Media and other Archeologies in Southeast Anatolia: The Case of Enver Demirbağ

TY - JOUR

T1 - Media and other Archeologies in Southeast Anatolia

T2 - The Case of Enver Demirbağ

AU - Stokes, Martin

PY - 2024/2/23

Y1 - 2024/2/23

N2 - Enver Demirbağ (1935-2010) is known as the master of the Harput Divan - the urban art music in the (once major) cities of Elazig and Palu in South Eastern Anatolia. Owing to modal formations that tie this music more closely to neighbouring countries than Istanbul, and to improvisatory practices that have restricted efforts to notate it, this is a neglected repertory. Owing to the complexities of life in these cities in the aftermath of Armenian genocide and the Kurdish tribal uprisings early in the century - and various other factors - Demirbağ largely failed to make a national career for himself. The circulation of his recordings, today amongst small groups of afficionados on flash drives, poses some interesting challenges for a media archeology attentive to the workings of lost, obscured or damaged archives. Here, they also invite consideration alongside other - conflicted - archeologies in the region (Çelik 2016). The question, then, becomes one of conceptualizing Demirbağ's voice in a broader landscape marked by various kinds of catastrophe, various kinds of struggle

AB - Enver Demirbağ (1935-2010) is known as the master of the Harput Divan - the urban art music in the (once major) cities of Elazig and Palu in South Eastern Anatolia. Owing to modal formations that tie this music more closely to neighbouring countries than Istanbul, and to improvisatory practices that have restricted efforts to notate it, this is a neglected repertory. Owing to the complexities of life in these cities in the aftermath of Armenian genocide and the Kurdish tribal uprisings early in the century - and various other factors - Demirbağ largely failed to make a national career for himself. The circulation of his recordings, today amongst small groups of afficionados on flash drives, poses some interesting challenges for a media archeology attentive to the workings of lost, obscured or damaged archives. Here, they also invite consideration alongside other - conflicted - archeologies in the region (Çelik 2016). The question, then, becomes one of conceptualizing Demirbağ's voice in a broader landscape marked by various kinds of catastrophe, various kinds of struggle

M3 - Article

VL - 26

JO - Égypte Soudan mondes arabes

JF - Égypte Soudan mondes arabes

ER -