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Teaching Resources for “Music as a Tool of Protest and Political Activism in Turkey" - Curated by Dr. Danielle Schoon and Dr. Melinda McClimans

The following resources are for teaching about protest music in Turkey and other countries of the Middle East and North Africa. We include music playlists, films, and articles about protest music. The resources emphasize Turkey, but we also included material for teaching about Egypt, Iran, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia. Enjoy!

 

Turkish Music Playlist:

 

White, J. (April 28, 2021) "Turkish Kaleidoscope musical playlist." Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/turkish-kaleidoscope-musical-playlist

 

 

Films and Videos about Sulukule: 

 

Canim Sulukule/ My Beloved Sulukule by Najla Osseiran. https://vimeo.com/19842109

 

Last Days of Sulukule by Mundi Romani. https://youtu.be/dP6bZgqDM9c

 

Sulukule Mon Amour by Azra Denix Okyay. https://vimeo.com/188335859

 

Ghetto Machines by Tahribad-i Isyan. https://youtu.be/wx36mnZvEO0

 

Wonderland with Tahribad-i Isyan, by Halil Altindere. https://youtu.be/hHZUOTxkBDQ

 

 

Gezi Park Protests:

 

(There are a ton of videos about this if you just Google search Gezi Park protests, but these are 2 that Dr. Schoon uses in her classes.)

 

 

Taksim Commune: Gezi Park and The Uprising In Turkey by Brandon Jourdan. https://vimeo.com/71704435

 

Ground Zero: Turkey - The Protesters of Gezi Park by Vice News. https://youtu.be/mUOpCtQCinY

 

Articles about hip hop group Tahribad-i Isyan: https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/turkey-tahribad-i-isyans-rap-rebellion

  

 

Articles about Turkish Protest Music:
 

Aksoy, Ozan E. (2013). "Music and reconciliation in Turkey." in The Kurdish Question in Turkey. Routledge.

 

Alessandrini, A., Nazan Üstündağ, and Emrah Yildiz, Eds. (Fall 2013). "'Resistance Everywhere': The Gezi Protests and Dissident Visions of Turkey." JadMag (1.4). https://tadweenpublishing.com/products/jadmag-issue-1-4-resistance-everywhere-the-gezi-protests-and-dissident-visions-of-turkey

 

Avcı, Mustafa. (Nov 2020). "Political Music in Turkey: The Birth and Diversification of Dissident and Conformist Music (1920–2000)." in The Oxford Handbook of Turkish Politics, Edited by Güneş Murat Tezcür. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190064891.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190064891-e-33

 

Bianchi, R. (2018). "Istanbul sounding like revolution: The role of music in the Gezi Park Occupy movement." Popular Music, 37(2), 212-236. doi:10.1017/S0261143018000016

 

David, I., & Toktamış, K. (Eds.). (2015). Everywhere Taksim: Sowing the Seeds for a New Turkey at Gezi. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18z4hfn 

 

Koray Degirmenci. (2013). Creating Global Music in Turkey. Lexington Books.

 

Schoon, Danielle van Dobben. (2014) ‘Sulukule is the gun and we are its bullets': Urban renewal and Romani identity in Istanbul. City, 18:6, 655-666, DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2014.962885

 

Seeman, Sonia Tamar. 2019. Sounding Roman: Representation and Performing Identity in Western Turkey. Oxford University Press.

 

Way L.C.S. (2015) "Spaces of Protest in Turkish Popular Music." In: Mazierska E., Gregory G. (eds) Relocating Popular Music. Pop Music, Culture and Identity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137463388_2

 

Way L.C.S.  (2016). "Protest music, populism, politics and authenticity: The limits and potential of popular music’s articulation of subversive politics." Journal of Language and Politics, Volume 15, Issue 4, Jan 2016, p. 422 - 446. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.15.4.03way

 

Yarar, Betül. (2008). "POLITICS OF/AND POPULAR MUSIC: An analysis of the history of arabesk music from the 1960s to the 1990s in Turkey." Cultural Studies, 22:1, 35-79, DOI: 10.1080/09502380701480402 

 

 

 

 

 

Protest Music in Other Countries of the Middle East & N. Africa: 

 

Articles on Protest Music of Egypt:


https://merip.org/2012/05/the-people-want/

https://merip.org/2013/01/egypts-music-of-protest/ 

 

 

Iranian Protest Music:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKAi4Z204jI - Eendo (Naale ye Shabgeer) from Iran, on the "Green Revolution" of 2009 - the link includes lyrics in English

 

 

 

Article on Protest Music in Morocco:

https://merip.org/2012/05/protest-song-marocaine/ 

 

 

Palestinian Protest Music:


1. Return David Rovics 

2. Palestine: Music of the Intifada

by Various Artists, Sabaya Al Intifada, et al. | 1992

3.  Ehda'a - In Solidarity with the Palestinian People

4.  My Favorite Enemy : Tracks- By the Lake; Yal Leil; Blessed; Hases Maei Almusika; Ripples; Balaila; Then There's You; Tzamaa Nafshi; Sameera; Stones (2011 MUSIC CD)

5.  One Sky Rahim Alhaj 

6.  Exile Gilad Atzmon 

 

Tunisian Protest Music:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxtCKKFhvWw - El General (Rayes Lebled) from Tunisia, on the Ben Ali and the first days of Arab Spring