Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Leylim Ley -- (Sabahattin Ali)

Lyrics: Sabahattin Ali (1907 – 1948), Turkish novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist.
Music: O. Zulfu Livaneli. See my previous post about this master artist.

Despite his short and brutally interrupted life, Sabahattin Ali was and still is a very influential artist in modern literature of Turkey. His limited work has been carried into music, theater, and literature. This poem from Sabahattin Ali's short story "Ses" (1937), put to music by Livaneli, has been so enthusiastically embraced by people from so many different walks of life that it became one of the most recognized songs ever. It has been performed by so many musicians from such different genres that it came to mean things that vary across societal segments and generations. Whereas the song was originally adopted by many as a revolutionary and progressive love song (in parallel with the trends of the time), for later generations it became a merry tune that belonged in wedding festivities. In some performances, its romantic flavor is stressed more than others. Interestingly, the song is so much associated with some performers, for example Ibrahim Tatlises, that many, especially those from later generations, erroneously consider the piece as composed by these performers. You may find that examples of this mistake are actually quite well spread on the Internet.

... well, there seems to be no end to this. Here is my attempt at translating this poem.

Original Lyrics:
===================================
Döndüm daldan düşen kuru yaprağa 
Seher yeli dağıt beni kır beni 
Götür tozlarımı burdan uzağa 
Yarin çıplak ayağına sür beni 

Aldım sazı çıkmış (çıktım? N.C.) gurbet görmeye 
Dönüp yare geldim yüzüm sürmeye 
Ne lüzum var şuna buna sormaya 
Senden ayrı ne hal oldum gör beni 

Ayın şavkı vurur sazım üstüne 
Söz söyleyen yoktur sözüm üstüne 
Gel ey hilal kaşlım dizim üstüne 
Ay bir yandan sen bir yandan sar beni 

Yedi yıldır uğramadım yurduma 
Dert ortağı aramadım derdime 
Geleceksen bir gün düşüp ardıma 
Kula değil yüreğine sor beni
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Friday, June 7, 2013

My Saz, When I Leave You Stay In This World -- Sazım Ben Gidersem Sen Kal Dünyada (Aşık Veysel)

Lyrics and music: Aşık Veysel (Şatıroğlu), (1894 – 1973). To read my previous comments about him please see these posts:
  1. My Faithful Beloved Is The Black Earth.
  2. On A Road, Thin And Long.
The folk singers of Turkey (tr. "aşık", "ozan"; en. "minstrel", akin to "troubadour", singing poet) are extremely devoted to their musical instruments (tr. "bağlama", "saz") –  probably a universal behavior of musicians. This piece is a great example of an aşık's relation to his/her saz.

The noun/adjective "aşık" literally means "lover" or "in love", or "he who is in love". In this sense, it may seem close to the meaning of "troubadour". However, unlike troubadour's, the object of the aşık's affection is definite and also widely varied. In maturity, it usually transforms into an idealized version of the original. Aşık's love transcends any ordinary, sexually motivated love, and projects itself over many other things including nature and its manifestations such as birds, animals, plants, trees, sky, stars, the Moon, the Earth, and so on. Usually, it later becomes a love for all humanity, which, then, invariably takes on political and religious themes. In later years of aşık's life, it becomes more philosophical and metaphysical. Therefore, when Veysel is called as "Aşık Veysel" the reference is being made more to his poetic and philosophical virtues rather than to any sentimental or romantic love affairs.

In all of this, besides the beloved that is always "out there", indifferent, insensitive, and elusive, the central players are the aşık and his/her instrument. They are the comrades of each other, always together. They know each other very well. Thus, sometimes, the saz may become the object of affection, or a representation of it, especially a faithful one.

In this poem, Veysel portrays his saz as the carrier of his legacy, a way to his immortality. In many ways, he succeeded in doing this, didn't he?

By the way, I have personally witnessed this "love" of bağlama many times. In one case, an artist friend of mine was referring to his bağlama as "my daughter". The reason of his ascribing a feminine character was that the instrument was a "cura", the smallest member of the bağlama family with sounds in much higher octaves. Understandably, it wouldn't be anything but a female child.

Here are some great performances:


NOTES:
  • Although modern bağlamas are made of many tree species nowadays, in the old times there were few choices. The body was carved out of a piece of a tree trunk that had to be available locally. Also, due to the size of the body, the tree had to have a large trunk. For these reasons, one of the most commonly used was mulberry. Mostly owing to this tradition rather than any scientific reason, mulberry is still one of the preferred trees in bağlama making. By the way, mulberry is also the choice tree of many bird species!
  • Here is an anecdote about Veysel, which I heard in Sivas, Turkey, Veysel's hometown. I was visiting a bağlama atelier in Sivas, in 2009 or 2010. During our conversation, the master maker told me this:
One day Veysel was giving a concert somewhere. After the performance, one of the fans approaches Veysel and asks:
- Master, I have seen others playing baglama, too. Yet, quite differently. They jump here and there on the fingerboard (neck, fret-board), they play on a large area. You, on the other hand, have your hand at the same place all the time. How is this?
Veysel's answer contains humor, lesson, and a Socratic irony:
- My son, they are still looking for this place that I found.
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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

My Faithful Beloved Is The Black Earth -- Benim Sadık Yarim Kara Topraktır (Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu)

Lyrics and music: Aşık Veysel (Şatıroğlu), (1894 – 1973). To read my previous comments about him please see this post.

