The score assigns the words and melody of this deyiş to Âşık Kul Cemal, yet the last stanza begins "Pir Sultan Abdal'ım". That another bard's name stands where the pen name would be is the main question the score leaves open; the collectors offer no explanation. Every stanza ends with the plea "Sana medet, yolun mürvet, ya Ali", help from you, grace is your way, O Ali. The team that collected the deyiş in Merzifon from the âşık's own performance registered it under archive number 2093; it is not found in the TRT records.

Catalogue Data

  • Archive no.: Repertükül Archive 2093; not a TRT number
  • Region: Amasya, Merzifon
  • Genre: deyiş
  • Words and music: Âşık Kul Cemal (according to the score)
  • Source performer: not written; performed by the composer
  • Collected and transcribed by: Erkan Demirtaş, Berkay Gençer
  • Date of collection: not given; under the CultureCIVIC Culture and Arts Support Programme (begun in 2021)
  • Mode: Hüseyni scale; final and closing note La
  • Metre: 4/4
  • Source link: Repertükül Archive 2093 (not in TRT)

Lyrics

As the catalogue attributes the words to a contemporary âşık, the text has been treated as copyrighted and only the first stanza is given here. The full set of stanzas is on the score page.

Kaşlarında mim-i vafi yazılı
Sana medet yolun mürvet ya Ali
Dilerim günahım katen açmıştır
Sana medet yolun mürvet ya Ali

Reading letters in the face is a frequent image in Alevi-Bektashi poetry; the eyebrow is often likened to the curve of a letter. "Mim-i vafi" is written in this form on the score and its exact meaning is unclear. It may be a corrupted spelling of the letters mim and vav, or it may be the adjective "vâfî", complete, perfect. The word "katen" in the third line carries the same uncertainty. In the second stanza the speaker meets the angels in fair company and reaches the beloved. In the last stanza, with the name of Pir Sultan Abdal, an oath is sworn to Ali by the heads of Hasan and Hüseyin and by the right of the shared morsel.

Story

Whether the name in the last stanza is a respectful invocation, or whether Kul Cemal reworked a deyiş that tradition ascribes to Pir Sultan Abdal, is not known. No collection note or publication could be found to answer this; the authorship in the catalogue data is reproduced as the score gives it.

Musical Features

Between the lowest and highest notes of the melody lies a full octave: from La to the La above, eight notes. The scale is Hüseyni, the metre 4/4, the final La, which is also where it ends. The only other work to reach this compass is Erdal Denk's "Kaldıralım Ara Yerden Dargınlığı". Kul Cemal's other work, the safalama, stays within seven notes.

Performers and Recordings

The notation was taken from Kul Cemal's own rendering. The âşık's safalama "Ehl-i Beyt Soyundan Ali Yolundan" has its place in the archive at no. 2087. No performance of the deyiş beyond the notation could be traced. The other folk songs, long songs and deyiş collected in Amasya are gathered under the roof of The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources