TRT's historical Turkish music archive goes digital

The historical archive of Turkey's state-owned television channel (TRT) has been transferred to a digital environment. The digital archive and website www.trtkulliyat.com was launched on March 16 at TRT Istanbul Radio in Harbiye. TRT General Director Ibrahim Sahin said that work had started over four years ago and 165,000 pages had been reverted to digital forms with some difficulty. "This 760-volume archive, which is unique in the world, is now in the service of our country and the world music market," he said. Sahin said that the archive would be followed from all around the world, adding: "One of the most important parts of this work is that we continue this activity in 10 languages. It will be online in Turkish and English, and we will [post information] about music events on the website. The reason why we also made it in English is that some parts of these notes have been interpreted as chants and aria music in churches. People of Armenian origin will be able to reach their own music thanks to this structure. We have received good reactions from these people and it makes us very happy. Our work will also reach people in eight other [common] languages. The work is not only limited to transfer notes to the Internet environment but to bring the heritage of the Ottoman Empire to people." He said that anyone would be able to access the website and see the work, and subscribers would be able to conduct more detailed research on the website. TRT Music Department Chair Deniz Cakmakoglu said that over 75 percent of TRT's programs were on music, adding that the value of the archive had great importance in Turkish culture. "We plan to open our entire archive to the world through the Internet soon," she said.