The Şarkı: Ottoman Song Form

The şarkı ("song") is the form that changed Turkish classical music. Where the court tradition built elaborate structures — beste with terennüm, semai in complex usul — the şarkı offered something simpler: a strophic song form with a returning refrain, set in accessible rhythmic cycles, designed to be sung and enjoyed without years of conservatory training.

Structure

Established The standard şarkı has four sections:

1. Zemin — the opening stanza, establishing the melody and the makam
2. Nakarat — the refrain, which returns after each subsequent stanza
3. Meyan — a contrasting middle section, often moving to a higher register or modulating to a related makam
4. Nakarat — the refrain returns, concluding the piece

Attested This structure is sometimes extended: some şarkılar add additional stanzas between nakarat returns, and some omit the meyan. But the basic pattern — verse, refrain, contrasting section, refrain — is the norm.

Established Şarkılar use small usul (rhythmic cycles): aksak (9/8), düyek (8/8), curcuna (10/8), sofyan (4/4), and similar patterns. This contrasts sharply with the large usul (28, 32, or more beats) used in beste and ağır semai. The smaller cycles make the rhythmic structure immediately perceptible to any listener.

The rise of the şarkı

Attested The şarkı form existed before the 19th century, but it was a minor form — a light interlude within the classical fasıl, not a serious vehicle for compositional ambition. The transformation began with composers who saw in its simplicity not a limitation but an opportunity.

Attested Hacı Arif Bey (1831–1885) is the central figure in this transformation. A prolific composer with over 300 surviving works, he elevated the şarkı from salon entertainment to the dominant form of new Turkish art song. His melodic inventiveness, emotional directness, and mastery of text setting demonstrated that the strophic form could carry genuine artistic weight.

Attested After Hacı Arif Bey, the trend accelerated. By the early 20th century, new compositions overwhelmingly favored the şarkı form over the older, more complex vocal forms. The beste and semai became historical repertoire to be preserved and performed, but not the vehicle for new creative work.

Why the şarkı won

Practice Several factors drove the şarkı's dominance:

• Accessibility: the strophic form and small usul made şarkılar easier to learn, remember, and perform than beste with their complex terennüm and large-cycle rhythms.
• Text clarity: the şarkı's simpler melodic treatment foregrounds the poetry, which matters in a tradition where text and melody are inseparable.
• Performance context: as music moved from court settings to public concerts and domestic gatherings, shorter, more immediately appealing forms became more practical.
• Recording technology: when recording began in the early 20th century, the şarkı's compact form fit the time constraints of early recording media better than extended fasıl performances.

Şarkı and makam

Practice Despite its structural simplicity, the şarkı demands genuine makam knowledge from its composer and performer:

• The zemin must establish the makam clearly within a few phrases — there is no leisurely peşrev introduction.
• The meyan section typically modulates to a related makam or emphasizes the güçlü register, requiring the performer to navigate a modal shift and return.
• The nakarat must function both as a melodic hook and as a cadential resolution in the home makam.

Practice Many of the most beloved şarkılar are in the Hicaz family makams — Hicaz, Hicazkâr, Kürdîlihicazkâr — where the augmented second provides immediate emotional impact within the form's compact structure.

Where to go from here

All classical forms in context: Classical Forms. Analyzing a composition: Composition Analysis. A makam created for the şarkı: Kürdîlihicazkâr. The composers: Key Figures in Makam Theory. Rhythmic patterns: Usul and Iqa.