Travelogues

I tried to write a text about the Mehter Band, however I do not know enough and I am not familiar with certain definitions. Therefore I used a prewritten text.

The text below is the offical presentation document displayed at the web site of the Turkish Land Forces Command.

The Mehter Band:
Mehter is a kind of military music associated with the Turkish military traditions and a history of thousands of years. In that respect it formed an example to all countries in the world and thus military music societies developed in various ways into symphonic bands of
today.

Mehter is the sound of thousands of years of Turkish military operations, the understanding of sovereignty and domination spread over the continents. Mehter had been an element representing support, enthusiasm and spiritual satisfaction not only for the Turkish Land Forces Command but for a victorious nation as well.

Turks have a military history that has roots. The Turkish history is known in the world with its military accomplishments and victories. The support of military campaigns with glittering drums and special rhythms had been common in many Turkic states armies since the Huns. In the light of scientific data, it is thought that the history of Mehter goes back some 3000 years. The first written sources about this subject are Chinese and Orhun inscriptions. This tradition started with a Tug; and drums developed and enhanced as the time passed. Thus, this Tug tradition of the Huns changed into Tabılhane in the Seljuks and Mehterhane in the Ottoman Empire. In this era the mehters were the institutions meeting the musical needs of the army, castles and even the society. The Mehter, which evolved and enhanced continuously as the time passed, spread to all the countries in the world in the time period between the Turkic states of the ancient times and the Ottomans of the contemporary times. It is known that from the beginning of the 19th century countries such as Prussia, Russia, Poland and Germany formed their own mehter bands and tug groups.

The Mehters that were shut down with the Yeniceri (Janissary) organization in the late Ottoman era developed in Europe as Military Bands and survived till today. During the 2nd Mesrutiyet (Constitutional Monarchy) times there were efforts to revive Mehter organization and it was established under Müze-i Asker-i Osmaniye institution. It was called “Mehterhane-i Hakani” and played an active role in some fronts in the First World War (1914-1918) and in Kuva-yi Milliye movement during the Kurtulus Savasi (The Independence War of Turkey). In 1952, the Mehter was re-established after fastidious and diligent efforts and it was quite similar to the original one.

Today, the Mehteran Band continues its activities under the Military Museum and Culture Site Command and as a symbolic expression of this historic past it plays at appointed times (nevbet) five days a week. “Nevbet” is an idiom used to express the type of art Mehter does with music. The music played between the beginning and the final of a concert is reffered to as “Nevbet Vurma.”

The chief of the Mehteran Band is “Corbacibasi”. This duty started with Major Orhan Zorlu and continued with Colonel Kemal Caliskan and Lieutenant Colonel Yakut Gokce. The Mehteran Band develops in terms of Organization and Art as the days go by. Today, Corbacibasi is Major Sener TAS.

The concerts begin with the order of Corbacibasi to get into nevbet arrangement and continue by the lead of the Mehterbasi. At the end of the concert, Corbacıbasi gives an order; Mehter gets into line of march and leaves the concert area. The musicians in Mehter are called Cevganis, Zurnazens, Boruzens, Zilzens, Nakkarezens, Davulzens and Koszens and the personnel is made up of officers, noncommissioned officers, civil workers and soldiers. They are all trained fastidiously and carefully.

Mehter plays in a special organizational structure referred to as “kat”. The smallest group has 3 kats (rows.) This means that there will be three items of each instrument. Only the Çevganis will be double the amount of this and kös is always played by only one musician.

The head musician of each instrument group wears red clothes and he is referred to as “sazbasi”. The clothes of the other musicians are blue. Only the çevganis clothes are all red. The biggest mehter known in the history was the “Padisah Mehteri” (The Sultan’s Mehter), which had 12 rows. The Mehteran Band in the Military Museum has 9 rows at present.

In the nevbet arrangement there are 9 tugs and armored guards. The white flag represents sovereignty and domination, the red flag represents the state and the green flag represents Islam in the nevbet arrangement and sancaktars (standard-bearer) carry the flags.

Mehter Band in the Military Museum was formed after an extensive historical research and continues its activities just like a living museum. It is very much liked by especially Turkish people and tourists and, it reminds of our glorious history while watching its activities and concerts.