A bit of Mugla an lots of Emirdag
Door: Liselotte
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Liselotte
21 Juni 2011 | Turkije, Kırşehir
Dear all,
I'm sorry I didn't write for such a long time; indeed much has happened in the meantime.
I ended my previous report in Milas, in the Aegean region. From Milas, we went to the province capital, Mugla. There we met an interesting 'mahalli sanatçi' (regional artist), playing the baglama and singing. He performed for us indigenous Mugla folk music in the traditional playing style and gave some explanations about the famous zeybek culture. As he explained it, 'zeybeks' and 'efes' (= titles) were real folk heros whithout fear, leaders of the people in times of danger and suppression. The last important period of zeybeklik was the Turkish War of Independence after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The still remaining zeybek music and dances are highly symbolic: they express certain events and habits occurring in the lives of the zeybeks and efes.
Zeybeklik stays a concept which is quite difficult to grasp for outsiders, but extremely important for the people of West Turkey who are proud of their past.
Our stay in the Aegean region lasted 7 days, containing many different settings: a metropolis, a province capital, a large city and a village ; a music café, a conservatory, a circumcicion party, a performance for friends, an urban and a rural wedding,...
I have made many recordings and collected lots of additional information through conversations, observations, interviews and received or purchased books and dvd's.
After this Aegean experience, we moved towards Central-Anatolia: Emirdag in the province of Afyonkarahisar. Afyon is called ‘the key to the Anatolian culture': Anatolia, the old Turkish territory really begins here.
The reason for visiting Emirdag, and for spending a whole week there, is the fact that the largest part of the Turks living in Ghent come from this small town. During the year, about 20.000 people live in Emirdag, but during the summer this is multiplied by ten... All migrant return to spend their holidays in the town (or village) where they were born.
I considered it very important to get to know this place, its culture and its music better. And it has been a very pleasant acquaintance.
In this week time, we have been able to gather so much musical and contextual information, that it will take a long time to describe and analyse everything. But it will be an extremely interesting exercise, especially when comparing this data with the data I will collect in Ghent.
I won’t describe into detail every performance we observed and recorded, but will try to give a brief overview of the multifaceted folk music manifestations of Emirdag (or at least the bits we witnessed).
SETTING 1: in the house of a family in Suvermez village:
A few old women and one old man (some are relatives, most of them old friends) sit together in the living room of one of them. The man and his wife sing the songs they sung for each other while they were young and in love. They remember the text, which they made themselves, remarkably well. The melodies also come out very fluently, however only after a quite long period of habituation (to us, to the two teachers and the headman who accompany us).
After this personal love songs, the women start to sing other love songs they remember, and songs sung during bulgur pounding (‘mani’s’. Soon follow the ‘agits’, lamentations for a loved one who died, which immediately provoke tears everywhere. At the end, the old man also starts singing, but after a stanza or three the women make him stop, probably they fear that too much emotion will be harmful for his old heart.
SETTING 2: in the house of a widower in Suvermez village:
This no real spontaneous folk music manifestation, but one commanded by the headman (muhtar) of Suvermez. Still a very important record, as Abdullah Özkurt is considered as the last representative of the ‘kaba hava’, a genre typical for Emirdag, but in fact a kind of uzun hava (song without metre, often a lamentation).
Abdullah’s singing style immediately reminded me Faki Edeer’s way of singing (Faki is an Emirdagli who lives in Ghent and who is famous both for his pizzas and his poems and songs). The folk music style of Emirdag becomes clear to me…
SETTING 3: in the garden of the muhtar (headman) of Karacalar village:
For the first time in Turkey we met a real ‘asik’ (pronounced ‘aashek’): Yoksul Dervis (‘Poor Derwish’). He defines the asik as the mother of all kinds of folk music (be it türkü’s, destans, agits,…); an asik creates the music after which it gradually becomes an anonymous part of folk culture. Yoksul Dervis has written 24 books full of poems, can improvise music on all his texts or invite new songs on the spot, has taken part in many asik contests and performs at all important cultural events in Emirdag and surroundings.
Yoksul Dervis (a member of the Alevi branch of Shiism, which is a very common situation for asiks) performed a welcoming song instantly created for us, as well as some other (Alevi-inspired) songs, accompanying himself on his baglama.
Soon another singer joins the performance: Alisir Gök, who sings uzun havas in the Emirdag style, while Yoksul Dervis accompanies him with his same saz…
SETTING 4: in a tea house in the centre of Emirdag:
A man plays the baglama, while the surrounding people sing the songs. Of course I am the only woman in this environment. Luckily I have my camera to hide myself behind. As recording is almost impossible due to the street noise and the sound of the people drinking tea and chatting, we move to the Cultural Centre of Emirdag to continue our recordings and reports. Halil Rifat Aydemir and Pinar Halaç play and sing for us many typical Emirdag songs, in a traditional style [although the really authentic and oldest performance style is of course a capella, without baglama accompaniment, or sometimes with a percussive accompaniment on def or a casserole].
Many musical and (con)textual explanations are given by the musicians, who are well-read and strongly connected with the culture of Emirdag.
SETTING 5: in the office of the mayor of Asagipiribeyli town:
Here we meet the second asik: Bayram Karagöz. Called by the mayor, he has to get acquainted a bit with us and the situation first, but after a rather gruff talk, he starts to sing and play the most beautiful songs ever heard in the Emirdag district. His repertoire contains old traditional songs (lullabies, laments, dance songs,…) in the typical style of Piribeyli, and never-written ‘compositions’ of his own.
SETTING 6: a party in the Teachers’ House in Emirdag:
Not so traditional, but also a manifestation of Turkish folk music. The ‘orkestra’ consists of a keyboard and a baglama. The music played is a popularised version of the traditional melodies of the Emirdag folk music, along with pop-style folk music of other regions of Turkey (in particular the Aegean region and Central Anatolia). A zeybek is even danced by the celebrating teaching staff. Eating and drinking (raki, beer and tea) is also part of the show.
SETTING 7: a graduation party in Baglica village:
The most interesting part of this event is the dance performed by the graduation girls (12 years old), in traditional clothing on played back regional music. We missed the opening ceremony of the evening, which was provided by a davul and clarinet duo, playing traditional tunes. But the musicians were so kind to repeat this playing especially for us. At the same time we established contact with these ‘abdal’ musicians, so that we would be able to attend a wedding party on which they would also perform.
The rest of the evening was more of the party music we already know, but the folk music was sometimes far away, pop music with some Turkish influences would be a more appropriate description.
SETTING 8: a ‘henna night’ in Türkmenakören village:
Turkish weddings last three days. One of this days is the ‘henna night’, which apparently turned into a day of much eating, tea drinking, talking and dancing. We started our observation in the garden of the groom’s family, where two musicians (one on keyboard and one on clarinet) were playing. Suddenly everyone moved towards the garden of the bride, situated in the town of Emirdag. As tradition requires, this happens in the form of a long escort of cars, accompanied by loud tooting. Also a kind of folk music?
The keyboard player shifts towards the davul (drum) for a short while, this represents the traditional part of the party music. Afterwards, the musicians return to the groom’s house, where they continue their duty until the late or early hours…
SETTING 9: in the summer meadows in the mountains of Emirdag:
A shepherd plays traditional Emirdag songs and tunes on his flute, for an audience of relatives and friends, and two foreigners… Surrounded by sheep, cows, dogs, and against a background of the sunset in the mountains… How beautiful can life be. But the life of a shepherd in Emirdag is not only roses, I am sure. Anyway, two of the present people were lit by the music and started to sing themselves. Great to discover how close the playing and singing styles of this Emirdag shepherd music are to each other.
This final experience really completed the picture. The mosaic of the Emirdag folk music has become quite clear. As I said, I look out for the analysis of all this and more.
Emirdag has become a very warm place to me, a place which is good to stay. We have made good friends there, I miss the whole atmosphere and those kind people already.
Now we are in Kirsehir, the place of birth of the famous and immensely popular Neset Ertas and his father Muharrem Ertas.
We will see what this place has in store for us. We begin tomorrow! Now I have to sleep; it is ten past one here at the moment….
Good night to everyone,
And best regards to Emirdag and the Emirdaglilar, we miss you already!
Liselotte
I'm sorry I didn't write for such a long time; indeed much has happened in the meantime.
I ended my previous report in Milas, in the Aegean region. From Milas, we went to the province capital, Mugla. There we met an interesting 'mahalli sanatçi' (regional artist), playing the baglama and singing. He performed for us indigenous Mugla folk music in the traditional playing style and gave some explanations about the famous zeybek culture. As he explained it, 'zeybeks' and 'efes' (= titles) were real folk heros whithout fear, leaders of the people in times of danger and suppression. The last important period of zeybeklik was the Turkish War of Independence after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. The still remaining zeybek music and dances are highly symbolic: they express certain events and habits occurring in the lives of the zeybeks and efes.
Zeybeklik stays a concept which is quite difficult to grasp for outsiders, but extremely important for the people of West Turkey who are proud of their past.
Our stay in the Aegean region lasted 7 days, containing many different settings: a metropolis, a province capital, a large city and a village ; a music café, a conservatory, a circumcicion party, a performance for friends, an urban and a rural wedding,...
I have made many recordings and collected lots of additional information through conversations, observations, interviews and received or purchased books and dvd's.
After this Aegean experience, we moved towards Central-Anatolia: Emirdag in the province of Afyonkarahisar. Afyon is called ‘the key to the Anatolian culture': Anatolia, the old Turkish territory really begins here.
The reason for visiting Emirdag, and for spending a whole week there, is the fact that the largest part of the Turks living in Ghent come from this small town. During the year, about 20.000 people live in Emirdag, but during the summer this is multiplied by ten... All migrant return to spend their holidays in the town (or village) where they were born.
I considered it very important to get to know this place, its culture and its music better. And it has been a very pleasant acquaintance.
In this week time, we have been able to gather so much musical and contextual information, that it will take a long time to describe and analyse everything. But it will be an extremely interesting exercise, especially when comparing this data with the data I will collect in Ghent.
I won’t describe into detail every performance we observed and recorded, but will try to give a brief overview of the multifaceted folk music manifestations of Emirdag (or at least the bits we witnessed).
SETTING 1: in the house of a family in Suvermez village:
A few old women and one old man (some are relatives, most of them old friends) sit together in the living room of one of them. The man and his wife sing the songs they sung for each other while they were young and in love. They remember the text, which they made themselves, remarkably well. The melodies also come out very fluently, however only after a quite long period of habituation (to us, to the two teachers and the headman who accompany us).
After this personal love songs, the women start to sing other love songs they remember, and songs sung during bulgur pounding (‘mani’s’. Soon follow the ‘agits’, lamentations for a loved one who died, which immediately provoke tears everywhere. At the end, the old man also starts singing, but after a stanza or three the women make him stop, probably they fear that too much emotion will be harmful for his old heart.
SETTING 2: in the house of a widower in Suvermez village:
This no real spontaneous folk music manifestation, but one commanded by the headman (muhtar) of Suvermez. Still a very important record, as Abdullah Özkurt is considered as the last representative of the ‘kaba hava’, a genre typical for Emirdag, but in fact a kind of uzun hava (song without metre, often a lamentation).
Abdullah’s singing style immediately reminded me Faki Edeer’s way of singing (Faki is an Emirdagli who lives in Ghent and who is famous both for his pizzas and his poems and songs). The folk music style of Emirdag becomes clear to me…
SETTING 3: in the garden of the muhtar (headman) of Karacalar village:
For the first time in Turkey we met a real ‘asik’ (pronounced ‘aashek’): Yoksul Dervis (‘Poor Derwish’). He defines the asik as the mother of all kinds of folk music (be it türkü’s, destans, agits,…); an asik creates the music after which it gradually becomes an anonymous part of folk culture. Yoksul Dervis has written 24 books full of poems, can improvise music on all his texts or invite new songs on the spot, has taken part in many asik contests and performs at all important cultural events in Emirdag and surroundings.
Yoksul Dervis (a member of the Alevi branch of Shiism, which is a very common situation for asiks) performed a welcoming song instantly created for us, as well as some other (Alevi-inspired) songs, accompanying himself on his baglama.
Soon another singer joins the performance: Alisir Gök, who sings uzun havas in the Emirdag style, while Yoksul Dervis accompanies him with his same saz…
SETTING 4: in a tea house in the centre of Emirdag:
A man plays the baglama, while the surrounding people sing the songs. Of course I am the only woman in this environment. Luckily I have my camera to hide myself behind. As recording is almost impossible due to the street noise and the sound of the people drinking tea and chatting, we move to the Cultural Centre of Emirdag to continue our recordings and reports. Halil Rifat Aydemir and Pinar Halaç play and sing for us many typical Emirdag songs, in a traditional style [although the really authentic and oldest performance style is of course a capella, without baglama accompaniment, or sometimes with a percussive accompaniment on def or a casserole].
Many musical and (con)textual explanations are given by the musicians, who are well-read and strongly connected with the culture of Emirdag.
SETTING 5: in the office of the mayor of Asagipiribeyli town:
Here we meet the second asik: Bayram Karagöz. Called by the mayor, he has to get acquainted a bit with us and the situation first, but after a rather gruff talk, he starts to sing and play the most beautiful songs ever heard in the Emirdag district. His repertoire contains old traditional songs (lullabies, laments, dance songs,…) in the typical style of Piribeyli, and never-written ‘compositions’ of his own.
SETTING 6: a party in the Teachers’ House in Emirdag:
Not so traditional, but also a manifestation of Turkish folk music. The ‘orkestra’ consists of a keyboard and a baglama. The music played is a popularised version of the traditional melodies of the Emirdag folk music, along with pop-style folk music of other regions of Turkey (in particular the Aegean region and Central Anatolia). A zeybek is even danced by the celebrating teaching staff. Eating and drinking (raki, beer and tea) is also part of the show.
SETTING 7: a graduation party in Baglica village:
The most interesting part of this event is the dance performed by the graduation girls (12 years old), in traditional clothing on played back regional music. We missed the opening ceremony of the evening, which was provided by a davul and clarinet duo, playing traditional tunes. But the musicians were so kind to repeat this playing especially for us. At the same time we established contact with these ‘abdal’ musicians, so that we would be able to attend a wedding party on which they would also perform.
The rest of the evening was more of the party music we already know, but the folk music was sometimes far away, pop music with some Turkish influences would be a more appropriate description.
SETTING 8: a ‘henna night’ in Türkmenakören village:
Turkish weddings last three days. One of this days is the ‘henna night’, which apparently turned into a day of much eating, tea drinking, talking and dancing. We started our observation in the garden of the groom’s family, where two musicians (one on keyboard and one on clarinet) were playing. Suddenly everyone moved towards the garden of the bride, situated in the town of Emirdag. As tradition requires, this happens in the form of a long escort of cars, accompanied by loud tooting. Also a kind of folk music?
The keyboard player shifts towards the davul (drum) for a short while, this represents the traditional part of the party music. Afterwards, the musicians return to the groom’s house, where they continue their duty until the late or early hours…
SETTING 9: in the summer meadows in the mountains of Emirdag:
A shepherd plays traditional Emirdag songs and tunes on his flute, for an audience of relatives and friends, and two foreigners… Surrounded by sheep, cows, dogs, and against a background of the sunset in the mountains… How beautiful can life be. But the life of a shepherd in Emirdag is not only roses, I am sure. Anyway, two of the present people were lit by the music and started to sing themselves. Great to discover how close the playing and singing styles of this Emirdag shepherd music are to each other.
This final experience really completed the picture. The mosaic of the Emirdag folk music has become quite clear. As I said, I look out for the analysis of all this and more.
Emirdag has become a very warm place to me, a place which is good to stay. We have made good friends there, I miss the whole atmosphere and those kind people already.
Now we are in Kirsehir, the place of birth of the famous and immensely popular Neset Ertas and his father Muharrem Ertas.
We will see what this place has in store for us. We begin tomorrow! Now I have to sleep; it is ten past one here at the moment….
Good night to everyone,
And best regards to Emirdag and the Emirdaglilar, we miss you already!
Liselotte
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
