Even the cataloguer hesitated over the first line of this bozlak: "Güzelin(?) yaylası tekerin beli"; the question mark beside the word is his. The session of the singer named Hüseyin on 6 July 1943 opens with a bozlak and closes with another, and this one, entered in the catalogue as no. 3624, is the first. Neither the notation nor the words of this long song have been published.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; not registered under the Amasya region in the TRT repertoire
  • Place of collection: central Amasya (in square brackets in the catalogue)
  • Source person: Hüseyin (no surname on the card; "Hüseyin [3]" in the catalogue)
  • Collected by: the Ankara State Conservatory team: Halil Bedii Yönetken, Muzaffer Sarısözen and the technician Rıza Yetişen
  • Date of collection: 6 July 1943
  • Location in the archive: Folklore Archive, disc [1113/B-2] (number in square brackets); no. 3624 in Kaya's catalogue
  • Genre: long song (bozlak)
  • Mode, rhythm: not recorded; a genre in free rhythm
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • Source link: there is no TRT page; the details are in Kaya's catalogue

Lyrics

Güzelin(?) yaylası tekerin beli

The catalogue explains that it puts a question mark in parentheses beside words on the cards whose reading or accuracy it doubts. "Güzelin" is therefore a conjectural reading; the word on the card is faded or unclear. "Tekerin beli" is not clear either: it may name the "bel", the ridge or pass, of a mountain or upland pasture, but this place name could not be checked against any other source. The line opens with an upland pasture ("yayla") and a "bel", a mountain ridge or pass; the rest is unknown. Both the correct reading of the faded word and the rest of the line lie in two documents: the card copy at TRT and the disc in the Folklore Archive.

Story

No record has been published telling to whom, or over what grief, this bozlak was sung. Hüseyin's surname is not on the card; the catalogue distinguishes performers of the same name whose surnames were not written down by numbers in square brackets, and lists him as the third Hüseyin. According to the list of performers he was known as Garip Hüseyin, a carter from central Amasya born in the Rumi year 1306.

Musical Features

The bozlak is a long song sung in free rhythm; the mode, range and melodic course of this recording are unknown, as there is no notation. Writing the disc number in square brackets also points to an uncertainty. The cataloguer says that he completed missing disc numbers on the cards by assuming four pieces to each disc, two to a side; it is possible that the bracketed number 1113/B-2 is also such a completion. The first piece on the same side is Osman Çevikçe's "Kalenderi".

Performers and Recordings

In the same session, after this bozlak, Hüseyin sang "Beypazarı Havası", "Berber", "Bülbül" and a second bozlak addressed to rushing waters; of the first bozlak no recording other than that day's disc is known. Amasya's long songs and folk songs are treated together in the article titled The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources