. The role of court musicians and musician immigrants was crucial in diffusion of music within this geography. ‘Herat’ and ‘Samarkand’ in Transoxiana region and ‘Bursa’ and ‘Istanbul’ in Anatolia were among important cities in diffusion and interaction of different music and cultures. Great musicians like Farabi, Abu Ali-Sina, Safi al-Din Urmawi, and Abd al-Qadir Maraghi which were known as Makami music predecessors, had significant role in the diffusion of music from Transoxiana and Anatolia . This qualitative research is mainly based on historical documentary content analyses. I mainly used the methodology of documentary research and content analyses. My data also was the combination of primary and secondary sources I also used and examined the cultural diffusion theory which belongs to cultural anthropology field. According to historical sources and musical analyzes, it can be concluded that the Ottoman music had been interacted with Iranian music mostly in Timurid and Safavid periodsaccording to musical anylysis and comparison in Terms of Intervals, Tetrachords, and Dastgahs and Makams, it can be concluded that for the three of Intervals; “Tanini”, “Bakiyye”, and “Mujannab”, we can say that while in Turkish music Mujnnab is divided into two big and small Mujannab and in Iranian music there is only one Mujannab. Coming to the Tetrachords of Both music it is obvious that “Kurdi” and “Chargah” Tetrachords in Turkish music are similar to the “Dashti” and “Mahour” Tetrachords in Iranian Classical music . It can be concluded that the Iranian Classical music and Turkish Classical music both carry the same or very identical musical culture and tradition which is known as makam music, and it is common music of Iranians, Turks and Arabs which has been fertilized and developed through history by the cultural interactions and exchanges in this region.