Review in RPM#29 (Winter 1999/2000)

No. 10 July-August 1997, pp.41-45.
Çiğdem Kara: 
Popüler Kültür ve Arabesk 
(popular culture and Arabesque). 

A critical review of discourse on the arabesk among the elite highlighting its pejorative attitude. Note that she defines the arabesk as music of transition process in the period of large migratory movements.

No. 13 March-April 1998, pp.80-85
Can Etili
Arabesk. 

Reflects the mainstream intellectual view on the arabesk, the most popular genre in Turkey. She argues that the arabesk as the music of rural-to-urban migration in which migrants lose their own identity, but, cannot obtain an urban one, and get stock in between. Such a perspective implies deterioration in the lives of migrants which leads one to evaluate the arabesk as musical result of such deterioration. Some comments that makes analogy between the Arabesk of Istanbul and the Salsa of New York are also included.

No. 8 1997, pp.89-99
Murat Meriç
90’larda Müzik: Bir Keşmekeşin Öyküsü 
(The Music in the 90’s: A story of an historical survey of popular styles in the 80’ and 90’s in Turkey)

The essay is mainly based on the following assumptions: a. Impact of the use of music by politicians in terms of the popularity of certain styles: b. Media as a leading factor in the growth of popular music in association with consumerism.

No. 12 1999, pp.141-173
Caner Işık and Nuran Erol
Eleştirel Teoride Kültür Çalışması: Müslüm Gürses Arabeski 
(Studying Culture in Critical Theory. The Arabesk of Müslüm Gürses). 

The essay argues meaning, identity and violence in association with music, focusing on the music of Müslüm Gürses, one of the most famous arabesk singers. Analysis is based on lyrics and data collected from interviews with song writers, Gurses’ fans as well as printed material that mainly appeared in the magazine ‘Arabesk’.