Şebnem Altunkaya – Anatolian Rock: From Türkü to Psychedelic Movement

Şebnem Altunkaya’s doctoral research, tentatively titled Anatolian Rock: From Türkü to Psychedelic Movement, investigates how amplification technologies transformed traditional Anatolian folk music into a site of political and cultural negotiation. Focusing on the emergence of Anatolian Rock from the late 1960s onward, her project examines how the electrification of the Saz — microtonal lute, a key folk instrument — redefined its sonic and social presence, enabling new forms of resistance, identity formation, and cultural hybridity. Through archival research, oral histories with first-wave and contemporary musicians, and critical ethnographic fieldwork, she explores how amplified performances bridged rural traditions with urban countercultures, resisted authoritarian suppression, and contributed to the reimagining of Turkish folk narratives and identities in globalized contexts. Her research thus contributes to broader debates on sound technologies, memory, identity and the politics of cultural expression under conditions of social transformation.

Şebnem Altunkaya is a Postgraduate Researcher in the Department of Music at the University of Huddersfield, UK, funded by the Leverhulme Trust as part of the Amplification Project working with Prof. Steve Waksman, Prof. Jan Herbst and Dr. Rebekah Moore. Her research examines the transformation of Anatolian folk music through amplification technologies and explores the political and cultural implications of electrified sound in Turkey from the 1960s to the present. She has taught undergraduate seminars on the anthropology of music and on music and social change at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany and the University of Göttingen, Germany. Her work critically engages questions of identity, resistance, and cultural memory, using ethnographic methods, archival research, and oral histories. In addition to her academic work, she served as an academic advisor and production coordinator for the documentary Ceux qui Disent la Vérité (Those Who Speak the Truth), which highlights the intersections of music, censorship, and political resistance in Turkey. Her research situates musical amplification as both a sonic and social phenomenon, bridging studies of folk tradition, sound technology, and political expression.