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PİR SULTAN ABDAL and me

~ A personal reflection on the great Alevi poet's lyric works and influence – mostly through translation

PİR SULTAN ABDAL and me

Tag Archives: deyiş

Latife (Melûli) ‘Mey içtim sarhoşum bugün’

26 Saturday Feb 2011

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Aynur Haşhaş, deyiş, Edip Harabi, Latife, mahlas, Melûli, Translation

Otel Fahri İstanbul 1995Aşık Melûli is surely one of the master Alevi poets of the twentieth century. Indeed his life spans nine decades of the century. Born in 1892 his real name was Karaca and was educated both by an Arab hoca and for a decade in an Armenian school in Afşin. As well as his mother tongue Turkish he spoke Arabic, Armenian, Farsi and Ottoman Turkish. He died in 1989 aged 97. Like another remarkable Alevi, Edip Harabi, Melûli composed some deyiş using a female mahlas persona as well as his more usual mahlas (Melûli). This is an example of Melûli’s female persona using the mahlas Latife. The examples of Melûli and Harabi using multiple and different gendered mahlas persona suggests a more subtle and sophisticated function for the mahlas naming convention than mere authorial attribution.

The poem is fairly straightforward in regards to translation, although difficult choices are necessarily made that colour the interpretation of the translation. One of the challenges is whether or not to translate ‘Pir’. I have a strong inclination to leave such terms untranslated since they carry so much culturally specific meaning. It has the sense of teacher, master, saint, guide and the head of a dervish order. In this version I have however committed a translation, opting for ‘Dervish’ which I expect to carry various connotations for the reader in English. The use of the word ‘Pir’ is just one expressive element that points to a mystical reading; yet one of the great characteristics of the song, particularly emphasised by the choice of mahlas, is the possible wordly interpretation. It is certainly this position that can be seen in Aynur Haşhaş’s recording while performed to the classic Alevi melody she replaces ‘Pir’ with the more ambiguous terms ‘canım’ and ‘yar’.

There is no doubt this lyric is provocative and forthright. Melûli does not avoid the language of religion saying his Kabaa (Mecca) is the tavern (meyhane). He dismisses the intolerant as ‘barking guard dogs’ (kelb rakibin ürümesi). I have tried to render the implied intimidation of the latter line with the idea of ‘patrolling hounds’.

A word should be said about the form of the mahlas ‘Latife’m’ which perhaps should read ‘my Latife’. However, convention suggest that the mahlas is not understood as a possessive construct but an expression of person (be it first, second or third). So forms such as this are understood to be a contraction of the first person verb to be, that is ‘Latife’yim’.

I should also note that we are fortunate to have an excellent introduction in English to Melûli by Hans-Lukas Kieser in his book chapter titled: Alevilik as song and dialogue: the village sage Melûli Baba (1892-1989). Kieser reveals Melûli as a remarkable figure of provincial ‘enlightenment’ in the late Ottoman period. The principal source for Melûli’s life and work and from where my text comes from remains the book Melûli divanı ve Aleviliğin tasavvufun Bektaşiliğin tarihçesi by Latife Özpolat and Hamdullah Erbil.

Postscript: a note and reminiscence on the picture. I generally try to use pictures from my travels in Turkey that have some tangential (and not always obvious) connection to the text. That may be true of this picture too, but it is also a small nostalgic reflection on fondly remembered friendly cheap workers’ hotels that could be found in Sirkeci in the 1980s and early 1990s. Now sadly replaced by poorly gilded (and much more expensive) tourist hotels. This was a room in one of my favourites, the original (and long departed) Otel Fahri on İbni Kemal Cad. when it was a quiet street (photo taken in early 1995). On one occasion, perhaps the time this photo was taken, there was a night time tavern restaurant around the corner squeezed in on Ebussuut Cad. near the corner of Ankara Cad. where gypsy musicians from Şişli would pass through – with much jolity, bonhomie and much drinking of rakı. When I visited the following year the tavern was gone, without trace (like something out of Robert Irwin’s Arabian Nightmare – but that is another story)  and Necmettin Erbakan was Prime Minister. I am not necessarily drawing a connection, but the belly dancer on the İbo Şov – Tatlıses is the great ‘Vicar of Bray’ of Turkish culture – also disappeared at this time, as I recall. The eagle-eyed will notice some travelling essentials in the picture – bottle of water (none other than ‘Sultan Su’), chocolate, cassette walkman – remember those! – leather jacket, tissues and book which, if  I must own up, was an old edition of John Buchan’s Greenmantle that, as is my practice, I donated to a hotel draw somewhere down the track in eastern Turkey).

