Built from three mani quatrains, "İnce Çayır Biçilmez" is the Amasya form of a verse formula that was also collected under similar titles in other regions. The song was taken down on 5 July 1943 in the village of Zigala (today's Aydınca), among the discs the Ankara State Conservatory team made there that day. Transcribed by Ateş Köyoğlu, the song is registered in the TRT repertoire as no. 1885, with Hüseyin Kılıç named as source performer. The repertoire gives the village name as "Uygur Köyü".

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: 1885 (TRT THM; kırık hava)
  • Region: Amasya, village of Zigala (Aydınca); "Uygur Köyü" in the repertoire
  • Source performer: Hüseyin Kılıç
  • Collected by: Ankara State Conservatory
  • Date of collection: 5 July 1943
  • Transcribed by: Ateş Köyoğlu
  • Mode: Hicaz; final and closing note La
  • Metre: 4/4
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • Links: as TRT has no official page for the work, the repertoire data and the lyrics of the notation are given via Repertükül; another version of the lyrics, closer to the standard language, is on Türkü Yurdu.

Lyrics

İnce çayır biçilmez (de)
Su bulanık içilmez (de)
Bana yardan geç derler (de)
Yar datlıdır geçilmez (de)
Elif üstünde mimler (de)
Bülbül gafeste inler (de)
Benim galbimde sensin (de)
Senin galbinde kimler (de)
Suya gider yorulmaz (da)
Su yolunda durulmaz (da)
Gel beraber gezelim (de)
Annen baban darılmaz (da)

Local sound features are plain in the words: datlı stands for tatlı, "sweet", gafes for kafes, "cage", galp for kalp, "heart". The first quatrain is a familiar example of the mani pattern. First come two matching observations from nature: fine meadow grass is not mown, muddy water is not drunk. Then comes the real statement: they tell me to give up my beloved, but my beloved is sweet and cannot be given up.

In the second quatrain elif and mim are two letters of the Arabic alphabet. The mims written above the elif call up the image of writing on a page; the line pairs it with a nightingale moaning in a cage and leaves the real reproach to the last two lines: you are in my heart, but who is in yours. In the notation, too, this question is written without a question mark. The last quatrain is an invitation: one who goes for water does not tire, one does not linger on the water path; come, let us walk together, your mother and father will not mind. The syllables "de" and "da" added at the end of each line carry no meaning and lean on the melody.

Story

Nothing is known of how the song came to be made. Since the words consist of mani verses independent of one another, the song does not tell of a particular event; what remains from the collection is the source performer's name, his village and the date.

Musical Features

The melody is in the Hicaz scale, which is rare among Amasya's TRT folk songs. The catalogue data tie both the final and the closing note to La; the tune stays between La and Mi, within a narrow span of five notes. The metre is 4/4. In Nail Demircioğlu's table of 48 Amasya folk songs Hicaz occurs in four works: "Amasya'nın Dağları", "Bugün Benim Efkârım Var", "Tek Kapıdan Çıktım Yüzüm Peçeli" and "İnce Çayır Biçilmez". Haluk Yücel took the song into both his genre and his metre tables in 2018, showing it in one with the kırık havas and in the other with the works in 4/4.

Performers and Recordings

Hüseyin Kılıç's own name stands in the performer field. The audio file published beside the notation names no singer. Hüseyin Kılıç's name appears in the TRT repertoire on two more songs from the same day: no. 1875 "Gidiyom Deme Bana" and no. 4597 "Ben Bir Çakı Bıçağım (Haleylim Sevdiğim)". In one of the online folk song archives, too, the song is listed under Kılıç's name. A credit documenting a performance in any other voice was not found.

Collections and Variants

The text at the second link gives the same three quatrains as the repertoire, brought closer to the standard language ("tatlıdır", "kafeste", "kalbimde"), writes the first line of the last quatrain as "Suya giden yorulmaz", and drops the filler syllables "de" and "da". The conservatory's collection catalogue also contains pieces with similar titles from other regions: among them are "İnce Çayır Biçilir mi", recorded in Manisa in 1938, and "Eski İnce Çayır", recorded in Karapınar in 1940. As these entries stand in the catalogue with nothing but a title and a first line, how far they overlap with the Amasya song in tune or words cannot be drawn from it. The repertoire surrounding Hüseyin Kılıç's song is treated on a provincial scale in our article on the melody of the Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Other sources

Online sources