The first word on the card is a single, unintelligible one: "Memegana". This long song, which Zekeriya Demiray sang for the Ankara State Conservatory team in Amasya on 6 July 1943, entered the catalogue as "Bayatı (Atüstü Bayatı)". Bayatı is the name of a long-song and quatrain genre sung in seven-syllable quatrains in Azerbaijan and eastern Anatolia; so although the recording was made in Amasya, the melody's belonging to the region is disputed. TRT lists no counterpart under Amasya, and its notation and words are unpublished.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; not registered under the Amasya region in the TRT repertoire
  • Region: central Amasya (presumed place of recording in the catalogue); the title points to the bayatı of the Azerbaijani tradition, and its regional attribution is disputed
  • Source person: Zekeriya Demiray
  • Collected by: the Ankara State Conservatory team: Halil Bedii Yönetken, Muzaffer Sarısözen, Rıza Yetişen
  • Date of collection: 6 July 1943
  • Location in the archive: Folklore Archive, disc 1115/B-4; no. 3634 in Kaya's catalogue
  • Genre: long song (bayatı)
  • Mode, rhythm: unknown
  • Words and music: recorded as anonymous
  • Source link: in place of TRT, Kaya's catalogue, which gives the recording's details

Lyrics

The only opening word the cataloguer copied from the card is this:

Memegana

What this word corresponds to is unclear. Whether it is the start of a line, an exclamation as it sounded to the person writing the card, or a misread word cannot be told from the catalogue, and any attempt to give it a meaning would be no more than a guess. Its words and notation could not be found in any published source. The disc side carrying Demiray's voice is no. 1115/B-4, kept with the team's other discs in the Folklore Archive now at Hacettepe University.

Regional Attribution

The name "bayatı" links the melody not to Amasya but to the tradition of Azerbaijan and eastern Anatolia; what the bracketed "Atüstü" refers to, the catalogue does not explain. The next piece Zekeriya Demiray sang that day also points east: "Kür Gırağı", the bank of the Kura river. On the other hand, on the team's first day in Amasya Demiray also sang pieces such as "Kaleden Atılır" and "Irmakların Gümbürtüsü", whose names do not seem foreign to the region. One may suppose that the source person knew both local songs and a repertoire of eastern origin; the catalogue's index of performers by hometown lists him under central Amasya. Because the place of recording is Amasya, the piece is counted among the songs of Amasya, but there is no evidence that the bayatı is a melody belonging to Amasya.

Story

No publication tells by what route the bayatı reached Amasya or from whom Zekeriya Demiray learned it.

Musical Features

Its mode, range and structure are unknown; no notation has been published. The name of the genre suggests a long song in free rhythm, but only the disc itself can tell how this recording was sung.

Performers and Recordings

The only recording is Zekeriya Demiray's 1943 disc. On the same day "Dımbıla Gız (Oyun Havası)", this bayatı, "Kür Gırağı" and "Segah" were recorded; on 4 July the same singer had also sung "Irmakların Gümbürtüsü" and "Kaleden Atılır". Amasya's long songs and folk songs are discussed in The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources