The contemporary reflection of the vocal peşrev tradition within the framework of Feldman’s studies: The case of Kani Karaca’s “TRT Peşrevi”

Abstract

Peşrev is one of the fundamental genres of Ottoman-Turkish music that has undergone formal and functional transformations throughout its historical development. Although it is predominantly defined today as an instrumental form, historical sources indicate that the peşrev was also performed vocally in different periods and cultural contexts. This study aims to examine the vocal peşrev practices documented in historical sources within the framework of Walter Feldman’s assessments and to evaluate a contemporary reflection of these practices through Kani Karaca’s performance of the “TRT peşrevi.” The sample of the study consists of Kani Karaca’s performance in which he places the first and last names of TRT artists over the melodic structure of Seyfettin Osmanoğlu’s Bayati peşrev. Document analysis and comparative musical analysis methods were employed. The source notation and Kani Karaca’s performance were compared in terms of hane-mülazime organization, preservation and alteration of the melodic structure, note additions and omissions, ornamentation, rhythmic variations, and sectional abbreviations. The analysis revealed that Karaca largely preserved the formal and melodic characteristics of the peşrev; employed limited melodic and rhythmic variations in the first, second, and third hanes; and introduced more pronounced melodic changes and sectional abbreviation in the fourth hane. Based on these findings, the study does not claim that the TRT peşrevi represents a direct continuation of the historical vocal peşrev tradition. Rather, it concludes that it shares a common performance mechanism with historical vocal peşrev and text-setting practices in terms of transforming an existing instrumental peşrev into a vocal performance and placing new verbal elements onto its melody. In this context, Kani Karaca’s performance is evaluated as a distinctive modern reflection of the vocal peşrev practice.