In Istanbul, music to strike a healing note

Tumata, a musical society in Istanbul, researches ethnomusicology and performs soothing sounds of healing music, appreciated in Turkey and abroad.

By Cigdem Bugdayci for Southeast European Times in Istanbul — 26/01/12

Professor Rahmi Oruc Guvenc founded Tumata, the Group for Research and Promotion of Turkish Music, in 1976. [Cigdem Bugdayci/SETimes]

Tumata, the Group for Research and Promotion of Turkish Music, was founded by Professor Rahmi Oruc Guvenc in 1976. It researches and promotes Central Asian music and Ottoman tonalities with their respective instruments.

Guvenc, whose lineage comes from the Central Asian Turks, began first researching the healing power of music from around the world for his doctoral thesis in clinical psychology. He spent the next 30 years lecturing and speaking at seminars on the topic, mainly in Austria.

“Tonalities arose about 1,000 years ago in Central Asia and kept developing until today. Instead of the two tones in Western music, major and minor, there are almost 500 tonalities in Turkish music. Important scientists, writers and researchers concluded that music is good for the human character, the mind,” says Guvenc.

Ethnomusicology, modern medicine, and laboratory findings, in a joint research on healing properties in Turkish music, along with findings from different symposia, concluded that Turkish music can have a positive outcome in teaching, physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Various European cities offer music therapy programs such as Barcelona, Berlin and Mannheim, where the healing properties of Turkish music is recognized.

Along with the instruments, the sound of water is also used as part of the music tonalities, and in the movement therapy tradition, called Baksi dance.

via In Istanbul, music to strike a healing note (SETimes.com).

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