Mehter of Inegol City Historic Ensemble
Mehmet Semiz, Director of the band.
Mihtar is the Persian word for great. Historically, a mehter band is a music ensemble that first saw light in the times of the Ottoman Empire, with janissaries forming the core of the group. The band’s primary task was to perform martial tunes during military campaigns, support the army’s morale and instill awe in adversaries.
There were two mehter or mehteran companies, with the first being an official formation associated with the Army’s Janissary corps, and the second one connected with the artisanship. Up to the 19th century, before the Turkish state entered times of major changes, the mehter formations were part of the official protocol system.
For more than 130 years civilian mehter groups haven’t been actively involved in the country’s music activities. But in 1959, the Inegol city mayor Kemal Ozkan decided to change this. Joining forces with local artisans and entrepreneurs, he created the Mehter Ensemble of Inegol, the first civilian music band that preserves and carries on the Turkish mehteran military traditions. Along its almost half a century history, the Mehter Ensemble of Inegol has performed in more than 50 countries.
Mehter or mehteran, usually associated with the Janissary corps of the Army, is a Turkish military music tradition. A mehter ensemble could not lack such music instruments as zurna, a double reed wind instrument, naqareh, small percussion instrument, and a big kos drum.
Since 1981, Mehmet Semiz has been on the helm of the Mehter Ensemble of Inegol, starting his path as the band’s drummer in 1977.
