The Republic of Love: Cultural Intimacy in Turkish Popular Music

At the heart of The Republic of Love are the voices of three musicians---queer nightclub star Zeki Muren, arabesk originator Orhan Gencebay, and pop diva Sezen Aksu---who collectively have dominated mass media in Turkey since the early 1950s. Their fame and ubiquity have made them national icons---but, Martin Stokes here contends, they do not represent the official version of Turkish identity; instead they evoke a much more intimate and ambivalent conception of Turkishness. Drawing on theories of cultural intimacy, Stokes considers how Muren, Gencebay, and Aksu's music and careers have contributed to the development of a Turkish concept of love, analyzing the ways in which these singers explore the private matters of intimacy, affection, and sentiment on the public stage.

"This is a wonderful book. Strikingly original, theoretically sophisticated, and brimming with ethnographic and analytical detail, it is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand Turkish politics and culture of the second half of the twentieth century through its complex soundscape of crooning voices and sentimental songs. Stokes is a master at unpacking the `cultural intimacy' of aspects of modern nationhood and personal identity that in the West are often thought of as polar opposites: civic virtue and lugubrious melancholy, democracy and intense emotionality, modernism and nostalgia. I love it."

Veit Erlmann, University of Texas at Austin

"With eloquent and engaging prose, Stokes analyzes the lives and music of three Turkish popular singers, delineating how they create public sentiments often quite distinct from (and sometimes in contradistinction to) those associated with the nation. In their sentimentality, their nostalgia, their gender ambiguity, and their themes of love, these artists model alternative ways of being a modern subject in post-Kemalist Turkey. Engaging the political complexities of the contemporary moment, with its strains of secularism and rising religiosity, Stokes contributes to theories of the emotions by demostrating the importance of style, voice, and personality to the social construction of `public intimacy.' Stokes delves deeply into the historical context of Turkey, but this book has ramifications far beyond the cases examined, breaking new ground in ethnomusicology, anthropology, and Middle Eastern studies. A beautiful and insightful achievement!"

Deborah Kapchan, New York University

"A brilliant, compelling, and erudite study of key figures in Turkish popular music who have often been regarded with some embarrassment in official circles. Stokes ably demonstrates the critical importance of affect and sentimentality in their music, and how in turn these play a key role in contests over civility, urbanity, national identity, and globalization. The Republic of Love will not only help readers comprehend the centrality of Turkish popular music in creating affectionate views of public life, but should also inspire many readers to love the music itself."

Ted Swedenburg, University of Arkansas

Martin Stokes is university lecturer in ethnomusicology at Oxford University and a fellow of St. John's College, Oxford. He is the author or editor of several books including The Arabesk Debate: Music and Musicians in Modern Turkey.