62. Today in 1920s Turkey: 16 February 1924 (Istanbul’s Dance Problem)

(Cartoon by Ratip Tahir Burak, Karagöz, 16 February 1924, no. 1661, page 4.)

Comments:
This cartoon presents a dance hall occupied by several fashionably dressed couples and a live band in the foreground. Identifiable by their traditional headdresses, the journal’s mascots, Karagöz and Hacivat are located just beyond the orchestra. The dancing pair of youngsters closest to the band appear exhausted and this detail directly pertains to the text located below the cartoon.

The title of the cartoon suggests that the new music and dance styles sweeping Istanbul, the country’s largest city, is a negative development as it is labeled a “trouble.” Indeed, since the dance and the music are borrowed from another culture, namely Euro-American or as the Turks called it “alafranga” they are up for debate and subject to opinions of approval or disapproval in a way that domestic/local cultural products are generally not (unless, that is, the local/traditional practices are being challenged by modernists). And yet, based on the dialogue that ensues between Karagöz and Hacivat we are left with the humorous notion that regardless of the origins of the dance style (local vs. imported) either way people are fatally exhausting themselves for the sake of recreation.

English:
Istanbul’s Newest Trouble
Hacivat: I’ve not been able to wrap my head around this Western song and Western dance, Karagöz!
Karagöz: I cannot understand the point of agonizing like this standing on one’s feet while there is already the beautiful Zeybek dance in which one twists to the music until they perish, Hacivat!

Türkçe:
İstanbul’un Yeni Derdi
Hacivat: Bu alafranga çalgı ile alafranga oyuna hiç zihin sardıramadım Karagöz!
Karagöz: Güzelim zeybek havasıyla, kıvırmasına can verdiğim çifte telli dururken böyle ayakta can çekişmeye aklım ermez Hacivat!

(Entire page, Karagöz, 16 February 1924, no. 1661, page 4.)