Algeria was captured by the Ottoman Empire with the Battle of Ridaniya in 1517 by Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha and remained under the Ottoman sovereignty for 300 years. It is thought that Algerian songs are laments that were sung after a large number of Turkish soldiers were martyred during the French occupation of Algeria between 1827 and 1830. The laments sung with these common grieves experienced in different parts of Anatolia were composed as melodies. The presence of an anthem called "Cezayir Marşı" (Algerian Anthem) in the Mehter music repertoire from the 1800s to the present shows that this tune is common in traditional life and music culture. In the traditional life of Bursa, while henna is applied in rituals such as henna ceremonies and weddings, it is sung accompanied by playing "bakır" (copper cauldron or pans) and "kaşık" (spoon) rhythms while the bride is being taken from her father's house. Its rhythm is slow, the bride dances with Algerian tunes at almost every henna ceremony, and the women dance the Algerian dances accompanied by the Algerian folk songs, clapping the spoons to each other and playing copper cauldrons or pans at the entertainment they organize among themselves. Algerian songs are played in the styles of uzun hava (unmetered folk song) and kırık hava (a live and upbeat dancing melody and song sung with rhythm in Turkish folk music whose numbers are 2/4). Folk dances of "Algerian Music" and "Algerian Dance" are widely performed in Keles, Orhaneli, Harmancık and Büyükorhan Districts.
Following is an Algerian song and its close interpretation in English:
Kaleden kaleye top atılır
Şiddetinden aylar günler tutulur
Koç yiğitler gurbet elde satılır
Sokakları mermer taşlı Cezayir
Cezayir’in harmanları savrulur
Savrulur da sol yanıma devrilir
Sarı buğday samanından ayrılır
Sokakları mermer taşlı Cezayir
Güzelleri samur saçlı Cezayir
Gemilere çürük tahta dayanmaz
Yiğitleri gaflet bastı uyanmaz
Aman Allah buna canlar dayanmaz
Sokakları mermer taşlı Cezayir
Güzelleri samur saçlı Cezayir.
(Cannon balls are thrown from one castle to the other
Moon and sun eclipse because of its booming rumbles
Brave fellows are sent to foreign places
Oh Algeria with marble paved streets
The wheat threshed and chaff blown away in Algeria
They all blown away and fall on my left side
The chaff of the yellow wheat is sifted
Oh Algeria with marble paved streets
Oh Algeria whose pretty girls have muddy hair
Rotten wood can't be used for the ships
Brave youth are oblivious of the condition, they can not wake
Oh my God! souls can't stand for this
Oh Algeria with marble paved streets
Oh Algeria whose pretty girls have muddy hair).
