The child this lullaby rocks to sleep is, to judge by its words, the Prophet himself: the last two lines call out "Nenni Muhammedim nenni" and "Uyur can Ahmedim nenni" (hush, my Muhammad, hush; my dear Ahmed is sleeping). Among the pieces collected from Hacı Asiye Akbaş it is the only one bearing the name of a lullaby. It appears sixth in the list Fatih Koca published in 2015, as "Hicâz Ninni", and its score was printed in the article's appendix, on page 944, under the heading "Hicaz Ninni".

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; it is not on the Amasya list of the TRT repertoire
  • Genre: lullaby (ninni) with religious words
  • Region: Amasya (city centre)
  • Source person: the mevlid reciter Hacı Asiye Akbaş (b. 1951, Çiviköy); Ayşe Candaş joined in the performance
  • Collected by: Osman Akbaş and Fatih Koca, according to the heading of the score
  • Transcribed by: the ney player Eren Köksal, revising the collection
  • Date of collection: not given; Koca's interview with Akbaş took place in Amasya at the Ramadan Bayram of 2013
  • Makam (mode): Hicaz
  • Metre and tempo: 2/4, crotchet = 60
  • Words and music: anonymous ("Güfte-Beste: Anonim")
  • Source publication: Koca 2015, list p. 937, score p. 944
  • Link: there is no TRT link; Koca's article

Lyrics

Biz yoktan var etti
Hak habibine eyler hürmet
Nasip eder bize cennet
Nenni Muahmmedim nenni
Uyur can Ahmedim nenni

The words are printed under the score in these five lines, and their spelling has been left as it is. The syllabified text under the notes departs from the printed lines in two places: the first syllables under the notes read "Bi-zi yok-tan", and the "Muahmmedim" of the fourth line appears in the syllables as "Mu-ham-me-dim". The form in the printed line looks like a typesetting error; it is sung as in the syllables.

In English: God created us from nothing; He honours His beloved, that is, the Prophet, and grants us paradise. Sleep, my Muhammad, sleep; my dear Ahmed is sleeping. "Habib" is Arabic for beloved, and here it names the Prophet as the beloved of God; Ahmed, another of his names, takes the place of Muhammad in the last line. Nenni is the spoken form of ninni, lullaby.

Its Story

Koca does not write from whom, or from which gathering, the lullaby passed to Akbaş, nor does he relate any tradition about its making. The article holds only a general note on how Akbaş used her repertoire: for each gathering, from mevlids for a birth or a death to those for a soldier or a bride, from seeing pilgrims off to welcoming them home, she would choose her hymns separately. At which of these the lullaby was sung is not stated.

Musical Features

The score runs to ten bars and falls into two parts. The first six bars close with a repeat sign; this section is sung twice, the first time to "Bizi yoktan var etti Hak habibine eyler hürmet", the second to "Nasip eder bize cennet, nenni Muhammedim nenni". From the seventh bar to the end a single line remains: "Uyur can Ahmedim nenni." The sign in the last bar shows that the performance continues by going back to the beginning. A slow tempo of crotchet 60 is marked, and the key signature has one flat and one sharp; the melody comes to rest on A, on a minim. Many syllables are spread over slurred groups of semiquavers.

Performers and Recordings

The only known performance is the one by Asiye Akbaş on which the collection is based; where the recording is today the publication does not say. In the genre and metre tables of Haluk Yücel's 2018 article there is also a "Ninni", a measured song in 2/4. Since Yücel gives neither the words nor the source of that piece, it cannot be told whether it is the same melody as the lullaby Akbaş sang. For an overview of the region's other melodies, see The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources