Ali Baki Gül, from Harız village in the Türnük district of Merzifon, sang a divan on his own for the collecting team on 8 July 1943. The first line written on the slip says plainly whom the piece is about: "Hak cemaliñ kâbesi hayranıdır Bekdaşiler". The catalogue gives the piece under the title "Divan (Bektaşiler)"; the name in parentheses most probably comes from the redif at the end of the line. Part of the record-side number was left incomplete on the slip, and the cataloguer completed it as "1126/A[-1]". The divan was not taken into the TRT repertoire, and neither its full text nor its melody has been printed.

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: Ali Baki Gül; farm labourer, birth year on the slip Rumi 1315 (about 1899), from Harız village, Türnük district, Merzifon; a saz player
  • Collected by: Halil Bedii Yönetken, Muzaffer Sarısözen and Rıza Yetişen (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 1126/A[-1]; no. 3675 in Kaya's catalogue
  • Genre: divan (deyiş)
  • Mode, metre: unknown
  • Words and music: recorded as anonymous
  • Source link: as there is no TRT entry, the data come from Kaya's catalogue thesis
  • Overview article: The Melody of the Yeşilırmak

Lyrics

The line given in the catalogue, in the spelling of the slip:

Hak cemaliñ kâbesi hayranıdır Bekdaşiler

The letter "ñ" marks a nasal n in the catalogue. The line can be understood roughly as "the Bektashis are those who admire the Kaaba of God's countenance"; the sense that emerges is a way of speaking that treats the face of God as a Kaaba to turn towards. Because the words can be joined in two ways, this meaning is approximate. The line fits the remel pattern "fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilün"; this metre, together with the redif "Bekdaşiler", suggests that the piece is a divan composed in aruz, the quantitative metre. The other couplets and the notation were never printed; Ali Baki Gül's performance was taken onto side A of record 1126.

Story

The slip does not name the poet of the divan; the bracketed poet's note seen on pieces of known authorship from the same journey is missing here. No published information has been found on any link with the Bektashi circle in Merzifon or with a particular lodge.

Musical Features

There is no published analysis of the tune. On the slips the name "divan" refers to a form: "Beni Bir Dost Yareledi", sung by Bektaş Yıldız in Gümüşhacıköy the next day, is likewise recorded with "Divan" in parentheses. Nothing more is known about the melody, scale or length of Ali Baki Gül's recording.

Performers and Recordings

The same day Ali Baki Gül also sang "Mail Oldum" as one of a group of five. That recording became no. 1901 of the TRT repertoire, and the slip copy quoted in its entry gives his name as "Ali Gül (1315)"; the song is described on the Mail Oldum Hub Cemale Bakmaya page. Side B of the record that holds the divan carries Bülbül, sung by İbrahim Elmas of the same group and beginning "Bugün pir divanına vardım".

Bibliography

Online sources