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Besim Atalay, deyiş, Gölpınarlı, Pertev Naili Boratav, Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun, tanbura, Translation, Yunus Emre
This deyiş appears in the all of the earliest collections of Pir Sultan Abdal lyrics, including Besim Atalay’s 1924 publication Bektaşilik ve Edebiyatı (originally in Ottoman Turkish but translated into modern Turkish by Vedat Atila and published by Ant Yayınları in Istanbul in 1991). It also appears in Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun’s 1929 work on Pir Sultan Abdal and in the 1943 publication by Gölpınarlı and Boratav. Comparing these editions is interesting since there are minor variants in the texts – the minor nature of the variants is of itself interesting and perhaps gives a glimpse of how a traditional lyric may be adopted into the Pir Sultan canon. The lyric is not overtly on the central themes associated with Pir Sultan such as the kızılbaş devotion to the Imam Ali (but see below) or subjects associated with his life story; rather it seems closer to Sufi themes and the lyrics of Yunus Emre. The text I have translated is based on that presented in Gölpınarlı and Boratav’s 1943 edition. This seems to be something of composite text, though Gölpınarlı’s method of presenting the texts, while stating sources does not make clear how variants are used. The authors cite the sources as Atalay, Ergun and an undefined number of cönk and mecmua in Gölpınarlı’s possession. The most interesting of the minor variations of text is found in the version presented by Atalay who gives the last line of each stanza as ‘Ali deyu inilerim’ (‘I moan crying Ali’) thus revealing somewhat more overtly the Alevi theme in the lyric. The one line that is different in the three versions cited is the third line of the second stanza which in Gölpınarlı reads ‘Oldum ayn-i cem bülbülü’, in Ergun reads ‘Olmuşam Şah’ın bülbülü’ and in Atalay reads ‘Oldum muhabbet bülbülü’. While the signficance of the line is hardly altered, the approaches ranging from the specific mention of the ritual ceremony (ayn-i cem), to the hoped for Shah and to the general idea of love and unity (muhabbet) is instructive.
The tanbura mentioned is one of the names for the long necked lute played by the aşık-s. Other names commonly encountered in the Alevi deyiş are saz, kopuz and bağlama. Interestingly, in the version of this lyric published by Ergun the word tanbura is used except in the last stanza where it states ‘Bağlamadır benim adım’ (‘My name it is bağlama‘). In organological terms the tanbura (or tambura) is a larger member of the bağlama family with a narrow-ish body tapering into the long neck – a rather beautiful form. The reference to the yellow (sarı) lute may suggest the pale spruce soundboard or the belly, often made of chestnut (kestane) which is of a pale yellow hue.
Pir Sultan Abdal: Gel benim sarı tanburam
Translation: Paul Koerbin
Come my yellow lute
Why do you moan?
I am hollow within, my grief is great
This is the reason I moan
They attached string to my arm
They made me speak countless languages
I was the nightingale in the ceremony
This is the reason I moan
They attached fretting to my arm
They had me meet with countless sorrows
Who settles here and who departs
This is the reason I moan
They lay my chest upon the seat
They stroked me without stop
They opened up my breast as they struck
This is the reason I moan
Come my yellow lute
I shall lay you upon my knee
Again my heart is broken
This is the reason I moan
Yellow lute is my name
My cry rises to the heavens
I am Pir Sultan my master
This is the reason I moan
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Original text from Gölpınarlı and Boratav Pir Sultan Abdal (1943)
Gel benim sarı tanburam
Sen ne için inilersin
İçim oyuk derdim büyük
Ben anınçin inilerim
Koluma taktılar teli
Söyletirler bin bir dili
Oldum ayn-i cem bülbülü
Ben anınçin inilerim
Koluma taktılar perde
Uğrattılar bin bir derde
Kim konar kin göçer burda
Ben anınçin inilerim
Goğsüme tahta döşerler
Durmayıp beni okşarlar
Vurdukça bağrım deşerler
Ben anınçin inilerim
Gel benim sarı tanburam
Dizler üsünde yatıram
Yine kırıldı hâtıram
Ben anınçin inilerim
Sarı tanburadır adım
Göklere ağar feryadım
Pir Sultan’ımdır üstadım
Ben anınçin inilerim
PİR SULTAN ABDAL and me 
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I think it is hard to determine the degree to which Pir Sultan’s voice was clandestine. As an individual he does not appear in the the documentary record and Alevis themselves have dissembled in regards to presenting the songs (changing words like Şah to yâr for example in public performance, nb Aşık Veysel). And this for good reason. But certainly Pir Sultan is the voice around which outrage and the cry for justice does comes together. At least that is one part of his identity (and an important part). I do agree that the focus on identifying multiple flesh and blood identities (the six “Pir Sultan Abdallar” of the great folkorist İbrahim Aslanoğlu) to explain Pir Sultan, while an interesting scholarly exercise, does miss the point and the real power of the Pir Sultan persona. Everyone I’ve spoken to who is deeply involved in the Alevi tradition has no trouble understanding the workings of the tradition in which many individuals may develop the songs while at the same time embracing and understanding Pir Sultan as a single persona.
We agree – I was saying almost the same thing my post.
It is very hard for us, non-Turkish speakers (I am Romanian myself), to find good translations of Pir Sultan Abdal’s works. We are in your debt, M. Koerbin.
Very interesting and pleasing to learn that there is someone interested in Pir Sultan in Romania. I don’t know why I was a bit surprised since I am after all an Australian and not Turkish, but I was. Thanks for the comments Vlad