During nearly five hundred years of their existence (1362-1826)the janissaries (from Turkish yeni çeri = new army) were the elite troops of the Ottoman empire. For them there was no other way of life than strict loyalty to the Sult an, to whom they were bound by special privileges linked to their education and career, compounded by their total isolation from common life. At the very beginning they were recruited from children captured in battle, but soon also systematically raised f rom the children of subjugated Christian people within the empire. Hereby and by their obligatory conversion to Islam, they were alienated from their parental roots, whereas because of these same parental roots and because of the fact that they had strong ties with the Bekta*si sect of Islam, they could never assimilate with the Turks, the dominant people in the empire. Last but not least, they could not raise their own families because they had to stay celibate. So the Sultan became a kind of fath er to the janissaries who were a loyal and useful instrument in his power policy.

Depending on their abilities the janissaries could become mercenaries, statesmen, scholars, or artists. Some of them even achieved the high office of Grand Vizier. At the end of the seventeenth century the definitive decline of the Ottoman empir e set in and some formerly conquered territories had to be given up the rules which governed them were relaxed and it became possible for men born Muslim to join the janissary corps. Consequently, during the eighteenth century the janissaries began to act like a state within the state which at last forced Sultan Mahmud II to dissolve the corps in 1826. During futile revolts against this decision, some 15 000 janissaries were killed and 20 000 exiled afterwards.

With the eclipse of the janissaries their orally transmitted music disappeared almost totally with the exception of some which had already been noted down. The Ottoman empire inherited the idea of using military bands consisting of shawms, trump ets, and percussion from Central and West Asian medieval empires, where these units used to symbolize the independence of the rulers to whom they were attached. In the Ottoman empire, the janissary sections which performed music were called meht er. There were many mehter, the size of which depended on the position of the authorities to whom they belonged. The mehter of the Sultan was the biggest, that of the Grand Vizier somewhat smaller, and that of a common governor simply sm all. They used to play their own type of Turkish traditional art music, which was performed during military expeditions and battles, as well as on the occasion of formal events in the palace.

After the second Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, when the victorious Polish and Austrian troops drove the Turks back, complete sets of musical instruments of mehter were seized and later used in the newly established 'janissary bands' of many European courts. Thus the practice of military music in Europe was taken over from the Turks. However, what these occidental janissary bands performed was but a pale shadow of Ottoman mehter music, at most a clumsy, childish, imitation of it. Normally they played a new type of march music at that time totally unknown in Turkey.

After the annihilation of the janissaries, a modern Turkish army was created after the example of European armies. The organization of military bands performing occidental military marches was given to composers like Giuseppe Donizetti and Calli so Guatelli. Later Turkish composers tried to combine the occidental type of military march with Turkish modality, the so-called makam principle. Pleasant though they may have been, their light, popular tunes were of a far lower quality than the or iginal Ottoman mehter music.

When the Ottoman empire was replaced by the modern Turkish republic in 1923 this east-west mixture came to and end (1935) and a radical Europeanization was introduced. Only since 1952, when an old-style mehter ensemble was re-established inspire d by the equally historical Scots Guards, have efforts been made to perform what is left of the traditional mehter music. Often the march music composed after 1826 up to today is sung to actual texts which describe military events or heroic deeds o f personalities in the time at which the composer lived (the Crimean War, Osman Pa*sa), but some texts deal with glorious victories of centuries ago (for example the conquests on the Balkans by Sultan Süleyman I in the sixteenth century).

Nowadays the repertoire of the modern mehter consists of

1. preserved ceremonial customs and works of the old janissary mehter;
2. classical vocal and/or instrumental works which can also be experienced as somehow related to the military life;
3. folk songs and tunes heard and adopted by the janissaries in their campaigns in the Balkans and elsewhere;
4. military marches composed after 1826.

On the first CD one may find these four categories in the following items:

1. track 1a, 1b, 1d, 7b;
2. track 1c, 2, 3a, 3b, 11;
3. track 5, 8;
4. track 4, 6, 7a, 7c, 7d, 9, 10.

To begin with the last, the piece Elçi pe*srevi is mentioned twice (track 1b and 9b), where in fact it is not recorded. It is actually to be found on track 4a. The name of the not-mentioned piece on track 4b is Benef*sezar, a military march. The song by the medieval composer Abdülkadir Mara*gi (1360? - 1435) beginning with the words 'Amed nesimi' is not a kâ but another form of composition called naki*s beste (track 1c). The song of track 2 is not a yüruk semai but a *sark*i in the metre called yüruk semai (6/8 or 6/4). The names of the folk songs and instrumental pieces of track 5 have not been noted.

