| Of the aşıks, or
minstrels, that lived in Anatolia during the past century. Aşık Veysel is
one of the most reknown and often spoken of.
#$#1#The 1920s and 30s are years in which the aşık tradition present over
Anatolia, due to changing socio-political and economic conditions, entered a
new and different period. This was the period in which Veysel came onto the
scene. As a middle-aged artist, he was able to take excellent advantage of
the opportunities before him, and within a short time had become one of the
singular figures in the aşık profession, working tirelessly for his cause.
He became even more known for his works such as "Lament for Atatürk" and
"Black Earth"; and through his recordings, published books and teaching
positions at village institutes, he was able to reach a vast audience.
In this booklet, we have tried to examine Veysel's place within the aşık
tradition, his connection to central authority and its ideology, and musical
examples, of which very few have been examined till now. The first CD is
comprised of the best recordings of Aşık Veysel’s most well- known
performances. The second CD is devoted to selections from 78s, "deyiş" (folk
poetry) and folk song recordings which have until now never been
published. in choosing these selections, utmost care has been taken in
selecting those that best illustrate Aşık Veysel’s status as an aşık, his
mastery as a performer of deyiş, and as a "source person".
Aşık Veysel’ s Life
Aşık Veysel [Şatıroğlu] was born in may of 1894 in Sivrialan village, in
Şarkışla county of Sivas province. Up until the age of seven, Veysel ran,
played, laughed... Shortly after that, a smallpox epidemic threw his village
into terror, and struck Veysel along with his two brothers. Like many young
children of the village, his two brothers succumbed to the merciless
disease. Veysel lost his left eye.
When Veysel’s father discovered his son's passion for poetry, the saz, and language, he had a bağlama made for him. Veysel took his first saz lessons
from the master saz players of his village. Molla Hüseyin and Çamşıhılı Ali
Ağa. Many years passed and Veysel grew into a young man, married and had
children. After a long life with many struggles, he became ill with cancer
and passed on on March 21, 1973.
The Aşık Tradition and Aşık Veysel
The Aşıks, who we come across in every corner of Anatolia with saz in hand,
lyrics on their tongues, singing their own or others7 deyiş, are a type of
local artist that in our day as in the past, work to fulfill the mission
they have taken on, or perhaps have put upon them. in bygone eras, those
identified as aşık performed the duties of doctor, magician, musician, and
religious men. Their role changed in the 15th and 16th centuries, after
which a special type of aşık performed a new function in Anatolia. During
this period, they developed aşık literature, which was already evolving its
own various technical and stylistic characteristics; and aşık
music, from an aesthetic standpoint as well. From the end of the 19th to the
beginning of the 20th centuries, along with the world/s changing living
conditions, communications,
global
phone, human and international relations; certain changes came
about as well in the function of aşıks in society. The early 20th century
saw a decrease in the nomadic aspect of the Türkmen aşık, while his
influence on and sensitivity to changing social, political, and cultural
events increased.
During the first quarter of the 20th century, events playing out on
Anatolian soil, resulted in national identity movements that brought about
birth of the Republic. Aşıks, as the most important transmitters of this
identity, came to take a great interest in the new regime.
Because at one point, the Republic symbolized a project of social change and
transformation, the aşıks influenced the fundamental parameters of this
change. The aşıks' world views, their ways of critiquing life, and their
tendency to examine the issues of the country, were again taken into
consideration during this transformation, and by this same transformation,
aşıks were influenced in two ways: first, by explaining the new
administration's activities to the people, they gained their appreciation,
and became a means by which the people's issues could be transmitted to the
administration; and second, they tried to live the change in their own inner
worlds. No more did aşıks go around in çarık, they wore Italian shoes;
neckties and felt caps replaced vests and peaked village caps; the villagers
and the people of the nation had now come face to face.
Though one could go much deeper into this evaluation of social events, let
us get on to the subject of Aşık Veysel, the most visible figure of his
period. As Aşık Veysel was, through his thought and music, an advocate of a
certain section the common people, he is a discovery, "special" aşık with
respect to efforts toward understanding Anatolia. Veysel was "discovered",
and gained outside exposure for the first time at the "Aşık Festival,"
organized in 1931 in Sivas by the Society for the Preservation of Folk
Poetry. This was such an important event that ever since, it has been a
determining factor in the process of passing from the status of "local
artist" to "aşık." Certainty Veysel was not made an aşık by the Aşık
Festival alone; this was only one means. Aşık Veysel's inner conflicts, his
expectations from life, and the dramatic events he'd lived through,
developed his inner world; and possibly brought about his maturity far
before that day.
His Art and Works
Certain characteristics typical of the Anatolia aşıks are absent in Veysel.
For example, Veysel did not use atışma (competition between aşıks), he
didn't sing in the leb-değmez (open-mouthed - "lips not touching") style, he
wasn't brought out by a master as the result of a dream vision. But he
fulfilled the fundamental two characteristics of the aşık: He played and
sang his own and others’ deyiş accompanying himself with the saz.
