Belviranlı says the archive will cover the programs of the directorate’s 29 units and include tens of thousands of works. (AA Photo)
Türkiye is preparing a digital archive of centuries-old musical works, historical scores and performance recordings that will be made freely accessible to the public in 2027.
The project, led by the Culture and Tourism Ministry’s General Directorate of Fine Arts, will bring together scores from the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, along with religious hymns, gazels, concert recordings and stage performances.
The archive aims to give musicians, researchers and the wider public access to Türkiye’s musical heritage through a single online platform.
Ömer Faruk Belviranlı, director general of Fine Arts, told said that the directorate oversees 29 orchestras, choirs and musical ensembles, including six state symphony orchestras and the State Polyphonic Choir. Other ensembles specialize in traditional Turkish music, folk music, folk dances and music from different regions.
A separate project is also underway to digitally record artistic productions by the directorate’s ensembles.
He said 15 of the directorate’s 29 units have professional recording studios and that an existing archive of performances will be transferred to an online platform.
“We currently have an archive. All that remains is to bring this archive to life and transfer it to the YouTube channel, or whichever channel we will publish it on, in accordance with our minister’s instructions,” he said.
The digital archive will also include historical musical notation reflecting centuries of Turkish musical tradition.
“Turkish music is a sea,” Belviranli said. “We have in our possession, in the form of an archive, very special scores inherited from the 700-800-year-old Seljuk and Ottoman tradition to the present day, Hamparsum notation, scores written in Ottoman Turkish and many more.”
Hamparsum notation is a historical system developed during the Ottoman period to record Turkish music.
Belviranlı said an exact number of works could not yet be given, but the archive would cover the programs of the directorate’s 29 units and eventually include tens of thousands of works.
He said the recordings would allow people to study individual pieces and performances, while stressing that digital access would not replace the experience of attending a live concert.
The directorate also plans to continue sending musical ensembles abroad. Belviranlı said it had received requests from at least 42 countries for performances marking Oct. 29, Türkiye’s Republic Day.
He said foreign audiences accounted for nearly 80 percent of spectators at some overseas programs, particularly those featuring traditional music, whirling dervish performances, Turkish World music and folk dances.
