The title on the slip has two layers: first "Dik Delil Makamı", then, in parentheses, as if to explain it, "Tarikatın Dik Delili", "the dik delil of the order". The piece was sung in Merzifon on 8 July 1943 by Âşık Aşir Kirpiksiz of Karamağra village, and its first line was recorded as "Anadan atadan şöyle doğanda". The word "makam" in the title most probably names here a melody tied to a particular place in the ritual of a religious order. "Dik delil" is not among the makam names of Turkish music, and the slip does not explain what it means either. The deyiş never reached TRT, and neither its full text nor its notation has appeared in any publication.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; it is not registered to Amasya in the TRT repertoire
  • Region: Merzifon (the place of recording is written plainly on the slip)
  • Source performer: Âşık Aşir Kirpiksiz; birth year on the slip Rumi 1326 (about 1910), occupation âşık, from Karamağra village near Merzifon; his instrument presumed in the catalogue to be the saz
  • Collected by: Halil Bedii Yönetken, Muzaffer Sarısözen and Rıza Yetişen for the Ankara State Conservatory
  • Date of collection: 8 July 1943
  • Archive location: former Ankara State Conservatory Folklore Archive (now at the Hacettepe University State Conservatory), record 1127/B-1; no. 3681 in Kaya's catalogue
  • Genre: deyiş; named on the slip as a melody of the order
  • Mode, metre: unknown, as no notation has been published
  • Words and music: recorded as anonymous
  • Source link: there is no TRT link; the catalogue data are in Celal Volkan Kaya's catalogue
  • Overview article: The Melody of the Yeşilırmak

Lyrics

Anadan atadan şöyle doğanda

"Atadan" means "from the father"; the line goes back to the moment a person is born of mother and father. What it goes on to say cannot be guessed without the second line, but the other deyiş Aşir Kirpiksiz sang that day open from a similar starting point: one begins "On sekiz bin âlem yaradılmadan", "before the eighteen thousand worlds were created", the other "İbtida dünyaya mektep gurulmadan", "before any school was founded in the world". One may think that these three formed a series about creation and a person's coming into the world; the slips say nothing on the matter. The remaining lines and the notation are absent from printed sources; the voice is kept on side B of record 1127.

Story

The slip carries no note attributing the deyiş to a poet. Nor can published sources tell us at which cem in Merzifon it was sung, or to which part of the ritual it belonged.

Musical Features

The scale of the tune is unknown. How the word "makam" was used on these slips, however, can be traced through other recordings of the same journey. On the same day in Merzifon, "Engin Hüseynî (En Eski Tarikat Makamı)" and "Koşuye(?) Makamı" were recorded from Rüstem Coşar and "Yayla Makamı" from Rıza Sağlam; two days earlier, in Amasya, "Garip Makamı" was recorded from Osman Çevikçe. In these titles makam appears as a name used by âşıks and by the orders to tell particular melodies apart.

Performers and Recordings

The deyiş survives in this recording alone. Aşir Kirpiksiz's name appears on five recordings in the catalogue: "Geyik Avı", "On Sekiz Bin Âlem", "İptida Dünyaya", "Bilbil" and this deyiş. According to the slip, an unnamed violinist also played on "İptida Dünyaya"; the cataloguer notes that he may have been Rasim Olgun or Turabi Tanrısever. On the record, Dik Delil is followed directly by Âşık Musa Aslan's "Yolma Havası (Kavrama)". The life of this âşık, who came from Ardahan and settled in Merzifon, is told on a page of its own.

Bibliography

Online sources