185. Today in 1920s Turkey: 7 January 1928 (Turkish Record Company Advertisement)

(Advertisement, Resimli Gazete or “The Illustrated Gazette,” 7 January 1928, no. 227, page 6.)

Türkçe:
Blumental Plak ve Gramofon Fabrikası
Türk musikisinin muvaffakiyeti
Şehrimizin en namdar musikişinasanından en müntahib eserlerini dinlemek isterseniz?
Radyo Rekord, Orfon Rekord, Orfeus Rekord
Türk plaklarını alınız
Satılış merkezi: Istanbul, Katırcıoğlu Han Numara 28
[بالعموم] gramofon mağazalarında satılır.

English:
Bluementhal Record and Gramophone Factory
Turkish music’s triumphs
Would you like to listen to (musical) pieces from our city’s most famous musicians?
Radio Record, Orphan Record, Orpheus Record
Buy Turkish records
Sales center: Istanbul, Katırcıoğlu Han no. 28
[بالعموم] gramophones are sold in stores.

Comments
Gramophones or phonographs and records became increasingly popular in Turkey in the 1920s. While of course, at this time, not everyone could afford a record player, advertisements like this one show the availability of the product on the Turkish market alongside recordings by local famous Turkish musicians. The recreational, luxury item is being aimed at the same audience who reads illustrated weeklies such as the present publication, The Illustrated Gazette (Resimli Gazete).

The ad features text and image to communicate the breadth of products supplied by the Bluementhal Record and Gramophone Factory. Three black circular records along with a crank-operated record player box are featured in the upper left. The text, much of which is contained in a frame, explains the types of records available as well as the location of the store.

Newspaper content reflects the growing number of phonographs in Turkey in the late 1920s. Other advertisements for these products, such as this His Master’s Voice ad by İhap Hulusi Görey were featured alongside stories about these machines. PSAs warning readers about noise indicate that they have become a nuisance in parts of the city and anecdotes about people bringing them to villages shows their spread, however gradual, into previously remote areas. In this way, we can see that phonographs were slowly integrating into society by its growing ubiquity, which is ensured with marketing programs like printed advertisements.

(Entire page, Resimli Gazete or “Illustrated Gazette,” 7 January 1928, no. 227, page 6. Hakkı Tarık Us Collection, Beyazıt Library, Istanbul.)