Âşık Ahmed Çelebi, known as "İmâmzâde", was a folk and saz poet (minstrel) of Amasya who lived in the middle of the seventeenth century. According to the Amasya Tarihi of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, he was the son of İbrâhim Efendi, imam of the Kocacık Mosque in Amasya; he became known as a poet in 1070 (1659-60) and died after 1086 (1675-76). What is known about him amounts to a few lines in Hüsameddin's entry, and no example of his poetry has come down to us. His name also appears on this site in the articles Folk Songs and Long Airs of Amasya and The Minstrel Tradition in Amasya.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Hüsameddin introduces the poet in the eleventh volume of the Amasya Tarihi, in the section on natives of Amasya whose names begin with the letter "ayın":

Âşık Ahmed Çelebi-İmâmzâde Amasya'da Kocacık mescidi imâmı İbrâhim Efendi'nin oğludur. Mükemmel halk ve saz şâiri olup 1070'de iştihâr ederek 1086 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. Mükeyyifâtdan âzâde, afîf, saz ve sözde merâkı zâid bir adam idi.

In modern English the entry reads: Âşık Ahmed Çelebi, known as İmamzâde, is the son of İbrâhim Efendi, imam of the Kocacık Mosque in Amasya. He was an accomplished folk and saz poet; he became famous in 1070 and died after the year 1086. He was a man who kept away from intoxicants, chaste, and exceedingly fond of the saz and of verse.

The site's rendering of the entry can be read in the Hüsameddin encyclopedia (in Turkish).

Life

Nothing is known of Âşık Ahmed Çelebi's date of birth, education or occupation. The nickname "İmâmzâde", that is, son of the imam, comes from his father's service as imam of a neighbourhood mosque. Kocacık appears frequently in Hüsameddin's work as the name of both a quarter and a mosque; other entries in the work also mention imams and preachers, as well as muezzins, of the Kocacık Mosque. No separate entry is given to the poet's father İbrâhim Efendi.

The words Hüsameddin chose for the poet are worth noting. "Mükeyyifât", in the definition of the Turkish Language Association dictionary, means substances that give pleasure, narcotics. Hüsameddin's praise of Âşık Ahmed as "âzâde", free of these, and "afîf", chaste, sets up a contrast with other saz poets who are described in the same work in terms of dissipation. That an imam's son should be a minstrel mixing in coffeehouse and saz gatherings may have seemed to Hüsameddin a circumstance calling for explanation; the phrase "exceedingly fond of the saz and of verse" says that the poet took up this path out of enthusiasm and talent. This last interpretation is ours.

The date of death is not precise in Hüsameddin: "after the year 1086", that is, after 1675-76. Cavit Güzel's study of the minstrel destan tradition in Amasya, and articles based on it, give the year of death as 1676; this turns the date after which Hüsameddin places the death into a definite year of death and says more than the source does.

Connection with Amasya

The poet's connection with Amasya rests on Hüsameddin's entry: his father is the imam of the Kocacık Mosque in Amasya and the poet is counted among the natives of Amasya. Âşık Ahmed Çelebi belongs to the generation of saz poets of the city in the seventeenth century. In the same years the sipahi poet Celâlî Mehmed Ağa (in Turkish), who recited destans in the "Yüksek Kahve" at Meydan Köprü, and the janissary saz poet Cihâdî Ahmed Ağa were also well known in Amasya. Güzel counts Âşık Ahmed among the saz poets of this century "whose names are mentioned" and notes that there is no detailed information about him.

Poetry

No poems of Âşık Ahmed Çelebi have come down to us. Hüsameddin says he was an accomplished folk and saz poet, but does not quote a single line. Güzel, too, notes that there is no specimen of the works of the minstrels named in the Amasya Tarihi and that his searches in other sources turned up no work by them. Whether "Âşık" is a pen name here or the general title given to saz poets cannot be determined from the source; in the same volume names such as Âşık Mehmed Ağa and Âşık Ali Pasha also begin with this word.

State of the Sources

Âşık Ahmed Çelebi survives only in Hüsameddin's entry, and it is not known on what document Hüsameddin based this information. Because this page of the Amasya Tarihi is set in two columns, in some digital texts his entry appears intertwined with the entry next to it, that of Âşık Mehmed Ağa of the Odabaşıoğlu. Âşık Mehmed Ağa was a different janissary destan singer: a grandson of Odabaşı Halil Ağa, he played the çöğür and sang destans, gathered his friends in a coffeehouse at Selağzı and died around 1220 (1805). The çöğür is a folk saz with a short neck and a large body. The Kocacık Mosque, the date 1070 and the "fondness for the saz and for verse" belong to Âşık Ahmed Çelebi; janissary service, the çöğür and the Selağzı coffeehouse belong to Âşık Mehmed Ağa. Since the features of these two men can become mixed in some writings, the distinction is stated plainly here.

Chronology

1070 (1659-60): Âşık Ahmed Çelebi becomes known as a saz poet.

After 1086 (1675-76): Âşık Ahmed Çelebi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Official sources

Online sources