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Ottoman military bands were the first-recorded Military band marching bands. Though often known as the mehter, this term refers only to a single musician in the band. In the Ottoman Empire, the band was generally known in the plural as mehterân, though those bands used in the retinue of a vizier or prince were generally known as mehterhâne. The band as a whole is often termed mehter bölüğü (' company troop') or mehter takımı (' platoon'). In Western Europe, the band's music is also often called Janissary music because the janissaries formed the core of the bands.
In 1826, the music of the mehters fell into disfavor following Sultan Mahmud II's abolition of the Janissary Corps, who had formed the core of the bands. Subsequent to this, in the mid and late 19th century, the genre went into decline along with the Ottoman Empire. In 1911, as the empire was beginning to collapse, the director of Istanbul's military museum attempted a somewhat successful revival of the tradition, and by 1953—so as to celebrate the 500-year anniversary of the Fall of Constantinople to the forces of Mehmed II—the tradition had been fully restored as a band of the Turkish Armed Forces.
Today, the music of the mehters is largely ceremonial and considered by many Turks as a stirring example of heroism and a reminder of Turkey's historical past. Though the majority of the pieces performed by them are newer compositions.
Today, the Armed Forces Mehter Unit ( Mehter Bölüğü) is the traditional band of the Turkish Armed Forces and it performs regularly at the Military Museum (Askeri Müze) in Istanbul as well as during certain state ceremonies. There is also the Ministry of Culture Istanbul Historical Music Ensemble.
Mehter as Ottoman military music arose in the era of Osman Gazi and had been played in the wars and in ceremonies customarily organized for various everyday purposes. There is not, however, any definite information about this organization until the era of Fatih Sultan Mehmed. With Fatih, while the establishment of the empire was developing, a radical improvement began, as well, in the organization of the mehter ensembles within the Ottoman Army.
Evliya Çelebi provided important data about the mehterhane and mehter musicians in the middle of the 17th century. "There are 300 artists in mehterhane-i Hümayun (the mehterhane of the palace) in Istanbul. These are quite precious and well paid people. There is additionally a mehter takımı of 40 people in Yedikule since there is a citadel. They are on duty three times a day, in other words they give three concerts, so that public listens to Turkish military music. This is a law of Fatih. Moreover, there are 1,000 mehter artists in addition to them in Istanbul. Their bands are in Eyüp S, Kasımpaşa (Kaptan-ı Deryalık, the center of the Turkish Naval Forces), Galata, Tophane, Rumelihisarı, Beykoz, Anadoluhisarı, Üsküdar and Kız Kulesi . These mehter bands are on duty (i.e. give concerts) twice a day, in the daybreak and sunset hour."
Mehterhane preserved its existence, changing continuously, until the Janissaries was abolished in the 1820s. According to its final form, each one was composed of nine , nine , nine naqareh, nine and nine horns/trumpets, plus the timpanist/s using one or two Kos timpani, and a bandmaster. This band was called Dokuz katlı mehterhane (mehterhane composed of instruments, each instrument's number is nine). Mehter had many improvements in its music and performance parallel to its organization and establishment. Furthermore, renovations in the areas of art and culture influenced the music also. The studies and compositions of the music teachers of the palace in the 17th century such as Hanende Recep Çelebi, Zurnazenbaşı İbrahim Ağa, Eyyubi Mehmet Çelebi, Solakzade Mehmed Hendemi (who was also a very famous historian) and Selim III, the sultan and one of the great music masters of the 18th century, had influence on the renovation of the mehter bandsmen and the growth of the repertoire.
Documents from ancient times to the present indicate that yurağ (zurna), sıbızgı (sipsili nefir, the horn), the horn of Hun (şahnay), burguv (the horn), kuğruv (kös), tümrük (davul) and ve çeng (the cymbals) were the instruments in the tuğ band of the Turks in central Asia.
There were two types of zurna used by the Ottoman bandsmen. One of them was called the kabazurna having a low tone was played in the mehterhanes of the Ottomans and Kırım. 100 instrumentalists had played the kabazurna in the 17th century in Istanbul. The other, called the curazurna, small in size and high-pitched, was accompanied by the davul or the çifte na'ra. Evliya Çelebi wrote "There are boathouses belonging to the sovereigns. If the sultan wants to go to the new-palace or somewhere else, he travels at the back of a light galley under the precious dome on the jewel throne by watching the waterside houses, vineyards and orchards and shipyards on the side of Haliç with the accompaniment of only the curazurna and the çifte na'ra performing", while he was talking about the garden of the shipyard in Istanbul. The curazurna as the small zurna was planned to be added to the military mehter unit, which was intended to be established by Enver Paşa in 1917. Kabazurnas were made in Istanbul in the 16th century.
The musical instruments played in the mehterhane of the Ottomans could be classified as follows:
Zurnazenler Bölüğü (the section of the zurna players) had a section leader called the zurnazen who was also called the mehterbaşı (leader of the mehter), wearing red robes and a red cap, who served as conductor of the band. Other members of the section were called zurnacı or zurnazen whose rank was that of a soldier. Zurnazens were dressed in a purple quilted cap wrapped with a white destar on their head, a white robe, a sash around the waist, a red shalwar, yellow Yemeni (light, flat heeled shoes) and a red biniş ( cübbe ).
The zurna is the most fundamental music instrument of the mehter band. It can play all the melodies in solo. Its sound is colorful, lively, pastoral, imposing, emotional and frisky. Sliding sounds as well as short and sharp sounds can be obtained. Many masters of this musical instrument, which is the most convenient instrument for virtuoso playing among Turkish instruments, such as zurnazenbaşı İbrahim Ağa and Daği Ahmed Çelebi from Edirne, whose names are still very well known, come to mind. Moreover, there were great zurna masters among the Ottoman pashas such as zurnazen Mustafa Paşa.
The same organization and uniforms are also seen in the other sections.
In the early 19th century the Vizier's personal band included nine each of drums and fifes and flutes, seven trumpets and four cymbals (plus the optional timpanist).Thornton, Thomas, The Present State of Turkey; Or,: A Description of the Political, Civil, and Religious, Constitution, Government, and Laws of the Ottoman Empire ... Together with the Geographical, Political, and Civil, State of the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, vol. I, p. 267; printed for Joseph Mawman, London, 1809
The costumes worn by the mehterân, despite wide variance in color and style, are always very colourful, often including high ribbed hats which are flared at the top and long robes wrapped in colourful silks. The band director, conductor and section leaders all wear red robes. A colour guard wearing period uniforms and carrying weapons and flags of the era is present.
Percussion instruments:
Wind instruments:
Mehterân usually play classical Ottoman music such as peşrev, semai, nakış, cengiharbi, murabba and kalenderi.
The oldest extant marches were written by Nefiri Behram, Emir-i Hac, Hasan Can and Gazi Giray II in the 16th century. Very few of these pieces are played today in Mehter groups.
17th century
18th century
Local ensembles play in holiday concerts and even in community celebrations all over Turkey.
The Mehter Troop also performs as invited guests to events all over the globe as ambassadors of Turkish musical traditions. For example, the Troop played "Jeeway Jeeway (Long Live) Pakistan" during the Pakistan Day Parade of 2017. The band also appeared in the 1992 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
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