"Yar elmayı taşladın mı oy oy" (beloved, did you stone the apple, oy oy): the "oy oy" at the end of the name works like an exclamation following the question, and the song's name was recorded together with it. To stone an apple is to bring it down from the branch by throwing stones; the question asks the beloved whether they did so. The only publication recording the piece is Haluk Yücel's article in the Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi; there it is classed as a measured song and placed in 2/4.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; under this name it is not on the Amasya list of the TRT repertoire
  • Region: Amasya
  • Genre: kırık hava, a measured song (Table 5, p. 379)
  • Metre: 2/4 (Table 6, p. 382)
  • Makam (mode): the source does not give it piece by piece
  • Source person, collector: not stated
  • Place and date of collection: not stated
  • Words and music: attributed to no one in the source
  • Source publication: Haluk Yücel 2018
  • Link: there is no TRT link; Yücel's article

Lyrics

The continuation of the title line, the song's other lines and its refrain have not been published. With no line at hand giving the answer to the question put to the beloved, or saying in whose garden the apple grew, the subject of the song cannot be guessed from its name. No other publication tied to Amasya supplies the words or the score either.

Its Story

No local tradition or event has been recorded telling in which orchard, at which meeting, the question was asked.

Musical Features

The two-beat bar is, after 4/4, the metre Yücel found most often among Amasya folk songs; 17 songs are in it, and "Yar elmayı taşladın mı" is one of them. The mode, the range and the sections of the melody are not given in the article for this piece.

Performers and Recordings

No documented performance has been found. The apple also turns up in other names on Yücel's list: in the genre table "Amasya'nın elması" (the apple of Amasya) is written on two separate rows, and "Kilo kilo elmalar, pazarlarda satarlar" (apples by the kilo, sold in the markets) on one. The last of these is also registered in the TRT repertoire and is described on a separate page: Kilo Kilo Elmalar. An article on all the folk songs of Amasya: The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources