Community Music and Belonging: Songs from Istanbul in Manchester

Description

This research focuses on relations between the members of a community choir consisted of a Turkish society in UK. The participants of the choir continued the class weekly basis for one year and they performed twice during this period. The contents of the lessons consist of classical and folk music repertoire and basic music theory. The songs chosen for the concerts reflected the culture and traditions from all regions of the country, but most were about the representation of Istanbul as the most important cultural city of Turkey.
I analysed the groups’ behaviour and musical experiences of the members. I also had a chance to observe the approaches of the audiences. The audiences were Turkish and non-Turkish people with a ratio of 70 and 30 per cent. I asked people what they feel during the performance. How can the audience experience the music without understanding the lyrics exactly? Did members of choir and audiences feel like they are in Istanbul with the songs and stage- settings? This study aims to understand the importance of belonging, relations and interactions before, during and after a representative performance in a foreign country. The subject will be explained by social capital and network theories.

Period	11 Sept 2019 → 13 Sept 2019
Event title	Royal Musical Association Annual Conference
Event type	Conference
Conference number	55
Location	Manchester, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International