Each stanza opens with a free-rhythm "ah aman" and, after a two-line complaint, ties back into the same refrain: "Aygın Cemile'm, baygın Cemile'm / Bir kız bir oğlana vurgun Cemile'm." The singer was Bayan Sultan; in the collector field the record has the note "transcribed from a recording" instead of a name, and Necdet Kurt is given as the one who notated it. Repertükül states that the piece is a variant of the song known as "Hey Onbeşli Onbeşli". It is not in the TRT repertoire in this form; Repertükül registers it as no. 591.

Catalogue Data

  • Archive no.: Repertükül archive 591 (not a TRT number)
  • Region: Amasya; no district or village given
  • Source person: Bayan Sultan, who is also the performer
  • Collected by: no name; the record was transcribed from a sound recording
  • Notated by: Necdet Kurt
  • Date of collection: not given
  • Modal scale: Hüseyni; final and closing note A (La)
  • Rhythm: free-rhythm opening, then 4/4
  • Range: A to G, seven notes
  • Subject: love and longing
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • Source link: as there is no TRT record under this title, details, lyrics and the variant note are in the Repertükül record

Lyrics

The score divides the words into sections: the opening marked "serbest" (free) is sung without metre, and the "bağlantı" (refrain) is repeated after each stanza. That arrangement is kept below, with the capitals put into lower case.

Ah aman
Zalım eller beni bana koymadı
Kahpe felek doyup usanmadı
Aygın Cemile'm baygın Cemile'm
Bir kız bir oğlana vurgun Cemile'm
Ah aman
Yüce dağ başında çakılır çakmak
Güzelin kıymetin ne bilir ahmak
Ah aman
Salını salını gelirsin güzel
Canıma kâr ettin bilirsin güzel
Ah aman
Karşıdan karşıya şahin uçurdum
Ah ile vah ile ömrüm geçirdim

The singer first complains of the world: cruel strangers would not leave him to himself, and treacherous fate never tired of tormenting him. The rhyming pair "aygın baygın" in the refrain describes a beauty with languid, half-closed eyes; "vurgun" means smitten, fallen in love. In the following couplets a flint is struck on the high mountain top, and a fool does not know a beauty's worth; the beauty comes swaying along and goes straight to the lover's soul. In the last couplet the lover says he has flown a falcon from one side to the other and spent his life in sighs and laments. "Kâr etmek" here means to affect, to go deep.

Story

How the song came into being is nowhere recorded in print. Nor does the record say who Cemile was, from whom Bayan Sultan learned the song, or when the recording was made.

Collections and Variants

According to the Repertükül note, this song is a variant of the one known as "Hey Onbeşli Onbeşli". No comparative study showing the relation between the two texts was found. In the form Bayan Sultan sings, the refrain is tied to the name Cemile and the words are wholly a lament of love.

Musical Features

Hüseyni is the scale, and A the final. The "ah aman" at the start of each stanza is sung freely; the lines and refrain that follow settle into 4/4. This is a structure that sets free-rhythm singing and metred song one after the other within a single piece. The lowest note is given as A and the highest as G, with a range of seven notes. No published analysis of the notation was found.

Performers and Recordings

The documented performance is the Bayan Sultan recording that Necdet Kurt notated. Who made this recording, in what year and where, is not stated. There is no information on the song passing to other performers in this form.

A general article on Amasya's folk songs: The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources