In this henna song the girl leaving her father's house is remembered as the salt of the home: it is she who leaves the salt cellar without salt, her mother without a daughter, the big house empty. Every stanza closes with the same wish, "Kızım kınan kutlu olsun", "my daughter, may your henna be blessed". The 1943 collection slip also notes when the piece was sung: "Gelin Havası (Koltukta Söylenirmiş)", "Bride's Song (Said to Be Sung at the Koltuk)". Naciye Perin sang it in Amasya on 6 July 1943; in the TRT repertoire it bears the title "Geline Bakın Geline (Kına Havası)" and the number 4600.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: TRT Turkish Folk Music repertoire 4600 (kırık hava section)
  • Region: Amasya
  • Source performer: Naciye Perin, who is also the performer. In the conservatory catalogue Sabri Tınaztepe's name also appears with the recording.
  • Collected by: Ankara State Conservatory (Halil Bedii Yönetken, Muzaffer Sarısözen, Rıza Yetişen)
  • Date of collection: 6 July 1943; in the conservatory catalogue no. 3617, disc 1112/B-1, titled "Gelin Havası (Koltukta Söylenirmiş): Gelin bakın geline"
  • Transcribed by: Altan Demirel
  • Mode: Karcığar scale; final La, closing note Do
  • Metre: 9/8
  • Range: Si to La, seven notes
  • Type: henna and wedding song
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • TRT link: as TRT has no open repertoire address showing works one by one, the data and lyrics of score no. 4600 can be read on Repertükül.

Lyrics

The quatrains follow the order of the score. There the "Bağlantı" (refrain) mark is placed after the second quatrain and repeated at the end of the following ones; the shared line that serves as the refrain is "Kızım kınan kutlu olsun".

Geline bakın geline
Kınalar yakmış eline
Gören maşallah desin
Nazar değmesin geline
Tuz kabını tuzsuz koyan
Anasını kızsız koyan
Koca evi ıssız koyan
Kızım kınan kutlu olsun
(Bağlantı)
Biner atın iyisine
Gider yolun kıyısına
Selam edin dayısına
Kızım kınan kutlu olsun
(Bağlantı)
Kız anası kız anası
Hani bunun öz anası
Bak kızın gelin oluyor
Gel ağla kızın anası
(Bağlantı)

The first quatrain shows the bride to everyone: henna has been put on her hands; let all who see her say "maşallah", let no evil eye touch her. In the second the language changes and turns to the emptiness the parting leaves at home. "Koymak" here means to leave behind; the girl goes, leaving the salt cellar without salt, her mother without a daughter, the big house empty. In the third the bride mounts the best horse and rides along the edge of the road; greetings are sent to her maternal uncle. The stanza seems to describe the bridal procession setting out.

The last quatrain is the heaviest. It calls out "mother of the girl", and at once asks: where is her own mother? The mother called on to weep at her daughter becoming a bride is a mother who is not there. Whether these lines tell of a particular bride's being motherless, or are a set lament sung on the henna night to make the bride weep, the sources do not say.

Story

Who made this henna song is not known. The note "Koltukta Söylenirmiş" on the slip shows the moment it was used, but does not explain what "koltuk" refers to. In wedding vocabulary, leading the bride by the arm is called "koltuklamak"; the note may point to this custom, but this is only one reading.

Musical Features

The tune is in the Karcığar scale, and according to the repertoire data its final is La and its closing note Do: the song ends on the third above the final, on a suspended close. This gives the sense that the next stanza is about to begin and binds the lines together. The range is seven notes, from Si up to the high La. In Nail Demircioğlu's count, Karcığar holds a share of 14.58 per cent with seven songs; this henna song is one of them.

The metre is 9/8. The quatrains are built of seven- and eight-syllable lines, and every stanza after the first ends with the same line, "Kızım kınan kutlu olsun". Haluk Yücel records the song in 2018 by its first two lines, "Geline bakın, geline / Kınalar yakmış eline".

Performers and Recordings

The catalogue gives Naciye Perin's occupation as "sazcı", a saz player; two pieces were taken from her that day. The other is "Kaynana Türküsü: Sabah oldı gaynanam geldi", which also entered the TRT repertoire, as no. 1891 under the title "Sabah Oldu Gaynanam Geldi". In both recordings the catalogue gives Sabri Tınaztepe's name beside Naciye Perin's; Tınaztepe's role in them is not stated. No documented trace of performances after Naciye Perin could be found.

The Melody of Yeşilırmak surveys Amasya's repertoire, its henna and wedding songs included.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Other sources

Online sources