On side A of disc 1119 two "topal" ("lame") tunes come one after the other: first "Topal Kız Havası", then immediately "Topal Havası". Both were played in Merzifon on 7 July 1943 by the same four musicians: the clarinettist Tahsin Olgun, the violinists Rasim Olgun and Turabi Tanrısever, and the tef player Muharrem Coşkun. In Kaya's catalogue, which covers the collections of 1937 to 1952, the name "Topal Havası" occurs nowhere else; in other provinces the word "topal" appears mostly in sung pieces called "Topal Koşma". An instrumental tune without words, Topal Havası has neither a counterpart in TRT nor a printed notation.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none
  • Place and date of collection: Merzifon (in square brackets in the catalogue), 7 July 1943
  • Players: Tahsin Olgun (clarinet, year of birth on the card Rumi 1326), Rasim Olgun (violin, farmer, Rumi 1324), Turabi Tanrısever (violin, Rumi 1329), all three from the village of Sarı in Merzifon; Muharrem Coşkun (tef, Rumi 1329), from the village of Hırka in Merzifon
  • Collected by: Ankara State Conservatory; Halil Bedii Yönetken and Muzaffer Sarısözen, with the recording technician Rıza Yetişen
  • Published source: Celal Volkan Kaya, Ankara Devlet Konservatuvarı'nın Halk Müziği Alan Araştırmaları Kataloğu, İTÜ, 2014; recording list no. 3649
  • Location in the archive: Folklore Archive, disc 1119/A-2
  • Genre: dance tune, instrumental
  • Mode, rhythm: unknown
  • Music: anonymous
  • Source link: there is no TRT entry; Kaya's catalogue thesis

Lyrics

There is no line of words on the card: this tune for clarinet, violins and tef has nothing to be sung. Since its notation has not been printed either, only disc 1119 can show today how the quartet played that day; the disc passed to Hacettepe University together with the conservatory's Folklore Archive.

Story

The card does not say whether the word "topal" names a person or a dance; nor has any printed tradition from Merzifon come forward to explain it. The use of the same word in other provinces offers no solution either. In 1937 in Sivas a "Topal Koşma: Puñara bir gelin gelmiş", attributed to Karacaoğlan, was recorded, and a "Topal Koşma" each in İskilip in 1939, in Çankırı and Çerkeş in 1945, and in Mengen in 1948. Some of these went onto the cards together with their first lines, that is, as sung pieces; the Topal Havası of Merzifon, by contrast, is the instrumental tune of an ensemble. Whether there is any link between the two kinds of naming cannot be told from the catalogue.

Musical Features

The clarinet is in Tahsin Olgun's hands, the violins in those of Rasim Olgun and Turabi Tanrısever, the tef in Muharrem Coşkun's; the list of performers enters beside each musician the instrument he played in the recording. Topal Kız Havası and Topal Havası were recorded on the same side of the disc, by the same line-up, one after the other; whether they are two forms of the same melody, or simply two separate tunes with similar names, cannot be told from the card. No information on scale or rhythm was recorded.

Performers and Recordings

That day the quartet played, in order, Hanköy Havası (Düz Hava), Paçalı, Bağlar Havası, "Topal Kız Havası" and Topal Havası. On the same side of the disc there follows immediately "Sarı Kız: Çıkdım gavak dalına", sung by Hamdullah Yılmaz, in which the three musicians from Sarı also take part; the song passed into the repertoire under the title Çıktım Kavak Dalına. Gidersen Göndereyim, in which Rasim Olgun is named as source person, is in the same repertoire. Nor do the sources name any ensemble that played Topal Havası again after 1943. For the wider frame reaching from Merzifon's village musicians to the province's folk songs: The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources