Neşet Ertaş and the Ontologies of Turkey’s Folk Music

Abstract

This article examines a series of ambiguities and apparent contradictions surrounding a copyright lawsuit over the song “Mühür Gözlüm,” penned by Turkish singer-poet Ali İzzet Özkan but reinvented and popularized by another famous performer, Neşet Ertaş. It argues that these ambiguities emerge because of how Ertaş engaged with a series of institutions: rural traditions, state folklore, and copyright. These institutions enact distinct music ontologies that sometimes overlap and sometimes clash. This account highlights Ertaş’s agency in navigating this complex situation, thereby clarifying how individuals negotiate the kinds of ontological pluralism that often emerge in (post) colonial or modernizing contexts.