Latife (Melûli): Mey içtim sarhoşum bugün

Translation: Paul Koerbin

Today I drank wine and was drunk

I swear, I cannot hold my tongue

Today I was so pleased with my Dervish

I swear, I forgot all about death

The world appears completely empty

My Dervish brings me pleasure

He is exuberant whenever he loves

I swear, I love my Dervish

The morsel the Dervish proffers is permitted for me

The tavern is my pilgrim’s kabaa

The barking of the patrolling hounds

I swear, does not block my way

Let the Dervish come and be cross with me

Let my arm embrace his neck

Let the arms that are drawn away be broken

I swear, I cannot withdraw my arm

If I enter his embrace uncovered

If he sleeps and I love silently

If he awakes and he speaks rudely

I swear, I cannot withdraw my hand

I am Latife I am so shameless

I love greatly and I am so brazen

I know nothing of shame and honour

I swear, I will pluck my rose

———————————————————————————————–

Original Turkish text from Melûli divanı ve Aleviliğin tasavvufun Bektaşiliğin tarihçesi by Latife Özpolat and Hamdullah Erbil (2006)

Mey içtim sarhoşum bugün

Tutamam dilim vallahi

Pir’imle çok hoşuma bugün

Unuttum ölüm vallahi

Dünya tümden boş geliyor

Pir’im bana hoş geliyor

Her sevdikçe cüş geliyor

Severim Pir’im vallahi

Helal bana Pir lokması

Hacc-ı kâbem meyhanesi

Kelb rakibin ürümesi

Kesemez yolum vallahi

Varsın banan Pir darılsın

Kolum boynuna sarılsın

Çözülen kollar kırılsın

Çözemem kolum vallahi

Girsem koynuna gömleksiz

Uyusa ben sevsen sessiz

Uyansa dese edepsiz

Çekemem elim vallahi

Latife’m çok hayâsızım

Çok severim çok yüzsüzüm

Ar namus yok habersizim

Çalarım gülüm vallahi

Dertli Divani ‘Diktiğimiz fidanlar (sana ne bana ne)’

06 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Dertli Divani, deyiş, Halil Atılgan, Serçeşme, Translation

A. Aykut, P. Koerbin, Dertli Divani, M. Kılçık. V. Ulusoy (Postnişin), Sydney 2007

This is one of the most well known and performed deyiş of Dertli Divani (real name Veli Aykut, born 1962 in Kısas near Şanlıurfa). Divani is arguably the most important living Alevi aşık and a remarkable individual who straddles, with ease, the worlds of the Alevi source culture and that of the modern recording artist. He is also tireless in his efforts to explain and promote an understanding of the true nature and spirit of Alevi culture to as wide an audience as possible. Divani is from dede lineage (his father is the late Aşık Büryani)  and leads cem services in Turkey (Kısas, Nurhak, Banaz) and throughout the world (Europe, North America and in Australia) and is the source and composer of many of the finest Alevi lyrics of the last quarter century. Though clearly he has the ambition to make Alevi culture widely understood his lyrics are still deeply mystical and present challenges for the translator, even more overtly social lyrics such as this one.

This deyiş is somewhat remarkable for the fact that it has a refrain (bağlantı) that introduces new text – many deyiş when sung introduce refrains though more commonly they are repetitions of the words of the verses. Adding to the interesting form is the fact that the verses are in 8 syllable metre while the refrain is in 11 syllable metre. While I generally aim to translate deyiş line by line, in this case it is necessary in some parts to treat two lines together for the purpose of coherence in the translation. Another difficulty was what to do with the “ne … ne” construction particularly in the first refrain. This construction normally means “neither … nor” though the conjuctions are usually placed before the words to which they refer, not after them as in this lyric. For this reason I have read “ne” in this instance as its other meaning of “what” which makes more sense in the theme of the lyric. In the last refrain I was tempted to use the word “wayfarer” for “yolcu” to pick up on the assonance of the Turkish, as in “the wayfarer who does not take the way” – but I did not completely convince myself of the desirability of this. I did, however, for good or ill, fall for the use of “hence”, in its archaic mean of “from here/this” for a translation of “bundan“.

