Comparison of the musical understanding of the Velime Group in the music folklore of Diyarbakir and the musical understanding of today's the Local Performance Community

Abstract

Diyarbakir music folklore, which has a very old history, became widespread during the Artuqid period, enriched by showing great developments during the Akkoyunlu period, and reached its peak during the Ottoman Empire. In addition to Folk Music, minstrelsy and Minstrel (poet) Tradition, Sufi (Mystic) Music, Classical Turkish Music and Folk Poet Tradition are performed within Diyarbakır Music, which has a rich variety. Some ensembles were established in order to recognize such a rich musical culture and to spread this culture, and efforts were made to keep the tradition alive. The group that took on this task in the past took part in the Velime Nights and was called the Velime Group. The Velime Group pioneered the preservation and transmission of the Diyarbakir musical tradition. As a continuation of the Velime Group, the 'local performance community' is trying to maintain this culture in today's conditions in order to keep the Diyarbakır Music tradition alive today, to transfer it to the next generation and not to destroy this culture . The research is a qualitative research and was conducted as a case study. First of all, the literature on the subject was scanned, and a semi-structured interview form was created by the researcher to collect data for the research. The people to whom the interview form was applied were determined in line with the 'purposive sampling', provided that they had participated in the Velime Group and the Local Performance Community for at least 7 years. Accordingly, a total of 6 (six) participants, 3 (three) in the Velime Group and 3 (three) in the local performance group, were interviewed. In line with the results obtained, it was determined that the first reason for the establishment of the Local Performance Community was to keep the music tradition of the Velime Group alive. In addition, it was determined that the works performed differ in terms of diversity, order, maqam order, and the environment in which the performance is performed. It is recommended that the people who take part in the Velime Nights take place within the local performance group, and that the night should be repeated regularly, once a month, taking into account the conditions of that day, in order to re-live the Velime Nights in order to continue the musical understanding of the Velime Group.