Also, as far as we know, Aşık Veysel did not receive an education in a tekke
(dervish lodge). During his youth, he had no master other than the one who
taught him saz, to educate him in the aşık profession. He was a village aşık,
steered towards his profession by the social conditions of a village in the
middle of Anatolia, and by his own inner world. Much attention is given in
his poetry to illustrations of the social structure of his village and
environment. Taking this a little further, he deals events in the nation in
general with the fundamental thought of the village and the villager.
However -as we will examine more deeply in a later volume- in his poetry,
which contains and deals with all these events, it is very difficult to find
one overriding slant on the conflict between the ruler and ruled. This is
because Veysel had close connections with the intellectuals and high
government officials of his time, and consequently with the regime and its
ideology. Despite the fact that many thus characterize him as a "modem aşık",
the fact remains that in terms of technique, Veysel was a man firmly bound
to traditional forms. Ali the forms characteristic of the aşık poetic
tradition can be seen in Veysel's poetry.
Veysel's poetry is metrical and he uses 8- and 11- syllable meters. The
local dialect is fully present in his deyiş. Aşık Veysel started singing
poetry (deyiş) at the age of 40, and although his exposition at times
strayed from traditional modes when the spirit moved him, he never departed
from the traditional poetical forms. This is natural, as he was brought up
with values woven into the fabric of his village environment. Perhaps
something should be said here of the thematic makeup of folk poetry and a
peculiarity of Veysel's. We often come across striking example of a "land"
theme in folk poetry. The land, the thing most vital to the village and
villager, and upon which life depends, is treated in Aşık Veysel's poetry in
a way unrivaled to this day.
I embraced so many, thinking them a friend
My true love is the black earth
in vain l wandered, exhausted myself for naught
My true love is the black earth
Along with the lyricism and richness of imagery in his poetic voice, there
exist more simple deyiş of his that speak of the relation with the earth:
When my essence and the earth mix and become one
l will become a flower and decorate my grave
The mountains clothe themselves in green, the clouds weep
l will float across the sky and listen
Or:
Veysel says, let me climb up a high mountain
The trees adorned with green leaves
The time will come when my flesh will fail to the earth
it will mix into the earth, become dust, and go away
One immediately feels in this poetry the lyricism, simplicity, earnestness
and power of expression, dealing with the basic elements of village life. in
his
poetry, rural life is depicted with clever and agile finesse. His clear and
earth manner of expression, like gushing waters, takes the reader to the
open seas... However, this same power is difficult to find in his
ideological/sociological poetry. in these deyiş, the expression seems
forced. Can an aşık who doesn't know city life, who has never adopted it, be
expected to tell of its virtues? The difficulty of standing on asphalt
trying to explain the smell of the earth is obvious. And yet, Veysel was
able make subjects of such things as the benefits of working in the light of
revolutions, opening of factories, founding of institutes, the laying of
foundations for dams. Because he had discovered the importance of these
structures, which he could never see, to modernization. He was a believer in
this path. For aşıks bound into the closed environment of village society,
creating poetry on such contemporary themes without departing from
traditional poetic forms is nearly impossible. That he achieved this was one
more special characteristic of Veysel.
Aşık Veysel holds a special place among the "Alevi aşıks" that are an
important part of the aşık tradition. There is no doubt that his having been
raised within Alevi culture directly affected the world of his sentiments.
But outside of a few examples, he did not make his Alevism or Alevism in
general, the subject of his deyiş. Veysel lived the most active portion of
his life during the 1940s, a period of single-party rule. From the
standpoint of the aşık profession, this is his most brilliant period.
Throughout his life, he took part alongside the CHP party's highest and most
enlightened, and in the Party's Village institutes, which they considered
vitally important. During this period, a proposal, later signed into law,
awarded Aşık Veysel, "for his service to our mother tongue and our national
unity" a monthly salary of 500 lira for the remainder of his life.
Veysel's music also displays a special character. His style of singing his
deyiş is as unique as his saz style. His melodic patterns, trills and
emphases, which he performed masterfully, persuade us to think of him more
as a local vocal artist -semiprofessional- than an aşık. Veysel did not only
sing his own deyiş, but also successfully performed the "master material" of
the old aşıks, local folk songs, and dance music. As much as we may consider
him, from the standpoint of his musical works, an aşık within the tradition,
he was at the same time an artist who managed to develop his own style. The
conditions that brought him to the position of "popular aşık" became to some
degree the conditions that created the Turkish popular music scene.
The 1940s were the years in which he made the most recordings. It's safe to
say that Aşık Veysel was the truly popular aşık of the 78 era. in the
following period he also produced 45 and 33 rpm records. in "cassette age,"
the 70s were Veysel's most lively period. But at present, among "nostalgic
aşık albums", copies of his phonograph records are at the top of the wish
list. Especially in the 70s and 80s, several artists included Veysel's works
in their albums.
Undoubtedly, almost anyone interested in Turkey's folk music and literature
has a material as well as a spiritual relationship with Veysel. For with the
poetry he contributed to literature, and the pieces he contributed to music,
he was truly one of the most significant figures of the aşık tradition. |
