Creating Global Music in Turkey looks at the rise of ”world music” in Turkey by analyzing this country’s various “traditional” or ethnic music forms. The book focuses on the uniquely Turkish musical forms exemplified by Gypsy, Sufi, and Folk music, and explores how these have been incorporated into the global discourses of world music. In doing so, the book also shows how the place-making strategies of globalization are embodied through the construction of an “authentic” Istanbul sound under the label of world music. The reader is invited to consider each musical tradition as being a unique realm in its incorporation into world music. The process of incorporation and appropriation is explained by examination of the specificities of each realm. This book is unique within the relevant literature, focusing on the production of a global cultural form outside of the Western world. It uses the findings of comprehensive ethnographic research to reveal to the reader the strategies of actors, the discursive mechanisms in the field, and how the world music markets operate.

"Koray Değirmenci’s Creating Global Music in Turkey is a study of how ‘world music’ has been constituted as a new musical category in Turkey since the turn of the millennium. . . . This is a relatively short book (125 pages of main text) that manages to both pack in a lot of detailed analysis and offer a theoretical perspective relevant for further studies of ‘world music’ in various contexts. . . . Değirmenci’s empirical material consists primarily of images (e.g. album covers), text (liner notes) and promotional materials produced by the record companies, as well as other textual materials such as published reviews which the author uses to gauge reception of the recordings discussed. He also draws on the numerous interviews which he has conducted with musicians and music industry personnel, including the owners or managing directors of the record companies he writes about. The case studies presented are thus empirically rich, allowing Değirmenci to give nuanced analyses. . . . Readers . . . will find a thoughtful and richly detailed study." - Popular Music