Kanto (music)

Italian opera and theater had a profound effect on Turkish culture during the early 20th century. The terminology of music and theater derived from Italian. In the argot of the improvisational theater of Istanbul the stage was called sahano, backstage was referred to as koyuntu, backdrops depicting countryside as bosko, the applause as furi, and the songs sung as solos or duets between the acts and plays were called kanto. As was the case with their Italian counterparts, the Turkish troupe members played songs and music before the show and between the acts to pique people's interest and draw in customers. Kanto were based on traditional eastern makam but performed with Western instruments.

The improvised theatrical pieces were stage adaptations of the Karagöz (shadow puppet) and (form of Turkish theatre performed in the open air) traditions, although in a simplified form. The themes explored in these traditional theater arts (as well as their stereotypes) were used as the framework for the new extemporaneous performances of the tuluat ("improvised") theater. In this way, kanto may be considered as the unifying feature of all tuluat theater.

Kanto is usually divided into two periods. The division, particularly in terms of musical structure, is clear between the early kanto (1900s–1923) and the kanto of the Post-Republican period (especially after the mid-1930s). It is further possible to identify two styles within the early period: Galata and Direklerarası (after the neighbourhoods of Old Istanbul).

The early period kanto tradition was nourished in Istanbul. The same was also true in the Post-Republican period. The city's large and diverse population provided the themes that were the mainstay of kanto. Kanto was heavily influenced by musical theatre, Balkan and Byzantine or Anatolian music (Karsilamas) (which was however often a subject of satire in kanto songs) and Greek music (Kalamatiano, Ballos, Syrtos) (especially the Istanbul Rum who were so fond of urban forms of entertainment). In other words, kanto was the result of cultural exchange and almost all the early kanto singers were either Rum or Armenian: Pepron, Karakas, Haim, Shamiram Kelleciyan, and Peruz Terzekyan (all of them performed during the period following 1903).