On 10 November 1969 Nida Tüfekçi collected a deyiş (a minstrel's devotional song) from Âşık Haydar Aslan of the Merzifon region: "Eşimden Ayrıldım Yamandır Halim" ("I Am Parted from My Mate, Grievous Is My State"). This three-stanza deyiş, each stanza of which ends with the redif "böyl'olur" ("so it goes"), entered the TRT repertoire as number 1804. Haydar Aslan was the son of Âşık Musa Aslan, who had settled in Merzifon. A quarter of a century earlier, in 1943, his father had sung a deyiş beginning with the same line to the Ankara State Conservatory's collecting team; in that recording the first line reads "Aşnamdan ayrıldım yamandır halim". In our general article on the folk songs of Amasya, the deyiş serves as an example of the theme of separation.

Catalogue Record

  • TRT Turkish Folk Music repertoire no.: 1804, kırık hava (Repertükül gives its genre as "deyiş")
  • Region: Amasya, Merzifon
  • Source performer: Âşık Haydar Aslan
  • Collected and transcribed by: Nida Tüfekçi
  • Date of collection: 10.11.1969 (Yücel 2016)
  • Makam: Uşşak (Repertükül); Demircioğlu gives hüseyni. Final and closing note A
  • Usul (metre): 4/4+6/4 (Repertükül); Demircioğlu writes only 4/4
  • Range: from A to F, 6 notes
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • TRT link: as TRT has no public page for the work, the record is from Repertükül, https://www.repertukul.com/ESIMDEN-AYRILDIM-YAMANDIR-HALIM-1804
  • Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism audio recording ("Eşimden Ayrıldım"): http://webtvpanel.kultur.gov.tr/WebTV_Contents/Publish/21092017142724/05iesimdeniayrildim.mp3

Lyrics

Eşimden ayrıldım yamandır halim
Adettir aşığın hali böyl'olur
Yar fikrimi çeldi çevrildi yolum
Mecnun dedikleri deli böyl'olur
Cana ilaç imiş aşkın zirabı
Bülbül gül dalında çeker gülabı
Beni mesteyledi aşkın şarabı
Dost elinden gelen dolu da böyl'olur
Mürayi olanlar bu sırra ermez
Göğsünde iman olan aşığa kıymaz
Yanına yaklaşan kokuna doymaz
Firdevs-i alanın da gülü böyl'olur

In English: I am parted from my mate, grievous is my state; such is the lover's lot, so it goes. My love has stolen my mind, my road has turned aside; the madman they call Majnun is so as well. Love's white wine was a cure for the soul; the nightingale on the rose branch draws rosewater. Love's wine has made me drunk; the cup that comes from the Friend's hand is so as well. Hypocrites cannot attain this secret; one with faith in his breast does not harm a lover. Whoever comes near you cannot have enough of your scent; the rose of the highest garden of paradise is so as well.

The glossary added to the repertoire score explains "zirab" as white wine, "gülab" as rosewater, "dolu" as the wine of love, "mürayi" as two-faced, "mesteylemek" as to make drunk, to send out of oneself, and "Firdevs-i âlâ" as the sixth garden of paradise. "Yaman" here means bad, grievous. The vocabulary comes from Sufi poetry: wine, cup, secret and the garden of paradise are the common stock of the deyiş tradition, which speaks of love for a beloved and love for the divine in the same words. In his 2016 study of the folk songs of Merzifon, Haluk Yücel gives the deyiş as an example of songs on separation and sees in the line "Adettir aşığın hali böyl'olur" the observation that separation is always the fate of lovers.

Its Story

As no pen name (mahlas) occurs in the text, who composed the deyiş is unknown. Nor does any source record the occasion on which it was sung.

Musical Features

The sources disagree on scale and metre. Repertükül gives the score's scale as uşşak and its usul as 4/4+6/4. Demircioğlu, however, tabulates the work as hüseyni in 4/4, and for this reason leaves it out of the section where he examines Amasya's eight songs of uşşak character. No published explanation for this disagreement has been found. The melody settles and ends on A and stays within six notes, from low A up to F.

The verse structure speaks more clearly than the melody. The lines have eleven syllables (E-şim-den / ay-rıl-dım / ya-man-dır / ha-lim), the quatrains rhyme abab, cccb, dddb, and each quatrain closes with the redif "böyl'olur". This is the koşma form of minstrel poetry.

Collections and Variants

In the summer of 1943 the Ankara State Conservatory's collecting team recorded many pieces from Musa Aslan in Merzifon. In Celal Volkan Kaya's catalogue one of them bears the title "Yalel Samah: Aşnamdan ayrıldım yamandır halim"; it is dated 7/8 July 1943, its disc number is 1122/B-1, and its place of recording, by the cataloguer's estimate, is Merzifon. The card holds only the title and first line; the full text has not been published. The first lines of the two recordings differ in a single word: the "aşna", meaning friend or beloved, of the father's performance has become "eş", mate, in the collection made from his son. The word "samah" in the title suggests that in 1943 the deyiş was sung as a semah, that is, a melody for the ritual turning of the cem ceremony; the card itself does not explain this. The 1969 collection, by contrast, was transcribed as a kırık hava.

The lyrics on Repertükül and the text quoted by Yücel in 2016 are identical, except that the third line of the first stanza reads "Yar fikrimi çeldi" on Repertükül and "Yar fikrimi çaldı" in Yücel.

Source Performer

Little is known of Haydar Aslan's life. According to Haluk Yücel, quoting Ali Cem Akbulut's book Gazilerovacığı Âşıkları, he was born in 1923 and died in 1982; his father, Âşık Musa Aslan, raised him as a minstrel faithful to the tradition. Detailed information on his father is given on the Âşık Musa Aslan page.

Performers and Recordings

Meliha Güneş appears as performer in the Repertükül record, and the page also carries an audio file titled "günümüz yorumu" (a present-day interpretation). The recording "Eşimden Ayrıldım", published by the provincial directorate among the region's songs, does not name its singer. No accessible copy of Musa Aslan's 1943 disc has been found.

Chronology

7/8 July 1943: The Ankara State Conservatory team records "Yalel Samah: Aşnamdan ayrıldım yamandır halim" on disc from Musa Aslan in Merzifon.

10 November 1969: Nida Tüfekçi collects the deyiş from Haydar Aslan; the score enters the TRT repertoire as number 1804.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Official sources

Other sources

Online sources