Elif, be, te, se, cim: the first quatrain of this deyiş names the opening letters of the Arabic alphabet in order and draws a meaning out of each. Looking for a sense hidden behind the letters is a familiar manner of mystical folk poetry. The words are recorded under the name of Derviş Süleyman and the tune under that of Âşık Hamza Pektaş. Erkan Demirtaş and Berkay Gençer, who recorded the tune from Pektaş's own voice in Merzifon and wrote it down, did so as part of the EU-supported CultureCIVIC programme. Its Repertükül archive number is 2097; TRT's lists do not include it.

Catalogue Data

  • Archive no.: Repertükül archive 2097; not in the TRT repertoire
  • Region: Amasya, Merzifon
  • Genre: deyiş
  • Source person: not given separately; the recording was taken from the composer, who is also the performer
  • Collected and notated by: Erkan Demirtaş, Berkay Gençer
  • Date of collection: not given
  • Modal scale: Hüseyni; final and closing note A (La)
  • Rhythm: 7/8
  • Range: in the record the lowest note is B flat (2 commas), the highest F, a span of five notes
  • Words: Derviş Süleyman
  • Music: Âşık Hamza Pektaş
  • Source link: as there is no TRT counterpart, details and lyrics are in the notation in the Repertükül archive

Lyrics

The name Derviş Süleyman stands alone in the record: who he was and when he lived are not stated, and published sources yield no trace of him either. With no way of telling whether the poet is old or contemporary, caution prevailed and only the first of the five quatrains is quoted; the others can be read in the source record.

Vücudum hallolup serden geçince
Elif be harfinde devran görünür
Te tebarek Allah se'yi seçince
Cim cemal aynası seyran görünür

"Vücudum hallolup serden geçince" means: when my being dissolves and I give up my head, that is, my self. Then the turning of the world appears in the letters elif and be; the letter te is tied to the phrase "tebârek Allah", blessed is God, and cim to "cemâl", God's beauty, and the mirror of that beauty opens to view. This play of reading letters as the initials of words gives way, in the rest of the deyiş, to the cem ceremony. The second quatrain tells of gathering for the cem and of the unity of sisters, brothers and devotees; with the word "lahmike" it alludes to the tradition that the Prophet told Ali "your flesh is my flesh", and in that saying "one body" appears.

The third quatrain speaks of drinking from the cup and becoming entranced, of taking one's seat on the fleece when "aşkola" is called, and of becoming the friend of a perfect spiritual guide. The fourth says that whoever loves God sincerely will not tire, and that should he enter hell its fire would not burn him. The pen name comes in the last quatrain: Süleyman asks for guidance from the Hünkâr and, with the Qur'anic words "yâ leytenî" ("would that I…"), sees a dwelling in the paradise of Firdevs. Hünkâr here most probably echoes the title given to Hacı Bektaş; the record does not explain it.

Story

No published account was found of how the deyiş was written or of Derviş Süleyman himself. The record does not say when Âşık Hamza Pektaş set the tune either. All that is known is that the piece is sung to this tune in Merzifon today and that it was collected from the composer.

Musical Features

It is a deyiş in the Hüseyni scale and the asymmetric 7/8 rhythm, with its final and closing note on A. The range values in the record do not quite agree: the lowest note is given as B flat (2 commas), whereas the melody comes to rest on the lower A. A span of five notes covers B to F. Either the lowest note is in fact A, or the count leaves out the final note; without seeing the score it is impossible to say which is right.

Performers and Recordings

All that is known of its performance is that the notation was written from Âşık Hamza Pektaş's singing. Other pieces collected in Merzifon under the same programme include works by Âşık Erdal Denk and Âşık Bendemi. There is no record of the deyiş being sung on disc or album by other voices.

The wider frame that places this deyiş among the semahs and folk songs collected in the province is drawn in The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources