“Suffering†1: Commodification of Music and the Effects of 1980 Military Coup On the Music Industry in Turkey

By using Adorno and Horkheimer’s concept of ‘culture industry’ as a theoretical lens, this study aims to explore the rise of arabesque music and the dominance of the theme of “suffering†during the 1980s in Turkey. For this reason, using the concept of “culture industry†, a content analysis of the lyrics of randomly selected 20 arabesque songs which give the names to the albums produced between 1981 and 1986 was conducted within the scope of proposed analysis. The empirical analysis in this paper will demonstrate that after the 1980 coup, music industry was confronted with difficulties such as state monopoly on radio and television broadcasting, conformity rather than consciousness, the effort to create citizenry who was uncritical and the commodification of music. During this period, while the country suffered from the disastrous effects of the 1980 coup on one side, it at the same time glorified a music form, which mostly consisted of themes of suffering, on the other side.