The first pieces the Ankara State Conservatory team recorded in Amasya in 1943 had no words. The section of the catalogue devoted to Amasya opens with three tunes that Muharrem Sorgu and Sabri Tınaztepe played one after another on side B of the same record: "Üsküp", "Paçalı" and "Sarhoş Havası". The middle one, Paçalı, passed into the TRT repertoire in Muzaffer Sarısözen's notation; among the dance tunes its number is 125.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: TRT Turkish Folk Music repertoire 125 (dance tunes section)
  • Region: Amasya; the repertoire gives no district or village
  • Source performers: Muharrem Sorgu and Sabri Tınaztepe
  • Collected and transcribed by: Muzaffer Sarısözen
  • Date of collection: probably 4 July 1943, Amasya; conservatory catalogue no. 3570, record 1104/B-2
  • Mode: Karcığar scale; final La, closing note Re
  • Metre: 2/4
  • Genre: dance tune (instrumental)
  • Music: anonymous
  • TRT link: TRT has no public page for individual repertoire items; the catalogue data of no. 125 and a single page of notation are on Repertükül.
  • Overview article: The Melody of the Yeşilırmak

Lyrics

Like those first pieces recorded in Amasya, Paçalı is an instrumental tune; where the words would stand, the notation reads "Sözü Yoktur" (no words).

Story

What is known of the day of recording comes from the catalogue: on 4 July the team moved on from Zile to Amasya and began its work with these two players. Muharrem Sorgu also took part, with Abdullah Çakırer and Muhlis Orçun, in the recordings of "Mendilim Var" and "Amasya Dağları" that same day, while on 6 July Sabri Tınaztepe accompanied Naciye Perin in a bridal song and a mother-in-law song. The catalogue gives the place and date of Paçalı in square brackets, as estimates. Which instruments the two men played is not stated in the repertoire data, and the origin of the name, the way the tune was danced and any event it was tied to find no answer in the sources.

A second recording under the same name was made three days later in Merzifon: on 7 July 1943 a group made up of Tahsin Olgun, Rasim Olgun, Turabi Tanrısever and Muharrem Coşkun played a "Paçalı" for the team (no. 3646). Whether the two recordings are the same melody or two different tunes sharing a name cannot be told from the catalogue; the TRT notation is based on the first recording, made in Amasya.

Musical Features

Paçalı settles on La, but its last note is Re, a fourth above the final. Set beside the other dance tunes of Amasya in the TRT repertoire, it is one of two whose final and closing notes differ; the other is the Merzifon Karşılaması. The scale is Karcığar and the metre 2/4. The compass of the melody is not entered in the data, though it can be read from the single page of notation.

Performers and Recordings

Two documented recordings exist: the record Muharrem Sorgu and Sabri Tınaztepe made in Amasya in 1943, and the Merzifon recording that bears the same name. No information on later performances has come to light.

Bibliography

Online sources