Few deyiş songs give their own whereabouts in the first line, almost like an address. This work by Âşık Veli Saimi begins "Amasya İli'nde Merzifon Şehri'nde" (in the province of Amasya, in the town of Merzifon) and at once greets those who arrive: "Erenler yarenler sefa geldiniz", welcome, enlightened ones, friends. Its subtitle on the score is Safalama; it is a song of welcome that receives guests with the refrain "sefa geldiniz". TRT's repertoire does not include it. Archive entry no. 2084 credits words and tune to Saimi and takes the performance from him as well.

Catalogue Data

  • Archive no.: Repertükül Archive 2084; not a TRT number
  • Region: Amasya, Merzifon
  • Genre: deyiş (subtitled "Safalama" on the score)
  • Words and music: Âşık Veli Saimi
  • Source performer: not written separately; performed by the composer
  • Collected and transcribed by: Erkan Demirtaş, Berkay Gençer
  • Date of collection: not on the score; under the CultureCIVIC programme, and therefore after June 2021, when the programme began
  • Mode: Uşşak scale; final and closing note La
  • Metre: 4/4
  • Source link: Repertükül Archive 2084 (there is no TRT record)

Lyrics

As the words of Veli Saimi, an âşık of our own day, are under copyright, only the opening stanza of the four, the one that names Merzifon, is given here; the remaining stanzas are written beneath the score.

Amasya İli'nde Merzifon Şehri'nde
Erenler yarenler sefa geldiniz
Hakin sonda vücudumda şehrimde
Erenler yarenler sefa geldiniz

In Alevi-Bektashi usage erenler are those who have reached the goal of the path, and yarenler are friends, fellow travellers. The third line as written on the score yields no clear meaning; it may intend to say that God is made manifest in the poet's own body and town, but this reading is not certain. The later stanzas link the guests to the "station of the Forty" and to friends who bring a cure for sorrow, and declare that the "guest of God" is Şah-ı Merdan, that is, Ali. The âşık's name is heard in the final stanza. The deyiş closes, outside the stanzas, with the invocation "Ali yâr, Ali yâr, şahım Ali yâr".

Story

The words bring a moment of welcome to life. Who came through that door and when, and whether the deyiş was written for a cem ceremony or for some particular gathering, the collection does not record.

Musical Features

The tune makes do with four notes, from La to Re. Few of the Merzifon scores have a narrower range. The tune circles in the lower tetrachord of the Uşşak scale, moves in 4/4 and comes to rest on the same La. So narrow a compass lends itself to group singing with the saz, and the refrain heard twice in each stanza points the same way. The collectors added no further note on the melody.

Performers and Recordings

The performance transcribed is Veli Saimi's own; no trace of a commercial recording such as a record or album turned up. In the archive's sequence it is followed by no. 2085, "Arzu Halim Var Pirime". How the safalama and deyiş songs sit alongside the melodies collected in Amasya before them can be seen in the long study of the songs of Amasya.

Bibliography

Online sources