| Description |
Âşıklık tradition is a multi faceted art form which includes the oral tradition, music and narrative telling. Performers of this art go through a years-long apprenticeship under the guidance of master âşıks. Âşıks have formed a distinguished style in Turkish Literature through the numerous literary works both in verse and prose; which has come to be acknowledged as the tradition “Âşık Style”. This tradition encompasses saz playing, âşık tunes, improvisations, repartee, and narrative telling with love as its main theme.
Although there are various views about the origin and the formation of Âşıklık Tradition, it is widely accepted that the roots of the tradition lie in pre-Islamic and early Islamic Turkish epic narrators which are called “Ozan” or “Baksı”. Âşıklık Tradition emerged as a result of the changing political, social, cultural and economic conditions in the 16th century. Most renowned representatives of the tradition are Karacaoğlan, Köroğlu, Kazak Abdal, Pir Sultan Abdal, Ercişli Emrah, Gevheri, Âşık Ömer, Levni, Kul Himmet, Dadaloğlu, Dertli, Ruhsati, Bayburtlu Zihni, Âşık Şenlik, Âşık Sümmani, Âşık Mahsunî Şerif, Âşık Veysel, Davut Sulari, Âşık Murat Çobanoğlu ve Âşık Yaşar Reyhanî.
Âşıklık tradition is transmitted from masters to apprentices through training and education similar to other oral, auditory, visual and material-based fields of Turkish culture. This transmission is completely actualized through oral channels. Âşıklık Tradition has a social side to it, in the sense some of the motifs of the poems and tales told by Âşıks are the problems of the society and âşıks themselves are perceived as enlightening and guiding figures.
Poems of this tradition are written in syllabic meter, blending into a unified meaning in quatrains and gaining rhythm with rhymes. Works of Âşıks are combinations of music and poetry. Saz is an integral part of the tradition. Saz instruments played by âşıks are made of chestnut and mulberry trees. They generally have six, eight or twelve strings. Saz is usually played with a kind of plectrum called “tezene”.
Âşıks of our times perform their arts in festivals, festivities, weddings, âşık coffee houses and Cem rituals. In traditional weddings, as important performing venues for âşıks, they not only entertain the public but also fulfill their teaching and guiding roles through anecdotes and tales. Âşıklık tradition is still very much alive in cities like Kars, Erzurum and Kayseri, where âşıks also perform in âşık coffee houses. Alevi-Bektaşi rituals are other gatherings where âşıks, known as “zakirs”, recite poems reflecting the beliefs and world-views of Alevi-Bektaşi philosophy. In addition to their usual performing venues, various activities and festivals organized by NGOs and local governments are emerging as new occasions for âşıks to perform their arts.
Some of the most essential concepts in Âşıklık Tradition are mentioned below.
Master/Apprentice Discipline: Âşıklık tradition is not only based on singing, reciting or playing an instrument but it is also a training-based tradition. The âşıks are, in general, trained by a master grasping the know-how of his master’s art, utterances and poems. Once they become masters in their arts, they start training apprentices on their own and thus the tradition is preserved.
Drinking Bade: A youth destined to be an âşık would have a dream in which he is offered with a goblet of bade by a wise spiritual leader (Pir) or by his beloved. From that moment on, the young man wakes up divinely inspired to make verses, sing songs and recite poems.
Choosing The Mâhlas (Pseudonym): Mâhlas is the pseudonym which the poet uses instead of his real name. The âşıks utter their pseudonyms in the final quatrain, which the âşıks call “introducing oneself” or “recognition”.
Riddle: Riddle is a poetry genre in which the name of a person, being or thing is concealed. The tradition of singing the favorite riddles and unraveling those has been preserved up to date among the âşıks as a masterly skill. If there is no response for the riddle, the âşık himself unravels it.
Repartee/Improvisation: Repartee is acknowledged as a cultural value, a figure of speech and pun as regards to oral tradition. This art has a function of teach and delight. During the challenging performance between the âşıks, beginning with a verbal dueling part, they compete with each other on the aptness, humor and beauty of the poetry and improvisation using alternating lines and improvising witty jibes in front of an audience.
Leb-değmez: Verses with a needle between the lips: This is a style of reciting poems avoiding the consonants like “B, P, M, V, F”, pronounced by teeth and lips, to perform the masterly skills of the âşıks. The âşıks put a needle between their lips in that style of reciting poems.
Folk Tales: Developed and preserved thanks to the master/apprentice discipline of the âşıks, also known as
“narrators”, “Folk Tale” is a genre encompassing narrative style, poetry and music. |
| Social and cultural significance |
Âşıklık Tradition has a social side to it, in the sense some of the motifs of the poems and tales told by Âşıks are the problems of the society and âşıks themselves are perceived as enlightening and guiding figures.
Âşıks of our times perform their arts in festivals, festivities, weddings, âşık coffee houses and Cem rituals. In traditional weddings, as important performing venues for âşıks, they not only entertain the public but also fulfill their teaching and guiding roles through anecdotes and tales. Âşıklık tradition is still very much alive in cities like Kars, Erzurum and Kayseri, where âşıks also perform in âşık coffee houses. Alevi-Bektaşi rituals are other gatherings where âşıks, known as “zakirs”, recite poems reflecting the beliefs and world-views of Alevi-Bektaşi philosophy. In addition to their usual performing venues, various activities and festivals organized by NGOs and local governments are emerging as new occasions for âşıks to perform their arts.
Legends of bravery, love stories and myths are told, which stands as the integral part of the cultures of the respective community or society and is the main motive to arrange a social gathering along with reciting improvised poems. For example, during the weddings, inviting an “âşık” to perform improvised poem recitals and narrating tales is an important cultural activity and a means of communication among some communities in Kars and Erzurum. Cem rituals cannot be safeguarded without “âşıks” regarding the preservation of the cultural identities of Alevi-Bektaşi communities. At national level, the “âşıks” gather at the places called “kahvehane” namely coffeehouses in winter and inform people through performing improvisation contests and reciting political and social satire poems as the voice of the public while entertaining.
Establishing a cultural interaction among several communities depends on the existence of the “âşıks” and the people following the tradition adds many cultural values such as transmission the tradition to next generations, creating a cultural awareness and establishing a strong social dialogue as well.
Âşıks conserves traditional garment by wandering mostly dressed in traditional clothes, an instrument at the risk of disappearance by playing an instrument, narrative genres at the risk of disappearance by telling folk tales and traditional poetry forms by reciting poems created via syllables and in addition to these, Âşıks serve for the diversity of cultural expressions and development of social awareness, which UNESCO aims to protect.
Âşıks, along with the aforementioned features, contribute a lot to cultural diversity with the improvised poems peculiar to the Âşıks including satire, repartee and “dudakdeğmez”, a style of reciting poems avoiding the consonants pronounced by teeth and lips like ‘B’, ‘M’, ‘P’. |
| Transmission method |
Master/Apprentice Discipline: Âşıklık tradition is not only based on singing, reciting or playing an instrument but it is also a training-based tradition. The âşıks are, in general, trained by a master grasping the know-how of his master’s art, utterances and poems. Once they become masters in their arts, they start training apprentices on their own and thus the tradition is preserved.
- Ankara State Directorate of Folk Poets Society was established in 1992, under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (hereby referred to as “The Ministry”)
- Studies about Âşıklık have been carried out and an archive center has been established in the Ministry.
- Folk Poets (Âşıks) Evaluation Board, established under the aegis of the Ministry, has registered 557 âşıks in the Information and Documentation Center of Folk Culture since 1986 identifying through employing “Living Folk Poets Information Form” and has started to issue Artist Identification Cards since 2007.
- Festivals and festivities are being organized with the support of local governments and the Ministry in Sivas, Kars, Bursa, Erzurum and Tarsus.
- Colloquiums and conferences have been held. (Most recently the Ministry organized a symposium on “Intangible Cultural Heritage: Living Art of the Âşık” in collaboration with Gazi University and Turkish National Commission for UNESCO).
- Âşıks prepare programs on TV.
- Publications and broadcasts concerning Âşıklık have been released.
- “Folk Culture” courses including topics about Âşıklık tradition have been added to the primary school curricula.
- A meeting titled “Sivas Meeting of Âşıks” has been organized by the financial support of the Directorate General of Research and Training of the Ministry in Sivas from 30th November to 3rd December 2008 by the participation of the Âşık NGOs and independent bearers of the tradition coming from the cities where the tradition has been preserved up to date. Hence the meeting mainly dealt with the “problems and recommendations on solutions of the living Âşıklık (Ozanlık) tradition”. |
