Each of the three quatrains of "Dağdan Kestim Çınarı" ("I Cut a Plane Tree on the Mountain"), a song of exile, is followed by a different refrain. The quatrains are seven-syllable manis, while the refrains consist of two eleven-syllable lines, and the mood of the song shifts as it passes from one to the next. Beginning in the voice of someone who cannot bear life far from home, the words pass through the fire of passion and end in a consolation that says, "do not grieve, let this year too be so." Listed under number 675 in the TRT repertoire, the song has Kadir Çakırtaş as its source performer and Arif Meşhur as its collector and transcriber. A wider picture of the region's songs is drawn in the article Folk Songs and Long Airs of Amasya.

Catalogue Record

  • TRT Turkish Folk Music repertoire no.: 675 (kırık hava)
  • Region: Amasya, Alpaslan village (Haluk Yücel assigns the song to Taşova)
  • Source performer: Kadir Çakırtaş
  • Collected and transcribed by: Arif Meşhur
  • Date of collection: not found
  • Makam: Gülizar; final and closing note A
  • Usul (metre): 4/4
  • Range: from low A to high G, 7 notes
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • In place of a TRT link (no official page exists), Repertükül, which reproduces the score's record: https://www.repertukul.com/DAGDAN-KESTIM-CINARI-675
  • Türkü Yurdu: https://www.turkuyurdu.com/dagdan-kestim-cinari-11984.html

Lyrics

Dağdan kestim çınarı
(Yavrum) Çınarın dalı sarı
Ağlamaktan kurudu
(Yavrum) Gözlerimin pınarı
Uyanamıyom yavrum uyanamıyom
Ben de bu gurbetliğe dayanamıyom
Ay doğar ayazlanır
(Yavrum) Gün doğar beyazlanır
O yar beni görünce
(Yavrum) Hem güler hem nazlanır
Yangın bacalar gibi yanıp tütmeli
Bu sevdanın elinden nere gitmeli
Kapıdan dışa baktım
(Yavrum) Bir bölük kuşa baktım
Ne hayırsız yar idin
(Yavrum) Arkandan boşa baktım
Öyl'olsun da kömür gözlüm öyl'olsun
Keder etme bu yıllık da böyl'olsun

In English: I cut a plane tree on the mountain, its branch has turned yellow; from weeping, the spring of my eyes has run dry. I cannot wake, my dear, I cannot wake; I too cannot bear this life in exile. When the moon rises the frost bites, when the sun rises all turns white; when that love of mine sees me, she both smiles and plays coy. One must burn and smoke like chimneys on fire; where can one go to escape this passion? I looked out of the door, I saw a flock of birds; what a faithless love you were, I gazed after you in vain. So be it, my coal-eyed one, so be it; do not grieve, let this year too pass this way.

In the lyrics, "bölük" means a flock or cluster; "kömür gözlü" (coal-eyed) is an old form of address for a dark-eyed beloved. "Gurbetlik" describes the condition of being in exile, of having fallen far from home. The word "yavrum" ("my dear") added to the beginning of the lines is an address that does not change the meaning, and in the Repertükül text it is written in brackets.

Its Story

The speaker is someone who has fallen into exile, but the words do not make clear whether that exile is military service or a city where one has gone for work. No published account of the song's composition could be found either. The sources also give no information about Kadir Çakırtaş or about the collector Arif Meşhur.

Musical Features

Gülizar, the scale of this melody, is little used in the Amasya repertoire; of the 48 songs counted by Demircioğlu only two are in this scale. In metre, by contrast, the song sides with the majority: 4/4, with eighteen songs in the same count, is the region's most frequent usul. The melody comes to rest on A and spreads over the seven notes between low A and high G.

In terms of form, the song's most distinctive feature is its changing refrain. The three refrains come with different words but in the same pattern, as two eleven-syllable lines, while the quatrains have seven syllables. The text thus moves back and forth between seven-syllable mani lines and eleven-syllable refrain lines. No published analysis has been found of how this alternation is handled in the music.

On Its Region

Repertükül, relying on the record of the TRT score, assigns the song to the village of Alpaslan in Amasya. In the table in his 2018 article, however, Haluk Yücel cites it as "Dağdan kestim çınarı (Taşova)". The two pieces of information may not contradict each other, but none of the sources states which district Alpaslan village belongs to.

Collections and Variants

The text on Türkü Yurdu gives the same quatrains and the same three refrains as the score, in the same order. The differences are matters of spelling: "yaridin" is written for "yar idin", "öylolsun" for "öyl'olsun", and the word "yavrum" appears without brackets.

Performers and Recordings

The Repertükül record gives no performer's name, and the page has no audio file for this song. It is also missing from the folk song recordings issued by the Ministry's directorate in Amasya. No documented rendering or disc is known.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Other sources

Online sources