I shall now give more detailed information about the items on the CD. The names will be given in the official Turkish spelling.

Track 1a: Davet. Greeting of the chief of the mehter followed by his command to play. First one hears the percussion announcing the arrival of the chief, here in a metre called evsat, 26/4 (5 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 4 -+ -4). The command to play has b een omitted in this recording.
Track 1b. Pe*srev (= overture) of the Chancelleries. This is a ceremonial piece. Usually a pe*srev consists of four melodically different sections called hane, each ending with one and the same refrain, called teslim. In this recordi ng only the first hane & teslim are heard. The usul, a metrical-rhythmic cycle of heavy and light beats, in this case isfahte, 20/4. Here, it is performed as 5 x 4/4 metre. The makam (mode) of the piece is Rast.
Track 1c. Nak*i*s beste 'Amed Nesimi' Composer: Abdülkadir Mera*gi (1360? - 1435). Makam: Rast. Usul: Düyek (4/4). A beste is normally based on four verse lines, each followed by a terennüm, a refrain sung on meaningless syllables. In a nak*i*s beste, however, this refrain follows only after the second and fourth verse line. In this performance only the first two verse lines and refrain are heard. The same music would have been repeated for the third and f ourth verse line and refrain.
Track 1d. Son yürük semai (= instrumental final piece in usul Yürük Semai, 6/8). Makam: Rast.

Track 2a. Taksim in makam U*s*sak on zurna (a shawm). The taksim is an ametrical improvisation and is considered to be the ideal means to expose the seyir (= melodic course according to traditional rules) of a makam .
Track 2b. *Sark*i 'Ömrün *su biten ne*svesi'. Makam: U*s*sak; Usul: Yürük Semai (6/4), composed in 1952 by Süleyman Erguner (1902 - 1953). The text expounds on the blessings of being a dervish. The janissar ies of old did not consider themselves to be just soldiers, but they were also dervishes belonging to the Bekta*si order. Since about 1830 up to the present day, the *Sark*i; has been the most popular song type of the traditional Turkish art music. It may have many musical forms which share the common trade that the sung poem has a rhyme scheme. However, the form used far and away the most often consists of one or more stanzas each of four verse lines, of which the second and the fourth, called nakarat, are set to the same melody. The third verse line, called miyan, is reserved for modulation to another mode or for exploring the high regions of the main mode. A change of metre in the miyan is also allowed, bu t this happens relatively seldom. The *sark*i on the CD has the form described above. In the miyan there is a modulation to makam Hüseyni, of course the two stanzas of this composition are both set to the same music.

Track 3a. Pe*srev in makam Rast; Usul: Hafif (16/2). Composed by Refik Fersan (1893 - 1965). Only the first hane and teslim are performed here. The complete pe*srev comprises four hane and teslim. When a pe*sre v is performed incompletely (for example because there is only one following vocal piece or only a short vocal suite is connected to it) or is in other places is treated freely and is not conforming to its traditional rules of composition of mode and metre, it is called medhal.
Track 3b.Kâce (= little kâr) 'Gülyüzünde göreli' in makam Rast. Usul: Devrihindi (7/8: 3+2+2). composed by Münir Nurettin Selçuk (1900 - 1981), one of the most famous Turkish singers of this century. The kâ used to be one of the most difficult song types of Turkish art music and was in fact a test case for good composers. Selçuk's kârce has musically nothing to do with that traditional kâr and has much more in common with the *sark*i form, but is apparently named kârce because it is based as the kâr, unlike the *sark*i on the text of a gazel and moreover to some degree its metre and mode are reminisce nt to a kâr in makam Rast and usul Devrirevan (14/8, 2 x 7/8) composed by Abdülkadir Mera*gi. On the CD only the first stanza of this work has been recorded.

Track 4a. Elçi pe*srevi (= Ambassador's pe*srev) in makam Segâh and usul Düyek (4/4). Composed by Yildirim Gürses (born in 1940). In the middle section of this piece one hears makam Hüzzam with its augmented second between the fourth and fifth degree of the scale.
Track 4b. Pe*srev 'Benef*sezâr' (= Place abounding in violets) in makam Rast and usul Düyek (4/4). The modern style of the two pe*srevs on this track are more suggestive of more military marches, though these latter are preferably set in the usul Sofyan (4/4), than in the syncopating usul Düyek(4/4 = 8/8: 1+2+1+2+2).

Track 5a. Taksim preceding a suite of folk songs and dances from the Turks living on the Balkans. This taksim has a folkloristic mood and is because of this is not improvised according to the strict classical modal rules. There is a mixture of the makams Hicazkar, Mahur, and Suzinak.
Track 5b. Folk song 'Bülbüller `ötüyor' (The nightingales are singing) in makam Mahur and in usul Aksak (9/8: 2+2+2+3). This song is supposed to have been brought back by the Turks after their occupation of more th an 150 years of Hungary. Track 5c. 'Estergom kalesi' (The fortress of Estergom). Folk song also believed to be from Hungary. For a long time Estergom, not far to the east of Vienna, was the first Turkish city after leaving Austria. The song is in makam Hicaz and in usul Aksak (see above).
Track 5d. 'Dayler dayler' (Mountains, mountains). Folk song from the Southern Balkans (Macedonia and Thrace) in makam Uzzal and in the rarely heard local 15/4 metre (4+3+4+4) here changed into 4 x 4/4 metre (see my comment on this song in th e booklet of PAN 2007 CD *Calgija. Music from the Balkans and Anatolia #2).
Track 5e. 'Kirmizi gülün al*i var' (The red rose is the color of vermillion). Folk song from the Southern Balkans (Macedonia and Thrace) in makam Hümayun and in usul Sofyan. Track 5f. 'Gelin havas*i'. Instrumental folk dance melody for the bride from Thrace, in a Hicaz-coloured makam Hüseyni and in usul Sofyan (4/4).
Track 5g. 'Ediruc kar*s*ilmas*i'. Characteristic folk dance of the surroundings of the city of Adrianople (Thrace) in makam Hüseyni and in 9/8 metre (2+2+2+3)

Track 6. 'Eski ordu mar*s*i' (= Old army march). 'Ceddin deden' (Your ancestor, your grandfather) in makam Hüseyni and in usul Sofyan. Composed by Kaptanzad*i Ali R*iza Bey (1881 - 1934).

Track 7a. Mehter mar*s*i 'Gafil ne bilir' (What a stupid man knows) in makam Mahur and in usul Sofyan (4/4). Composed by Ismail Hakk*i Bey (1866 - 1927).
Track 7b. Conclusion of Gülbank duasi, the final prayer after a mehter concert ending with the words 'yektir Allah' (= there is only one God).
Track 7c. Yeni Malazgirt mar*s*i'Ya Allah bismillah' (In the name of Allah). Malazgirt is the name of a place in eastern Anatolia (province of Mu*s, north of Lake Van) which gave this 'new march' its name. In makam Rast and in usul Sofyan.
Track 7d. Hücum mar*s*i (march on the advance) in makam Neva and usul Sofyan (4/4).

Track 8. Gen*s Osman. Folk song from Ayd*in, near the Aegean coast of Western Anatolia, in makam Ni*sabur and in usul Sofyan (4/4). The song text deals with the young Turkish hero Osman, who fought in Bagdad.

Track 9. Ordunun duasi (the prayer of the army). March in makam Rast and in usul Sofyan (4/4).

Track 10. Atatürk mar*s*i in makam Acemkürdi and in usul Sofyan (4/4), composed by Cemal Cümbü*s (20th century). Kemal Pa*sa who liberated Turkey from its occupiers and founded the Turkish Republic in 1923, ordered every subject of the state to take a surname. For himself he chose the name Atatürk (= father of the Turks). In this march he is honoured. The concluding phrase of this piece has been transposed by one octave. This has nothing to do with the prescri bed melodic course of makam Acemkürdi which is in fact blurred by this transposition, but should merely be seen as a search for a final theatrical effect of which many Turkish singers make use.

Track 11. Taksim on zurna (a shawm), showing a mixture of the makams Segâh, Hüzzam, Müstear, and Maye, which despite some differences in their scales are certainly closely related to each other in having the same final tone (segâh) and the same dominant (neva, the third step). This taksim has a rhythmical metrical base provided by the percussion above which the zurna, supported by a second zurna, which performs the drone of the final tone segâh, improvises the melody in a seemingly free manner in order to stress the in essence ametrical taksim character, but ultimately obeying the given metrical pattern.

Although in its repertoire the CD represents all types of compositions and improvisation nowadays performed in mehter bands, the selection of the pieces performed from the point of view of their musical quality and their recording, is less satis fying. In nearly all the pieces which are sung, the choir has been recorded far too softly in relation to the instruments and, adding to the imbalance the acoustics are to hollow. The upshot is that the words sung cannot be distinguished properly. This is all the more amazing because in Turkey a series of five cassettes has been issued, completely free of these recording faults. Furthermore on these cassettes, many works of which the musical quality is better than of those on this CD are to be heard. Of t he entire 24 works on the CD, six mediocre pieces in makam Rast are too much. More makams should have been expected in the repertoire, than the 11 makams in total which are represented. The excellent and clearly written general inform ation about the janissaries is strangely at odds with what the CD repertoire actually offers.

The second CD, Turkish military band music of the Ottoman empire, consists of the repertoire announced, complemented by six pieces taken from the branch of the so-called ince saz music, a refined classical chamber music performed at the c ourt of the sultans. As far as the military pieces are concerned, their selection, musical quality, and recordings are hardly different from those of the CD discussed above. The booklet of this CD comprises only a very short summary of the foregoing text in Japanese, which I cannot understand. However, within the systematic discussion of the items on the CD, some words printed in the latin alphabet according the Turkish spelling do occur. They concern names of composers and makams. Together with th e information on the back of the CD, the most essential information can at least be gleaned. In the following survey, I will discuss only some additions and corrections to that information.

Track 1. Eski oru mar*s*i.
Track 2. Ordu mar*s*i 'Ordumuz etti yemin'. Usul (metre): Sofyan.
Track 3. Devlet mar*s*i 'Askerlerim'. Makam: Rast. Usul: Sofyan.
Track 4. Tekbir ve cenk mar*s*i. Ismail Hakk*i Bey (1866 - 1927). Makam: Rast, usul: Nim Sofyan. Track 5. Genç Osman. Folk song from Ayd*in (West Anatolia). Makam: Ni*sabur; Usul: Sofyan.
Track 6. Sivastopol mar*s*i 'Sivastopol ününde'. Makam: Rast. Usul: Sofyan. The text of the song deals with the siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean war (1853 - 1855).
Track 7. Pe*srev in makam Rast. Usul: Hafif (16/2). Composed by Refik Fersan (1893 - 1965). Only the first hane and teslim are performed here.
Track 8. This is not as indicated a pe*srev in makam Saba, but a zeybek, the dominant folk dance of the Aegean region of Anatolia. There are many zeybek. This one has the name Tavas zeybe*gi, after a town in that reg ion. Its usul is A*g*ir Oynak (9/2: 3+2+2+2) and its makam Hicazziraguuml;le. Atatürk made the zeybek into the national Turkish dance.
Track 9. Cihad-*i ekbar mar*s*i, 'Artar cihatla *san*im*iz' (Our happiness grows with the holy war). Composer: Kâz*im Uz (1872 - 1938). Usul: Sofyan.
Track 10. Fetih mar*s*i 'Yürekler kabar*ik'. Makam: Rast; Usul: Sofyan.

Track 11. Hicaz taksim and Estergom kalesi (Balkan-Turkish folk song from Hungary) also in makam Hicaz.
Track 12. Mehter mar*s*i 'Gafil ne bilir'. Usul: Sofyan. Composer: Ismail Hakk*i Bey (1866 - 1927).
Track 13. Zafer mar*s*i 'Tarihi çevir'.
Track 14. Shleyman mar*s*i, 'Düstü vaktaki rahmaderden'. Makam: Segâh; Usul: Nim Sofyan (2/4).
Track 15. This piece is not as indicated as a sazsemai, but a march which is called Hücum mar*si. It is in makam Neva and usul Sofyan.

Track 16. The same piece as on track 11.
Track 17. Same piece as on track 1, followed by the final part of gülbank duasi, the prayer which concludes a mehter concert.
Track 18 - 21. Examples of ince saz music.
Track 20. *Sark*i in makam Nihavend 'Gülzare sal*in' composed by Halûk Recâi (1912 - 1972) on a text of Nedim. Usul: alternating four bars of Türk Aksa*gi (5/8: 2+3) and two bars of Aksak (9/8: 2+2+2+3).
Track 21. *Sark*i in makam Kürdili Hicazkar 'Kaldi yollarda', composed by Haf*iz Yusuf Efendi (1857 - 1925). Usul: Aksak (9/8: 2+2+2+3)

About this CD, as far as it comprises military music, exactly the same has to be said as of the one reviewed above. The selection of the repertoire is too one-sided, the musical quality of most works is poor, and the sound quality of the recordings is unsatisfactory, because the choir is too soft in relation to the instruments. Moreover, the acoustics are too hollow, meaning that the words sung cannot be heard properly. The ince saz part on the CD, however, shows two interesting taksim (i mprovisations) in relatively seldom heard modes (makam) and two introductory taksim to a following *sark*i. They give an idea of how the ince saz music survived in the homes of music-lovers in Istanbul.