Its name refers to an instrument, yet the card records it with words: "Şu garşıki yayla ne gözel yayla." Âşık Musa Aslan sang this piece on the night the collecting team returned from Gümüşhacıköy to Merzifon, in the hours joining 9 and 10 July. All five recordings put on disc that night are Musa Aslan's, and three of them later entered the TRT repertoire; "Kaval Havası" is not among those three.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; not registered under the Amasya region in the TRT repertoire
  • Place and date of collection: Merzifon, the night of 9/10 July 1943
  • Source person: Musa Aslan; in the list of performers his occupation is farmer, minstrel (âşık), labourer; his home the Hacıbalı quarter of Merzifon
  • Collected by: the Ankara State Conservatory collecting team: Halil Bedii Yönetken, Muzaffer Sarısözen, technician Rıza Yetişen
  • Published source: Celal Volkan Kaya, Ankara Devlet Konservatuvarı'nın Halk Müziği Alan Araştırmaları Kataloğu (İTÜ, 2014), no. 3727
  • Location in the archive: Folklore Archive, disc 1138/A
  • Genre: folk song (named "Kaval Havası" on the card)
  • Mode, rhythm: not on the card
  • Words and music: recorded as anonymous
  • Source link: there is no TRT recording; for the details see Kaya's catalogue

Lyrics

Şu garşıki yayla ne gözel yayla

"Garşıki" means the one opposite, "gözel" beautiful; the line reads "What a lovely highland pasture is that yayla over there." Where this opening, gazing with admiration at a yayla seen across the way, leads afterwards is unknown. Musa Aslan's words never entered a printed collection, and no notation of the melody was written down. The only known written route to the text runs through the photocopies of the cards acquired by TRT; the sound is kept as disc 1138 in the conservatory's Folklore Archive.

Story

The yayla across the way is never named. For whom, or for which pasture, the song was made is told neither by the card nor by any later publication.

Musical Features

The card does not explain whether the word "kaval" in the title shows that the melody was taken from a tune played on the shepherd's flute, or whether it is only a name. In the list of performers Musa Aslan's instrument is given in square brackets as the saz. The card has no note on mode, rhythm or range. The disc number carries no item number for the side: the recording occupies side A of 1138 on its own. Of the night's other recordings, "Baḫçaya Getirdi" likewise fills side B of 1137 by itself.

Performers and Recordings

The order of that night can be followed plainly in the catalogue: "Dembedem [Muhemmed'den]", "Baḫçaya Getirdi", this song, "Eşref ile Zöhre" and "Felek Şad Olacak Günün Görmedim" were recorded in that order. Of these the first is in the TRT repertoire as Dem Be Dem Karşıma Gelen Bülbül, the second as Bahçeye Getirdi Bir Canan Bizi, and the last as Felek Şad Olacak Günün Görmedim. Of Kaval Havası itself, no performance beyond Aslan's disc has been found. The source person's life and his other works that passed to TRT are on the Âşık Musa Aslan page; for a general view of the songs of Merzifon, see The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources