Music from Turkey in Austria

by Hande Sağlam

The following research projects on Turkish immigrants have been conducted within the framework of the IVE's focus on music and minorities:

  • 2005-2006 "Immigrant Music Cultures in Vienna. An inventory of musical identity and acculturation" funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences

  • 2007-2009 "Embedded Industries. Cultural entrepreneurs in different immigrant communities of Vienna" funded by WWTF

  • 2013-2015 "Music, Religion, Integration - Muslims in Styria" supported by Zukunftsfonds Steiermark-Exciting Science

The first project, "Immigrant Music Cultures of Vienna", examined the meaning and function of music in the everyday life of the two largest immigrant groups in Vienna: immigrants from from Turkey and the former Yugoslavia. Their music styles as elements of identification as well as the integration, acculturation and creative exchange processes of these communities were examined in this project using the methods of ethnomusicology.

The second project "Embedded Industries. Cultural entrepreneurs in different immigrant communities of Vienna" examined music marketing strategies of immigrants. The multidisciplinary research design of the project combined methods from sociology, business, economics, ethnomusicology and anthropology to investigate the different marketing strategies and their consequences for immigrants from Turkey among other immigrants in Vienna.

The research project "Music, Religion, Integration: Muslims in Styria" was carried out by IVE employee Hande Sağlam in cooperation with KUG (University of Music and Performing Arts Graz) and Karl Franzens University Graz. Methodologically, the project was about the combination of music psychology and ethnomusicology. The research investigated the musical perception of Muslims in Styria, where communities from Turkey play the central role

The results of these projects were published in the form of a final report as well as various symposia (see: Symposium Cultural Diversity and the Urban Area, Echoes of Diversity und Traditionelle Musik: Von der „Überlieferung“ zur „Vermittlung“? and numerous publications Hande Sağlam and Ursula Hemetek. All of the research data from the above-mentioned research projects are part of the IVE archive. An overview of information on the records is available online under the IVE archive signatures EMW, EKI-TR and MRI (starting in January 2021).