Köçek
The köçek (plural köçekler in
Roots
The support of the
Culture
A köçek would begin training around the age of seven or eight after he was circumcised and would be considered accomplished after about six years of study and practice. A dancer's career would last as long as he was clean shaven and retained his youthful appearance.[10]
The dances, collectively known as köçek oyunu, blended elements from throughout the empire, most importantly
The youths, often wearing heavy makeup, would curl their hair and wear it in long tresses under a small black or red velvet hat decorated with coins, jewels and gold. Their usual garb consisted of a tiny red embroidered velvet jacket with a gold-embroidered silk shirt, shalvar (baggy trousers), a long skirt and a gilt belt, knotted at the back. They were said to be "sensuous, attractive, effeminate", and their dancing "sexually provocative". Dancers minced and gyrated their hips in slow vertical and horizontal figure eights, rhythmically snapping their fingers and making suggestive gestures. Often acrobatics, tumbling and mock wrestling were part of the act.[12][13]
Famous poets, such as
In 1805, there were approximately 600 köçek dancers working in the taverns of the Turkish capital. They were outlawed in 1837 due to fighting among audience members over the dancers.[15] With the suppression of harem culture under Sultan Abdulaziz (1861–1876) and Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876–1908), köçek dance and music lost the support of its imperial patrons and gradually disappeared.[16]
Köçeks were much more sought after than the çengi ("belly dancers"), their female counterparts. Some youths were known to have been killed by the çengi, who were extremely jealous of men's attention toward the boys.[14][17]
Modern offshoots
Today, Köçek dancing is still seen in Turkey, although it has changed form to a more folkloric and less sexualized dance and is now done by adult men, still in skirts, beards and all[18]. A modern interpretation is the movie Köçek (1975) by director Nejat Saydam. The movie follows the life of Caniko, an androgynous Roma, who struggles with his gender identity.[19]
See also
- Bacha bazi, Afghan equivalent
- Khawal, Egyptian equivalent
- Ghilman
- LGBT topics and Islam
- LGBT in the Ottoman Empire
- Onnagata
References
- ^ Besiroglu, Sehvar. "Music, Identity, Gender: Çengi̇s, Köçeks, Çöçeks".
- ^ ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory, Musicology Department.
- JSTOR 607195.
- JSTOR 607605.
- ISBN 978-1-136-61396-8.
- ^ Allan R. Bomhard. Mann - An Indo-European Comparative Dictionary (1984-1987).
- ^ Nourai, Ali (2011). An Etymological Dictionary of Persian, English and other Indo-European Languages. p. 258.
- ^ Üseinov, S.M. (2007). "Rusça-Qırımtatarca, Qırımtatarca-Rusça luğat". Aqmescit, Tezis.
- ISBN 0814774687.
- ISBN 978-1-349-49268-8.
- ^ "The Classical Turkish Music: Köçekçe". Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-243-41693-3.
- ISBN 978-0-231-15110-8.
- ^ ISBN 088920926X.
- ISBN 9780226315515.
- ISBN 1560240474.
- ISBN 9780970024701.
- ^ "Köçek (L*), the original Čoček. Turkish male bellydance". Folkdance Footnotes. 2019-07-19. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
- ^ "Köçek". TSA Center for Turkish Cinema Studies. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
Further reading
- AYVERDİ, Sâmiha; Istanbul Geceleri The nights of Istanbul, ed. Baha, Istanbul, 1977.
- ENDERUNLU Fazıl bey; Çenginame', 1759
- Erdoğan, Sema Nilgün: Sexual life in Ottoman Empire, ed. Dönence, Istanbul, 1996. p. 88–92
- JANSSEN, Thijs: Transvestites and Transsexuals in Turkey, in Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies, edited by Arno Schmidt and Jehoeda Sofer, ed. Harrington Park Press, New York, 1992
- Klebe, Dorit. "Effeminate Professional Musicians in Sources of Ottoman-Turkish Court Poetry and Music of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” Music in Art 30, no. 1/2 (2005): 97–116.
- KOÇU, Reşad Ekrem, Eski İstanbul'da Meyhaneler ve Meyhane Köçekleri, İstanbul Ansiklopedisi Notları No
- ÖZTUNA, Yılmaz: Türk Musikisi Ansiklopedisi, Milli Eğitim Basımevi, İstanbul, 1976. p. 23
External links
- Turkish Cultural Foundation: Court dance in the Ottoman Empire
- Köçek (Dancing Boy) – Homosexual Art of Turkey