Rippling with a cry of "eser yel" or "yar yar" at the end of every line, this song was recorded from the voice of Rasim Olgun in Merzifon on 7 July 1943. In the Ankara State Conservatory's disc list it is called "Eser Yel (Halay)", which tells us it was known locally as a halay, a line dance tune. The notation is filed in the TRT repertoire under no. 1871 with the title "Gidersen Göndereyim", but the word in the lyrics is "göndüreyim", and Nail Demircioğlu and Haluk Yücel both cite the song in this dialect form. The repertoire data record the source performer's village as Sarıköy, in the district of Merzifon.

Catalogue Data

  • TRT repertoire no.: 1871 (kırık hava)
  • Region: Amasya, Merzifon, Sarıköy
  • Source performer: Rasim Olgun
  • Collected by: the Ankara State Conservatory collecting team
  • Collection: 7 July 1943, Merzifon; title in the conservatory's disc list "Eser Yel (Halay)"
  • Transcribed by: Ateş Köyoğlu
  • Mode: Hüseynî scale; final La, closing note Do
  • Metre: 6/4
  • Words and music: anonymous folk song
  • TRT link: as the TRT repertoire is not published online item by item, the catalogue data and lyrics are given via Repertükül.

Lyrics

Gidersen göndüreyim (eser yel)
Pabucun döndüreyim (yar yar)
Yar beni bile götür (eser yel)
Ya kendim öldüreyim (yar yar)
Bağlantı:
Eser yel ettin beni yar yar
İnce tel ettin beni yar yar
Sevip de alamadım eser yel
İrezil ettin beni yar yar
Gidiyom Suvaz'a ben (eser yel)
Dayanamam naza ben (yar yar)
Yeni yeni vuruldum (eser yel)
Gerdanı beyaza ben (yar yar)
(Bağlantı)
Gidiyom söz olmasın (eser yel)
Mangalda köz olmasın (yar yar)
Su serpeyim yoluna (yar yar)
Fistanın toz olmasın (eser yel)
(Bağlantı)

Put into plain prose, the first quatrain says: if you must go, let me see you off and turn your shoes towards the road; take me with you, love, or I will kill myself. Going by the notes beneath the notation, bile means together, köz a small piece of ember, and Suvaz is Sivas. The refrain counts what the parting has done to the lover: you tossed me about like a blowing wind, wore me thin as wire, I loved but could not win you, you shamed me. İrezil is the folk pronunciation of rezil, "disgraced", with a sound added at the front.

In the second quatrain the singer is already on the road: I am going to Sivas, I cannot bear the coquetry, I have just fallen for the one with the white throat. The last quatrain keeps the courtesies of departure: I am going, let there be no gossip, let no ember be left in the brazier; let me sprinkle water on your path so your dress gathers no dust. Fistan is a woman's long dress. Sprinkling water on a path recalls the custom of a good wish sent after one who leaves; the song ties it to the hem of the beloved's dress. In this quatrain the cries also change places in the notation, the third line ending with "yar yar" and the fourth with "eser yel".

Story

The published sources contain no record of whom the song was made for or which parting it mourns. The journey to Sivas in the lyrics sits there like a fragment of a story, but the collector's note does not link it to any event, and the quatrains do not follow a single narrative.

Musical Features

The metre is 6/4, and in Nail Demircioğlu's table no other Amasya song uses it: listing the province's 48 TRT folk songs, Demircioğlu gives the work as "Gidersen Göndüreyim", in Hüseynî and 6/4. The scale is Hüseynî; the tune ends on Do, while its final is La. The lowest note is La and the highest Sol, a range of seven notes. The cries of "eser yel" and "yar yar" that follow each line fill out the melody bar by bar, and the name halay shows that the song was sung with a communal dance.

Performers and Recordings

The only documented performance is the disc Rasim Olgun sang for the conservatory team in 1943. On the same day in Merzifon Olgun also sang the tune of the ring dance "Dallike Ağırlaması ve Yerinnemesi" (TRT 4602, "Pınarın Başına Taş Ben Olayım") and "Gel Gönül Gidelim", and he took part, with Tahsin Olgun, Turabi Tanrısever and Muharrem Coşkun, in the group that recorded pieces such as "Hanköy Havası", "Paçalı" and "Bağlar Havası". The repertoire data leave the "performed by" field empty; the online copy of the notation is an image only, with no audio file. On who sang the song after 1943, the sources consulted say nothing.

Collections and Variants

After Merzifon the conservatory's 1943 journey went on through Havza and Vezirköprü to the Black Sea coast. Among the pieces recorded in Vezirköprü is a song called "Sürmeli Naciye", whose first line the catalogue gives as "Gidiyom söz olmasın". That is the opening line of the last quatrain of "Gidersen Göndüreyim". Since the catalogue records only the first line, it cannot be said whether the two songs share a tune or their other words; the coincidence is worth noting as a sign that the verse formula travelled between neighbouring districts. Other melodies of the region can be reached through the article Melodies of the Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Other sources

Online sources