In the conservatory team's 1943 list this deyiş is called "Gül Türküsü", the Song of the Rose. In its words the rose really is the measure of everything: the pir's assembly is a rose, so is his throne, and in the end a balance is made of roses and rose is weighed against rose in the market. The deyiş was recorded from the voice of Aşir Sirke in Gümüşhacıköy on 9 July 1943, and the list attributed the words, in square brackets, to Nesîmî. The notation written by İsmet Akyol entered the TRT repertoire as no. 2731, its subject given as "deyiş"; the repertoire names no district and spells the source performer's name "Aşır". In his study of Alevi-Bektashi elements in Amasya songs, Haluk Yücel discusses this work among the songs in which the word "pir" appears.

Catalogue Data

  • TRT repertoire no.: 2731, kırık hava; subject deyiş
  • Region: Amasya; the 1943 recording was made in Gümüşhacıköy
  • Source performer: Aşir (in the repertoire Aşır) Sirke; also the performer
  • Collected by: Ankara State Conservatory
  • Collection: 9 July 1943, Gümüşhacıköy; in the conservatory list as "Gül Türküsü [Nesimî'den]", disc 1135/B-2
  • Transcribed by: İsmet Akyol
  • Mode: in the repertoire Kürdî (with altered si); final La, closing note Sol. Demircioğlu gives Kürdî, Yücel 2023 Hüseynî.
  • Metre: free-rhythm opening, then 4/4
  • Words: Nesîmî according to the 1943 list; the words in the notation carry no pen name
  • TRT link: TRT repertoire no. 2731; the catalogue data and lyrics are on Repertükül, since TRT publishes no separate online page for the work.

Lyrics

Sabahtan uğradım pir divanına
Pir divanı güldür gül
Oturmuş taht-ı sarayına
Taht-ı sarayı güldür gül
Bağlantı:
Bülbülüyem can gülü yar
Tatlı tatlı sevgiliyem
Daldaki bülbülüyem
Bülbülümüz gülümüz
Efkârımız pirimiz
Suna bülbül can bülbül
Şu bülbül
Naşı bülbül
Galemler gaşı bülbül
Seher vakti ötünce
Ağladır taşı bülbül
Ya bülbül
Bülbül bir garip kuştur
Ötüşüyor ne hoştur
Ben bülbülü gınamam
Ayrılık çetin iştir
Gülden terazi yaptılar
Gülü gülnen darttılar
Gül aldılar gül sattılar
Çarşı pazar güldür gül
(Bağlantı)

According to the glossary of the repertoire notation, pir means an elder, an experienced person; divan an assembly or meeting place; taht-ı saray the throne of the palace; efkâr thoughts, worry; and naş embroidery, ornament. "Galemler gaşı" means with brows as if drawn with a pen, gınamak to reproach, and darttılar "they weighed". In the first stanza the singer has called at the pir's assembly early in the morning and describes all he sees as roses: the pir's assembly is a rose, the palace of the one seated on the throne is a rose. In Alevi-Bektashi poetry the pir is the elder and guide of the path; Yücel too explains the word in this sense, as the counterpart of the Sufi spiritual master.

The refrain changes the language. It runs on as a long address to the nightingale; the singer counts himself the rose's nightingale, then, saying "our nightingale, our rose, our care, our pir", sets rose and nightingale on the same line as the pir. The nightingale singing at dawn makes even stone weep. The quatrain at the end of the refrain closes with a sentence of tolerance: the nightingale is a lonely bird, how sweet its singing, I do not blame the nightingale, parting is hard work. The last stanza carries the rose into trade: they made a balance of roses, weighed rose against rose, bought rose and sold rose; market and bazaar are roses. The rose turning into both the thing bought and sold and the measure on the scales seems to spread the pir's assembly of the opening over the whole world. The sources do not offer this reading; it is a meaning drawn from the order of the words themselves.

The notation does not mark clearly where the refrain ends. In another published version of the words the quatrain "Bülbül bir garip kuştur" is repeated together with the refrain after every stanza; the same text writes "ağladır dağı" (makes the mountain weep) for "ağladır taşı" (makes the stone weep), "seher ötüşü ne hoştur" for "ötüşüyor ne hoştur", and adds "güldür yar" to the ends of the stanzas.

Story

The deyiş has no story of its making; or rather, no publication relating such a story came to light. The note "Nesimî'den" in the conservatory list shows that the words were ascribed to this poet at the time of collection. Since the pen name Nesîmî does not occur in the stanzas taken into the notation, the link rests only on the 1943 record, and the sources of this page do not compare the text with Nesîmî's known poems.

Musical Features

On the makam the sources say three different things. The repertoire data write the scale as "Kürdî (with altered si)", Nail Demircioğlu gives only "Kürdî" in his table, and this is the only work among his 48 songs shown in the Kürdî scale. Haluk Yücel, in his 2023 analysis, counts the work as composed in the Hüseynî scale. The fact that the tune settles on La but closes on Sol, so that final and closing note are different, may be one reason for these differing readings. The range is given in the catalogue as seven notes from the low F sharp to E, and by Yücel as six notes between F and E.

According to Yücel's observations the work begins with a free-rhythm introduction and then moves into 4/4; there is no instrumental interlude at the start, and the motifs that build the tune rely mainly on intervals of a second and a third. The same researcher's 2018 table of types also shows the deyiş as one of the two Amasya songs that have features of both the uzun hava and the kırık hava. The word "serbest" at the head of the lyrics in the notation corresponds to this unmetred opening.

Performers and Recordings

Aşir Sirke's voice is the first and the only documented one for this deyiş. That day in Gümüşhacıköy Sirke also sang "Dostun Bahçasına Girsem" (TRT 1878), recorded under the title "Nazlanı, Nazlanı", and "Ey Hamamcı". Yücel names him "Âşık Sirke" among the source performers of the songs with Alevi-Bektashi elements he analyses. No audio has been added to the published copy of the notation, and no later singer of the deyiş is named in the publications we were able to reach. The other melodies of Amasya can be reached from the article on the province's folk songs and long songs.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources