Âşık Engunî is a folk poet whose name appears in a list of the minstrels raised in the part of Amasya known as Gaziler Ovacığı, but about whom no other information could be found. His name occurs in the list of minstrels given in Dünden Bugüne Gümüşhacıköy by A. Ankaralı, S. Cin and A. G. Tuncay, published in 2000 by the Gümüşhacıköy Chamber of Commerce and Industry; all the known sources that mention Engunî rest on this list. It is by this route that his name also entered the list of the region's minstrels in the site's article on the minstrel tradition in Amasya.
The Sources That Name Him
We were not able to see the book by Ankaralı, Cin and Tuncay directly. The list has reached us through two quotations. Şerife Özer and Mustafa Topal, describing the minstrels who lived in Gaziler Ovacığı in their 2021 article on Âşık Özlemî of Gümüşhacıköy, list "the best known" of them and include "Âşık Engunî": after Âşık Musa, Kul Fakir, Âşık İsa Gedik, Âşık Rıza Çulha, Ahmet Abacı and Âşık Halil İbrahim Alkaç comes Âşık Engunî, followed by Âşık Dursun, Dervişoğlu, Biçare, Sıdkî and Kul Hasan. The same list, citing the same source, is repeated word for word in Fatih Çelebi's study of Kul Fakir published in 2026.
Engunî's name does not appear in the other studies that list the minstrels of Gaziler Ovacığı. He is not among the twenty-two names in the list given in Haluk Yücel's 2018 article on the minstrels of Amasya, nor among those named in his 2021 study of Âşık Musa Aslan. Nor is the name found in Necdet Kurt's 2017 paper on the zakirs of the Amasya region.
The State of the Sources
Âşık Engunî's name appears in the list of minstrels in the book Dünden Bugüne Gümüşhacıköy; no other record has been found. His real name, his village, the century in which he lived, the master he apprenticed with and whether his poems have survived are not known. Since the form "Engunî" does not resemble the usual pen names, a misprint in the list is also possible; but there is no source to confirm this. His poems have not been found. As his date of death is unknown, the copyright status of his poems cannot be determined either. Seeing the original source, or a collection made in the region, may bring to light information that can be linked to this name.
Bibliography
Academic studies
- Şerife Özer, Mustafa Topal, "Âşıklık Geleneği ve Geleneğin Çerağlarından Amasyalı Âşık Özlemî", Motif Akademi Halkbilimi Dergisi, 14(34), 2021, pp. 652-665. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1305244
- Haluk Yücel, "Türk Halk Müziğinde Âşıklık Geleneği: Amasya Âşıkları", TURAN-SAM Uluslararası Bilimsel Hakemli Dergisi, 10(39), 2018, p. 256. https://www.turansam.org/TURAN-SAM_39.pdf
- Necdet Kurt, "Zakirlik Geleneğinin Kökenleri ve Amasya Yöresinin İz Bırakan Zakirleri", Geçmişten Günümüze Uluslararası Dinî Mûsikî Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı, Amasya: Amasya University, 2017. https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00310/2017/2017_KURTN.pdf
- Haluk Yücel, "Merzifonlu Âşık Musa Aslan Türkülerinin Müzikal Analizi", Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi / The Journal of Social Sciences, 8(53), 2021, pp. 31-56. https://sobider.com/files/sobider_makaleler/6399117e-ec1c-4d60-a836-1d355be50f24.pdf
Books
- A. Ankaralı, S. Cin, A. G. Tuncay, Dünden Bugüne Gümüşhacıköy, Gümüşhacıköy: Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası, 2000 (as quoted in Özer-Topal 2021).
- Fatih Çelebi, "Âşıklık Geleneğinin Temsilcilerinden Kul Fakir'in Eserlerinde 'Dost' Kavramı", Evrim Çağlayan (ed.), Kültür ve Güzel Sanatlar, Karabük: Karabük Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2026, pp. 3-4. https://kutuphane.karabuk.edu.tr/yuklenen/dosyalar/1263062026150047.pdf
Online sources