Sivas
Door: Liselotte
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Liselotte
05 Juli 2011 | Turkije, Dereli
Hello there,
I’ll keep it short today, since I have a terrible headache, no idea why, maybe because of the many height changes we experienced today (from high plateau downwards, and then over the mountains to sea level and back into the mountains)??
We are now in Dereli, a small district (6000 inhabitants) of Giresun, a city situated at the Black Sea. We left Sivas this morning, with a mixed feeling: our visit was not bad at all, yet we feel a little bit dissatisfied, as if we didn’t really succeed in getting to know the music of Sivas. Sivas was certainly the most complex or complicated city and region we visited so far. Some of the reasons are probably the expanse of the region (the province of Sivas is the second largest province of Turkey), the eventful history of this strategic city, and the fact that in this eastern province Alevis are mixed with Sunnis. As mentioned in my previous blog, Alevism is a subbranch of Shiism, which is the second largest branch of Islam after Sunnism. In Turkey, there are about 20 million Alevis. In Sivas, they are concentrated in the villages and outer districts, although the Alevi community disposes of two large ‘cemevi’s’ in the city of Sivas. A cemevi (cem house) is the place where Alevis are allowed to practice their religion through the ‘cem’ (worship), which is comparable with a service in a sunni mosque or in a catholic church, for example. I won’t elaborate on the differences between Shiism and Sunnism or on the characteristics of Alevism, you can find plenty of information on the internet, for example on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alevi. Although the differences might seem small for non-Muslims, they are sometimes seen as huge by some rather radical persons. With dramas as the death of 37 Alevi intellectuals and artists in a hotel fire in Sivas, 18 years ago, as a consequence… It is clear that we entered a political domain now. Alevilik is for a large part connected with (left wing) politics, and as such still a hot topic in Turkey. The struggle for recognition is still going on, however many things have changed already.
Since my research subject is not politics but music, I won’t elaborate on this topic too much. But still it was essential to experience a bit of this ongoing issues in Sivas and neighbourhood. Now I have the necessary background to understand this Alevi culture and music better. Alevi folk music has a large repertoire, performed on the baglama whilst singing. Texts originate from old Alevi or Shia mystic poets, like Pir Sultan Abdal, Haci Bektash Veli, Fuzuli et al. The style is very characteristic and can be recognised immediately, as it uses certain stereotypical phrases. Alevi music is generally played on a short neck baglama and sometimes uses a plucking technique called selpe (shelpe).
Besides Alevi music, we had the chance to research asik music in Sivas. Asiklik, as written before I suppose, has also a very long history. It originated in Central-Asia and still lives on today, however in a much changed form. The social function of asiklik seems to have disappeared for the largest part. While they were considered as social and moral counsellors, expressing visionary thoughts through their music, their art is now performed in asik societies and cafés, to entertain the public, and on asik bayramlari, large national contests. Or they may have their own tv-show or radio programme.
Still, their art is alive and a very interesting part of Turkish folk music culture. Their ability to improvise, for example on a given poem or without using certain letters, is the most characteristic part of their performances. A singer-songwriter, who makes and performs his own songs (in the same idiom and maybe about the same themes as the asiks) is not called an asik, but an ‘ozan’.
An interesting phenomenon (which we only met in Sivas up to now) is the existence of female asiks. One girl (asik Özlemi) gave us a few examples of the different genres an asik has to know. However interesting as a phenomenon and decent in performance, this female asik gave a rather pale impression, compared to her male colleges, which might imply that this new (?) branch of asiklik should develop a bit further…
The most developed and famous asik of Turkey, however, also lived in Sivas. Asik Veysel died in 1973, but is still respected and admired by almost every Turk in the world, I presume. He also originated out of the Alevi tradition, but is a true folk poet and musician. His texts and melodies are really pure and at the same time sweet and strong. However blind, no one depicts nature as striking as he did, which reveals a big talent… We went to visit his village (with his house as a museum), and had conversations (and lunch and tea) with his family members (his grandson, his son). Unfortunately, in his village nobody could (or dared to) sing for us, but we will try to meet his other son in Mersin. It will be interesting to record the music played by the son of the greatest folk musician of modern Turkey.
For now, we had the change to make another interesting recording relating to asik Veysel: a baglama builder and musician in Sivas specialised in the music of Veysel, and performed on one of the instrument of the old asik himself… A quite close rapprochement to the real thing… and above all touching because of the great love and concentration speaking form this performance. Inspiring again.
A good night to you all,
till next time!
Liselotte
I’ll keep it short today, since I have a terrible headache, no idea why, maybe because of the many height changes we experienced today (from high plateau downwards, and then over the mountains to sea level and back into the mountains)??
We are now in Dereli, a small district (6000 inhabitants) of Giresun, a city situated at the Black Sea. We left Sivas this morning, with a mixed feeling: our visit was not bad at all, yet we feel a little bit dissatisfied, as if we didn’t really succeed in getting to know the music of Sivas. Sivas was certainly the most complex or complicated city and region we visited so far. Some of the reasons are probably the expanse of the region (the province of Sivas is the second largest province of Turkey), the eventful history of this strategic city, and the fact that in this eastern province Alevis are mixed with Sunnis. As mentioned in my previous blog, Alevism is a subbranch of Shiism, which is the second largest branch of Islam after Sunnism. In Turkey, there are about 20 million Alevis. In Sivas, they are concentrated in the villages and outer districts, although the Alevi community disposes of two large ‘cemevi’s’ in the city of Sivas. A cemevi (cem house) is the place where Alevis are allowed to practice their religion through the ‘cem’ (worship), which is comparable with a service in a sunni mosque or in a catholic church, for example. I won’t elaborate on the differences between Shiism and Sunnism or on the characteristics of Alevism, you can find plenty of information on the internet, for example on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alevi. Although the differences might seem small for non-Muslims, they are sometimes seen as huge by some rather radical persons. With dramas as the death of 37 Alevi intellectuals and artists in a hotel fire in Sivas, 18 years ago, as a consequence… It is clear that we entered a political domain now. Alevilik is for a large part connected with (left wing) politics, and as such still a hot topic in Turkey. The struggle for recognition is still going on, however many things have changed already.
Since my research subject is not politics but music, I won’t elaborate on this topic too much. But still it was essential to experience a bit of this ongoing issues in Sivas and neighbourhood. Now I have the necessary background to understand this Alevi culture and music better. Alevi folk music has a large repertoire, performed on the baglama whilst singing. Texts originate from old Alevi or Shia mystic poets, like Pir Sultan Abdal, Haci Bektash Veli, Fuzuli et al. The style is very characteristic and can be recognised immediately, as it uses certain stereotypical phrases. Alevi music is generally played on a short neck baglama and sometimes uses a plucking technique called selpe (shelpe).
Besides Alevi music, we had the chance to research asik music in Sivas. Asiklik, as written before I suppose, has also a very long history. It originated in Central-Asia and still lives on today, however in a much changed form. The social function of asiklik seems to have disappeared for the largest part. While they were considered as social and moral counsellors, expressing visionary thoughts through their music, their art is now performed in asik societies and cafés, to entertain the public, and on asik bayramlari, large national contests. Or they may have their own tv-show or radio programme.
Still, their art is alive and a very interesting part of Turkish folk music culture. Their ability to improvise, for example on a given poem or without using certain letters, is the most characteristic part of their performances. A singer-songwriter, who makes and performs his own songs (in the same idiom and maybe about the same themes as the asiks) is not called an asik, but an ‘ozan’.
An interesting phenomenon (which we only met in Sivas up to now) is the existence of female asiks. One girl (asik Özlemi) gave us a few examples of the different genres an asik has to know. However interesting as a phenomenon and decent in performance, this female asik gave a rather pale impression, compared to her male colleges, which might imply that this new (?) branch of asiklik should develop a bit further…
The most developed and famous asik of Turkey, however, also lived in Sivas. Asik Veysel died in 1973, but is still respected and admired by almost every Turk in the world, I presume. He also originated out of the Alevi tradition, but is a true folk poet and musician. His texts and melodies are really pure and at the same time sweet and strong. However blind, no one depicts nature as striking as he did, which reveals a big talent… We went to visit his village (with his house as a museum), and had conversations (and lunch and tea) with his family members (his grandson, his son). Unfortunately, in his village nobody could (or dared to) sing for us, but we will try to meet his other son in Mersin. It will be interesting to record the music played by the son of the greatest folk musician of modern Turkey.
For now, we had the change to make another interesting recording relating to asik Veysel: a baglama builder and musician in Sivas specialised in the music of Veysel, and performed on one of the instrument of the old asik himself… A quite close rapprochement to the real thing… and above all touching because of the great love and concentration speaking form this performance. Inspiring again.
A good night to you all,
till next time!
Liselotte
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
