Ottoman Military Band

Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching bands in the world.Though they are often known by the word mahtar (مهتر; mehter in Ottoman Turkish) in the West, that word, properly speaking, refers only to a single musician in the band.In Ottoman, the band was generally known as mehterân, though those bands used in the retinue of a vizier or prince were generally known as mehterhane (مهترخانه, meaning roughly, "a gathering of mehters", the band as a whole is often termed mehter bölüğü ("mehter company [troop]"), mehter takımı ("mehter platoon").In the West, the band's music is also often called Janissary music because the janissaries formed the core of the bands.

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