Mike's Oud Forums

Ottoman Women Composers

Jono Oud N.Z - 8-21-2013 at 08:01 PM

I have been looking into female composers from the Ottoman period.
Two I have found so far are Reftar Kalfa (-1700?), and Dilyahat Kalfa (-d-1740)

http://eksd.org.tr/bestecilerimiz/reftar_kalfa.php

http://eksd.org.tr/bestecilerimiz/dilhayat_kalfa.php

The pieces by Reftar Kalfa resemble pieces from the latter works in the Demetrie Cantemir collection, particularity regarding the usul.

This piece is particularly interesting in maqam 'Sabaperisan':

http://eksd.org.tr/bestecilerimiz/reftar_kalfa/sabaperisan_pesrev.p...

Does anyone know anything about this maqam?

I noticed the note tik hisar (eb + 1 comma), (ab in Arabic tuning).
This would have been played as hisar (eb) not tik hisar (eb + 1 comma) in the period that Reftar was composing in (17th - 18th century).
The note saba was played as db (gb Arabic tuning), and kurdi (Bb, Eb Arabic, rather than the + 1 comma note), at this period.
Also the piece concludes in maqam Kurdi, like Turkish Saba Zamazama.
The note segah (Bd, A. Ed) is not notated in the score.
In this kind of notation, the note buselik (B, Ar. E) was written with an accidental (sharp) rather than segah.

I am keen to learn about more Ottoman female composers with surviving notation from history too.

This was informative:

http://www.turkishmusicportal.org/list_composers.php?cat=10&lan...


Some albums:

http://www.tulumba.com/storeItem.asp?ic=MU959924FE636

http://www.tulumba.com/storeItem.asp?ic=MU959923QW899

http://www.amazon.com/Essemble-De-Femmes-DIstanbul-Ensemble/dp/B000...



spartan - 8-21-2013 at 11:55 PM

I'm not sure but I think that Dilhayat Kalfa was also the inventor of maqam Evcara (Awjara)
She composed a pesrev and a semai in this maqam .

Another female composer was Kevser Hanum, I dont know which century is, her longa is very popular though :

http://www.neyzen.com/nota_arsivi/02_klasik_eserler/066_nihavend/nihavend_longa_kevser_hanim_ney.pdf

Jono Oud N.Z - 8-22-2013 at 12:49 AM

Hi:)

Quote:

I'm not sure but I think that Dilhayat Kalfa was also the inventor of maqam Evcara (Awjara)
She composed a pesrev and a semai in this maqam .


True, thank you, very interesting.
I will try and find out more about this.

I know the Longa, good piece.
This is very similar to the Tanburi Jamil Bey one too.


Brian Prunka - 8-22-2013 at 05:52 AM

Then Jamil Bey longa is very different, but the Kevser Hanim one is often mistakenly attributed to Jamil Bey.

Jono Oud N.Z - 8-22-2013 at 02:15 PM

True, you are right.
Then the Longa in my book is really by Kevser Hanim, slightly different but obviously the same piece.

I am not so familiar with the Jamil Bey one, just found it:

http://www.issaboulos.com/archive/scores/lungha-jamil.pdf

Thanks for pointing this out.

Lysander - 11-25-2013 at 06:45 AM

Bumping this since I was scrolling through some topics.

I wrote an article on Dilhayat Kalfa a few weeks back. Some of it addresses life in general in the Imperial Harem [since there are many people reading it who would be totally unfamiliar with Ottoman culture], but there are lots of facts about her too which I had to gather form various Turkish sources and have translated. The most interesting source was a document regarding her possessions and her estate which was very revealing. I had this translated from Turkish too.

I also though that Evcara was invented by her, but was not certain.




adamgood - 11-25-2013 at 07:07 AM

Lysander, I'd love to read your article on Dilhayat Kalfa, any chance you could post or email?

It's also my understanding that she invented Evcara. Her Saz Semaisi is drop dead gorgeous.

According to my website:
http://www.adamgood.com/turkish_nota/rep.php?composer=159&sort=...

There's
Eskisipihr
Evcara
Mahur Beste which I believe I have a recording of.

Also in my mp3 collection I have a Rast Beste.

There must be so much more, I'd imagine a full Takim in Evcara no? Considering she may have invented it.

Adam

mary - 11-27-2013 at 08:15 AM

Lysander, I'd also love to read the article on Dilhayat Kalfa, if you're up for sharing it...