The second stanza of this song, published with an Amasya attribution, states plainly where the beauty comes from: "Aslını sormayın Diyarbekirli", do not ask her origin, she is from Diyarbakır. The beloved wears a melez shirt and has put a gold bracelet on her arm; the singer cannot bring himself to kiss her and begs her not to leave. The only source linking the song to Amasya is the online folk-song archive that publishes it as anonymous; no source performer, place of collection or collector is shown.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; it does not appear in the Amasya section of the TRT repertoire
  • Region: Amasya (according to the publishing source; attribution disputed)
  • Source performer, collector, place and date of collection: not reported
  • Mode (makam), metre: unknown
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • Links: no TRT link; the words are on Türkü Yurdu

Lyrics

Melez göynek giyinmiş yakasu nazük
Goluna dakunmuş altun bilezük
Öpmeye gıymadum sıkmaya yazuk
Gitme güzel dön geri gel

Melez göynek giyinmiş yakası kirli
Şeftali satarlar ikili birli
Aslını sormayın Diyarbekirli
Gitme sevdiceğim dön geri geri

In English: She has put on a melez shirt, its collar delicate; she has put a gold bracelet on her arm; I could not bring myself to kiss her, and it would be a pity to squeeze her; do not go, beauty, come back. The second stanza has a soiled collar, peaches sold in twos and ones, and a beauty whose origin is said to be Diyarbakır. "Göynek" is gömlek, shirt; "nazük" is nazik, delicate, fine; "dakunmak" is takınmak, to put on. The published text does not explain which fabric or which colour "melez" describes here. The spelling of the text preserves dialect forms with rounded vowels such as "yakasu, bilezük, gıymadum".

Regional Attribution

The song's tie to Amasya rests solely on the regional entry of the archive that publishes it. No work of this name is found in the Amasya list of the TRT repertoire, in Haluk Yücel's type and metre tables, or among the recordings the Ankara State Conservatory brought back from Amasya in 1943, as later catalogued. The words, on the other hand, call the beauty a woman from Diyarbakır. This line alone is no proof of a Diyarbakır origin; nor is there any independent witness supporting the Amasya entry. Until someone documents where the song was collected and from whom, its attribution to Amasya remains an open question.

Story

Who the beauty from Diyarbakır was, and over which departure the pleading "gitme", do not go, was sung, no published account says. The archive adds nothing to the words.

Musical Features

Melody, metre and makam have all gone unpublished. The text consists of two stanzas; in each, three long lines share one rhyme (nazük, bilezük, yazuk; kirli, birli, Diyarbekirli), and the fourth, shorter line carries the call "dön geri gel", come back. A very similar line occurs in another published text attributed to Amasya: the long song Yüce Dağ Başında Bir Ciz ends with the line "Getme güzelim dön geri gel". Whether the melodies of the two texts are related is unknown.

Performers and Recordings

The song cannot be traced to any singer, and no disc or archive recording has turned up. Other songs attached to the region are listed in the survey The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Other sources

Online sources