Mawlawī Musicians (18th Century)

This article examines 44 musicians in total under the titles of “Mawlawī rite composer”, “performer” and “theoretician” with the purpose of shedding light on their contributions to Ottoman/Turkish music. Aside from other studies, this article focuses on determination of Mawlawī identity of the Ottoman musicians and analyzes them with various aspects such as Mawlawī ranks, cities they live, Mawlawī lodges they attended, and number of works they produced. In this context it has been detected that Mawlawī musicians, who have the rank of dede and dervish, which indicates competence in the mystical path, are more than the others. In this perspective, it can be said that dwelling in Mawlawī lodges influences musical talent positively. On the other hand Nayi Uthman Dede, the shaykh of Galata Mawlawī Lodge and Abd al-Baqi Nas？r Dede, the shaykh of Yenikapi Mawlawī Lodge, come to the fore among the 18th century Mawlawī musicians with the framework of their triple features, namely theoretician, performer, and Mawlawī rite composer