Recording Roman

Abstract

Following the success of nightclub Roman recordings, the burgeoning 45 rpm industry sought to expand into regional markets by recording Roman wedding musicians and their new Roman oyun havası-s. Biographies of Mu[h]acir İbra[h]im, Kemanî Cemal Çınarlı, Deli Selim Kızılcıklar, Kemanî [H]acı Üründülcü, and Kadir Ürün[dülcü] illustrate the de-centering of Istanbul as a musical center and the increased importance of new musical ideas and styles from Edirne. Through oral history interviews and musical analysis, I trace the emergence of particularly “Roman”-marked rhythms, dance tunes with words, and instrumentation from local celebrations into the studios. By tracing this history, I excavate the metaphoric process by which musicians layered new elements into established genres, generating sonically mimetic expressions that reflected and projected new senses of belonging. Recordings also introduced new power dynamics into social relations between musicians and their audiences, while also increasing public forums for the creation, negotiation, and maintenance of cultural projections of Roman identities. The unexpected popularity of the dance song “Mastika Mastika” led to the increasing demand for—and production of—Roman dance songs.