Aşık İbreti is someone I would like to have met. His no nonsense plain speaking is so engaging – and, one thinks, quite courageous. His language is simple and his is message clear. İbreti’s real name was Hıdır Gürel and he was born in 1920 in the Sarız region of Kayseri. In 1967 we was caught up in attacks against Alevis in Elbistan. A working man, maker and seller of musical instruments and miner, he died in 1976. Musa Eroğlu, the great singer and bağlama player from Mut – often called the modern Karacaoğlan – is something of a champion of İbreti’s lyrics. He recorded the genuinely magnificent İlme değer verdim (Gördümde geldim) on his recording Yolver Dağlar and recently contributed İbreti’s Aşkın kabesi (İnsanlığa hizmet ibadetimdir) to the remarkable recording initiative by Kalan Music called Kızılbaş. Dertli Divani has also recorded the work of İbreti including Hakikat denildi erkânımıza on his 2000 masterwork Serçeşme. İbreti’s poems were published in 1996 in the book titled İlmer Değer Verdim by Adil Ali Atalay (Vaktidolu) whose publishing house, Can Yayınları, has contributed so much to the dissemination of Alevi culture.
The translation is fairly straightforward and I have tried to keep the language as ‘natural’ as possible. In the second verse he refers to Hızır (not to be confused with the despised Hızır Paşa, Pir Sultan’s nemesis) who obtained immortality by drinking the water of life – this is the concept I have tried to achieve in the translation. The other problematic word is gılman, which is sort of the male equivalent of ‘houries’. I have tried to render this with some taste – though I think there is a touch of the invective in the original. I repeat, İbreti is someone I would love to have met.
The picture is a photo of the notorious Madımak Otel (Hotel) in Sivas, which I took in 1996, three years after the fanatics set fire to the building because of the secular expressions of the artists and writers staying there who were attending the Pir Sultan Abdal Festival, killing 35 inside.
Postscript: I have made a couple of changes to the last two verses after reader Sürmeli pointed out a couple of errors. Many thanks.
Aşık İbreti: Değiliz
Translation: Paul Koerbin
Don’t climb up the minaret and cry out to us
We know this stuff, we’re not deaf
Think about yourself, don’t worry about us
We have no mind to quarrel with you
We know God is present everywhere
We know the mature human is immortal
We know anything other than this is nothing
Your estimation is wrong, we are not blind
If there is humanity then your resolve is true
Improve you own self if you have the strength
We have no necessity for your heaven
We are not slaves to your houries and pageboys
We feel no compulsion for Arabic prayers
Consider us Muslim or infidel as you wish
To belittle the human is your biggest blasphemy
We are not unbelievers, we believe in this
Ibreti, humankind grieves for this situation
These words will anger crude fanatics
The one who is unaware of his true self will take offence
We feel no compulsion to delude of amuse them
——————————————————————————————-
Original text from Aşık İbreti İlme Değer Verdim (Can Yayınları, 1996)
Minareye çıkıp bize bağırma
Haberimiz vardır, sağır değiliz
Sen kendini düşün bizi kayırma
Sizlere kavgaya uğur değiliz
Her yerde biz Hakk’ı hazır biliriz
Olgun insanları Hızır biliriz
Bundan başkasını sıfır biliriz
Tahmininiz yanlış, biz kör değiliz
Eğer insanlıksa doğru niyetin
Nefsini ıslah et varsa kudretin
Bize lazım değil senin cennetin
Huriye gılmana esir değiliz
Arapça duaya değiliz mecbur
İster müslüman bil, istersen gavur
İnsan hor görmek en büyük küfür
Buna inanmışız, münkir değiliz
İbreti, bu hâle insan acınır
Ham sofular bu sözlerden gücenir
Aslına ermeyen elbet gocunur
Onu avutmaya mecbur değiliz