This dance tune, which reached the card with a two-word phrase that repeats itself, "Livana livana", was sung to the saz by Kazım Aygül in Gümüşhacıköy on 9 July 1943. The note "Oyun – Çevirmelerden" added to the title shows that the collectors identified the piece as a dance and as one of the dances called "çevirme". Neither the meaning of the word "livana" nor the way the çevirme dances were danced is explained in the catalogue.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; not registered under the Amasya region in the TRT repertoire
  • Source person: Kazım Aygül (saz; born Rumi 1318, i.e. 1902-1903; farmhand; Gümüşhacıköy, village of Halas)
  • Place and date of collection: Gümüşhacıköy, 9 July 1943 (place in square brackets in the catalogue)
  • Collected by: Halil Bedii Yönetken, Muzaffer Sarısözen and the technician Rıza Yetişen (Ankara State Conservatory)
  • Genre: dance tune; on the card "oyun, çevirmelerden"
  • Mode, rhythm: not recorded
  • Words and music: anonymous; a two-word first line is recorded in the catalogue
  • Location in the archive: Folklore Archive, disc 1135/A-1
  • Source publication and link: Kaya's catalogue, no. 3710; full text of the thesis. There is no TRT link

Lyrics

Livana livana

The line on the card consists of a single word sung twice, like a refrain or a call. Whether "livana" is a name, a form of address or a string of meaningless syllables keeping the dance's tempo cannot be drawn from so little text. Even so, the line shows that the dance was not a wordless instrumental tune and was sung at least at some point. The dance's full words and its notation have not been published; the recording is kept among the discs of the Folklore Archive.

Story

Whether the dance was performed in Gümüşhacıköy at weddings or at other gatherings, and from whom Aygül learned it, is written in no published source. The titles of the pieces Aygül recorded that day, however, show the breadth of his repertoire: besides another dance, "Meyrem Oyunu", and the song "Parçalı", he also sang a mersiye, a güzelleme, a deyiş attributed to Pir Sultan Abdal and a Kırklar semah.

Musical Features

Livana opens side A of disc 1135; its mode and metre do not appear on the card. It is followed by a song of Aygül's whose title is shown in the catalogue by three dots and which is known only by its line "Elinde bıçak yarim"; Kaya marked faded, illegible information on the cards with these three dots. The last two places on the side hold Aşir Sirke's "Nazlanı, Nazlanı" and "Ey Hamamcı".

Performers and Recordings

No one but Aygül is recorded singing Livana. Elinde Bıçak Yarim, which follows it on the disc, is described on a page of its own, while Aygül's "Meyrem Oyunu" entered the TRT repertoire as Meryem Suya Gidiyor. The dance tunes and folk songs of Amasya and its districts are also considered together in The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources