The words "nazlanı nazlanı", "coyly, coyly", close every stanza of this song, and in 1943 they also gave it its name in the Ankara State Conservatory team's list: "Nazlanı, Nazlanı". The song was recorded from Aşır Sirke in Gümüşhacıköy on 9 July 1943 and took no. 1878 in the TRT repertoire, in a notation written by Ateş Köyoğlu. Among Amasya's 48 folk songs in the TRT repertoire it is the only work written in 8/4. In the voice of a lover who dreams of entering his beloved's garden and gathering budding roses, its words describe a beauty who plays coy with kohl-lined eyes and hair spilling over her face.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: TRT THM 1878, kırık hava
  • Region: Amasya; Merzifon in the repertoire and in Yücel, Gümüşhacıköy in the conservatory catalogue
  • Source performer: Aşır Sirke ("Aşir Sirke" in the catalogue); the source performer is also the singer
  • Collected by: Ankara State Conservatory
  • Date of collection: 9 July 1943
  • Transcribed by: Ateş Köyoğlu
  • Mode: Hüseynî; final and closing note La
  • Metre: 8/4
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • TRT link: there is no official online address for individual items of the TRT repertoire; the catalogue data, lyrics, an image of the notation and a recording from the source performer are on Repertükül.

Lyrics

Dostun bahçasına girsem
Tomurcuk güllerin dersem
El göğüste selam versem
Durur da nazlanı nazlanı
Bak şu dilberin nazına
Sürmeler çekmiş gözüne
Ziliflerin yüzüne
Döker de nazlanı nazlanı
Dönmeli nazlanı nazlanı
Benim yarim merdane
Güller içinde bir dane
Ziliflerin gerdane
Döker de nazlanı nazlanı
Dönmeli nazlanı nazlanı

Zilif means hair, a lock of hair; merdane the note in the notation renders as bravely, in a manly way. Nazlanı nazlanı means coyly, playing hard to get. The first stanza runs: if I could enter my beloved's garden, gather her budding roses, greet her with my hand on my heart, she would stand there and look at me coyly. The second stanza describes the coquetry of the beauty, the kohl she has drawn round her eyes and the locks she lets fall over her face. The third praises the beloved: my love is brave, one of a kind among the roses, she lets her locks fall over her throat. That merdane should be used of a girl may surprise at first; here it may praise an upright bearing and an open heart rather than valour.

The source does not explain the line "Dönmeli nazlanı nazlanı" added at the end of the stanzas. If the word is read as turning, circling, it may point to a dance figure or to the beauty's swaying walk; this is only one of the meanings the text allows. The notation does not use the label "Bağlantı"; the two lines beginning "döker de" and "dönmeli" do the work of a refrain.

Story

Who this beauty was, and on what occasion the song was sung, the sources do not say. Nothing is known beyond whom it was collected from, where and when, and the words rest on the portrait of a beauty rather than on an event.

Musical Features

Its metre sets this song apart from its neighbours. In Nail Demircioğlu's table listing Amasya's 48 TRT folk songs by mode and rhythm, 8/4 occurs only once, and that is "Dostun Bahçasına Girsem". The scale is Hüseynî; according to Demircioğlu this is also the scale used most often in Amasya folk songs.

In the repertoire data final and closing note are both La. The lowest note is Sol and the highest also Sol; the range covers an octave, that is eight notes. In Yücel's 2018 list, for its part, the song bears the name "Dostun bahçasına girsem (Merzifon)" and counts as a kırık hava.

Performers and Recordings

The page where the notation is published online also carries an audio recording marked "from the source performer", which makes it possible to hear the song as it was sung at the time of collection. On the same day in Gümüşhacıköy Aşır Sirke also sang for the team the song "Ey Hamamcı" and a "Gül Türküsü" attributed to Nesîmî. The latter became no. 2731 in the TRT repertoire, titled "Sabahtan Uğradım Pir Divanına". Haluk Yücel, in his article on Alevi-Bektashi elements in Amasya folk songs, refers to him as "Âşık Sirke". That another artist later took up the song is not documented.

Collections and Variants

The sources differ on the region. The repertoire data and Yücel 2018 link the song to Merzifon, whereas in Celal Volkan Kaya's thesis cataloguing the conservatory archive the place of recording is Gümüşhacıköy, without square brackets, that is, as written on the slip. At the time Gümüşhacıköy and Merzifon were separate districts of the province of Amasya; the team spent 9 July in Gümüşhacıköy and went back to Merzifon for the night. Whether the "Merzifon" of the repertoire arose from this itinerary or rests on other information is not known. For readers who wish to place it among Amasya's other folk songs, the article The Melody of the Yeşilırmak offers a general framework.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Other sources

Online sources