A baby is born in the middle of nowhere; poor as it gets those days, forgotten by all. There are no schools, no doctors, ..., nothing. Then, he loses his sight at an early age. All he has now are the loved ones and the nature around him. He knows the world by its smells, tastes, textures, and sounds; but can't recall much how they looked like. His dreams must have been an amalgam of vague images. Yet, he somehow comes to know the world better than the seeing.

He sees the world through the eyes of the mind and heart. He decides to convey his thoughts using sound: poetry and music. In the end, he becomes one of the most influential poets and musicians of all time and, though springing from such a rural community, he puts an eternal mark on widely varying musical styles, both rural and urban. He becomes Aşık Veysel: the philosopher villager ... An unbelievable story!

Today, I attempted to translate a very well known, but quite long poem of his. Why is it so long? Well, there were no radios, no televisions, no newspapers in the village. A long musical recital would really do nicely, especially during the long, relatively idle winter days. Such was the pastime of those days.

Here are some nice performances:



Original lyrics:
===========================================
Dost dost diye nicesine sarıldım,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.
Beyhude dolandım boşa yoruldum,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Nice güzellere bağlandım kaldım,
Ne bir vefa gördüm ne faydalandım,
Her türlü isteğim topraktan aldım,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Koyun verdi, kuzu verdi, süt verdi,
Yemek verdi, ekmek verdi, et verdi,
Kazma ile dövmeyince kıt verdi,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Adem’den bu deme neslim getirdi,
Bana türlü türlü meyva yetirdi,
Her gün beni tepesinde götürdü,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Karnın yardım kazma ile, bel ile,
Yüzün yırttım tırnak ile, el ile,
Yine beni karşıladı gül ile,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

İşkence yaptıkça bana gülerdi,
Bunda yalan yoktur, herkesler gördü.
Bir çekirdek verdim, dört bostan verdi,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Havaya bakarsam hava alırım,
Toprağa bakarsam dua alırım,
Topraktan ayrılsam nerde kalırım?
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Dileğin varsa iste Allah'tan,
Almak için uzak gitme topraktan,
Cömertlik toprağa verilmiş Hak’tan,
Benim sadik yarim kara topraktır.

Hakikat ararsan açık bir nokta,
Allah kula yakın, kul da Allah'a,
Hak’kın gizli hazinesi kara toprakta,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Bütün kusurlarımı toprak gizliyor,
Merhem çalıp yaralarımı tuzluyor,
Kolun açmış yollarımı gözlüyor,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.

Her kim ki olursa bu sırra mazhar,
Dünyaya bırakır ölmez bir eser,
Gün gelir Veysel'i bağrına basar,
Benim sadık yarim kara topraktır.
===========================================
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Saturday, June 1, 2013

Reserved Locale -- Mahsus Mahal (Ruhi Su)

Lyrics and music: Ruhi Su (1912 – 1985), the legendary Turkish opera and folk singer, composer, and bağlama virtuoso of his time.

Here are some performances:


It is said that this piece was dedicated by Ruhi Su to his wife, Sidika Su, whom he married while in prison in 1957 (see, this Turkish Wikipedi article). I believe, he was trying to show that the two objects of his affection, one human one not, are reconcilable. It was also a sad cry in protest of then-current affairs, a rebellion against oppressors, an expression of hope in future. Well, it didn't materialize the way he wished. He died as an exile in his own country, banned from going abroad for seeking a cure for his illness. The days belonged to the military regime of 1980s' Turkey. (By the way, is it happening again? Go Taksim Square protesters, go!)

Nevertheless, he had a tremendous impact on musical development in Turkey. Many of that era, including myself, are greatly influenced by what he pioneered: an operatic interpretation of the Turkish folk music, which had been considered as almost ridiculous until then.

The Kum and Han rivers are in Korea. They had been the symbols of important operating theaters in the Korean war. For Ruhi Su, the forces of evil (Capitalism) and the forces of good (Socialism) had their showdown there, just as it had been hundreds of years ago in Karaburun, Turkey (see, Seyh Beddreddin, 15 c.). The poet is alluding to the events that happened in his time and hundreds of years ago, in an attempt to point at the similarities or at the continuing struggle against oppressors.

Here are the originals (as I confirmed from the original recordings):
=========================================
Mahsus mahal derler kaldığım zindanda,
Kalırım, kalırım, dostlar yandadır.
İki elleri kızıl kandadır kanda,
Aman, ölürüm, ölürüm kardeş, aklım sendedir.

Artar eksilmeyiz zindanlarında.
Kolay değil derdin ucu derinde,
Kum-Han ırmağında, Karaburun'da,
Aman, bulurum, bulurum kardeş, öfkem kındadır.

Dirliğim, düzenim; dermanım, canım,
Solum, sol tarafım; imanım, dinim,
Benim beyaz unum, ak güvercinim,
Aman, bilirim, bilirim kardeş, gelen gündedir.
=========================================
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