The words address someone dancing in the open ground and give two different numbers in two stanzas: in the first they ask the dancer to put on "three of the cymbals", in the second "four". After each stanza the same command follows: "Oyna da meydan senindir", dance, the ground is yours. Höçüllü De Yavrum Höçüllü is a short text published on an online folk-song site under the Amasya region and marked anonymous; the publisher does not show from whom or when the song was taken.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; not found in the TRT repertoire's Amasya list
  • Region: Amasya (district not shown)
  • Type: not stated in the source; the words call to a dance
  • Source performer, collector, transcriber, date of collection: not in the source
  • Mode (makam), metre: not given
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • Links: no TRT link; the words are on Türkü Yurdu

Lyrics

As published:

Höçüllü de yavrum höçüllü
Yaylada buldum göçünü
Dakıver de zillerin üçünü
Oyna da meydan senindir aman
Dönüver de meydan senindir aman
Dönüver de meydan senindir güzelim

Merdini yavrum merdini
Kim bilir kimin derdini
Dakını ver zillerin dördünü
Oyna da meydan senindir aman
Dönüver de meydan senindir aman
Dönüver de meydan senindir güzelim

In English: My little one, I found your göç, your migrating household, up on the summer pasture; put on three of the cymbals, dance, the ground is yours; turn, the ground is yours, my beauty. The second stanza's line "kim bilir kimin derdini", who knows whose sorrow, stands like an unfinished phrase, and four of the cymbals are asked for. "Dakıver" means takıver, put on, and "dakını ver" means takınıver, put on yourself. The published text does not explain the meaning of "höçüllü" in the title or of "merdini", which opens the second stanza. The second of these matches "derdini" in the next line in sound; the first has no such counterpart.

Story

For whom the cymbals were put on, at which wedding or on which summer pasture the song was sung, nobody has recorded, and how the song came about is not told anywhere.

Musical Features

Without notation or a stated metre, the melody's measure cannot be worked out. The structure of the text, however, is clear: each stanza opens with three changing lines, followed by a refrain that says "meydan senindir" three times. The refrain's last line ends with "güzelim", my beauty, instead of "aman". Although the words make it plain that it was sung for dancing, which dance it accompanied is not documented.

Performers and Recordings

Höçüllü has no known singer, and no disc or radio recording of it is known. The catalogue of the Ankara State Conservatory's Amasya fieldwork in summer 1943 lists nothing under this name or opening with this line. The Melody of Yeşilırmak sketches the broader setting of the region's dance tunes and songs.

Bibliography

Online sources