Divani recorded the lyric on his album Serçeşme and in a repeat of the third line of the second verse he replaces “yârin” (beloved) with “pirin” (spiritual guide) as he does also in this live performance of the deyiş.  The text given below is from Kısaslı Aşıklar by Halil Atılgan published in Şanlıurfa in 1992. The text printed in the CD/cassette booklet for Serçeşme is the same. Curiously in a later publication by Atılgan (with Mehmet Acet) titled Harran’da Bir Türkmen Köyü Kısas published by the T.C. Kültür Bakanlığı in 2001, the last line includes an odd reading (or editorial mistake) contracting “Şaha ne” to “şahane” (royal, regal, magnificent).

Update #1: Again my most dedicated reader, Olga, has made some very pertinent and helpful comments (see comments section). She has articulated the theme of the lyric, which I completely agree with. She also, most usefully, notes the misreading in regards to “sana ne bana ne“. As Olga notes this construction means “I/you don’t care” or as I would re-phrase it “what’s it to you, what’s it to me”. And of course this suggests an allusion to the aşık that Divani himself has said is one of his greatest influences, Aşık Daimi and his great lyric titled Bana Ne. Interestingly that lyric includes the mahlas form “Dertli Daimi” – the full line is “Dertli Daimi’yim yardır sevdiğim“. This form of the mahlas is very uncommon in Daimi’s lyrics. Is this a deliberate allusion by Dertli Divani? Also, as Olga notes, the last line of the lyric suggest the famous Pir Sultan Abdal cry  “Gelin canlar bir olalım” though that line can also be attributed to another great and influential Alevi poet Aşık Sıdkı, a poet who is also a strong influence on Dertli Divani. In revising some lines upon Olga’s suggestion, and my reluctance to use her suggestion of “pilgrim” for yolcu, I have given in to my original inclination and used ‘wayfarer’. And I removed my “hence” – a shame about that.

Dertli Divani: Diktiğimiz fidanlar

Translation: Paul Koerbin

We could not eat the fruit

Of the shoots we planted

Whatever was their fault

(Hold on tyrant!) we cannot say

So saying, what’s it to you and what’s it to me?

Thus we’re fodder for lord and master

The doctor caused my wound to smart

Inflamed by my sweet soul

The love of the beloved sets me

To wandering through foreign lands

I have been hurt by the hand of the blind ignorant friend

I have grown tired and disgusted with reproaches

Divani speaks freely of conceit

This ignorance casting us down

Hand to hand, heart to heart

Let us give and be as one

The uncommitted wayfarer is at fault with the way

And so, what concern for the subject one to the Sultan or Shah?

——————————————————————————————–

Original text from Kısalı Aşıklar by Halil Atılgan, Şanlıurfa, 1992

Diktiğimiz fidanların

Meyvasını yiyemedik

Ne suçu vardı onların

Dur be zalim diyemedik

Sana ne bana ne hep diye diye

Böylece yem olduk ağaya beye

Tabip yaramı azdırdı

Tatlı canımdan bezdirdi

Beni bir yârin sevdası

Diyar be diyar gezdirdi

Yanmışam kör cahil dostun elinden

Bıkmış usanmışam acı dilinden

Der Divani senlik benlik

Bizi yıkan bu cahillik

El ele gönül gönüle

Verelim olalım birlik

Yolcu yola gitmez yola bahane

Bundan kula Sultana ne Şaha ne

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Yürüyüş eyledi Urum üstüne’

07 Saturday Nov 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

deyiş, Gölpınarlı, mahlas, Memet Fuat, Pertev Naili Boratav, Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun, Shah Ismail, Shah Tahmasp, Talat Halman

approaching KayseriThis deyiş appears in Ergun’s 1929 collection of Pir Sultan’s lyrics and again in Gölpınarlı and Boratav’s 1943 edition where the source is given as Ergun, although with a couple of slight changes. In the first line of the 4th verse Ergun has  Mağripte (Mağrib = Magreb, the West) while Gölpınarlı/Boratav give Meydana; and in the 3rd verse Ergun has küçük gazili while Gölpınarlı/Boratav have köçek gazili. The version used for my translation is from Memet Fuat (1999 reprint edition) who follows Ergun in regards to Mağripte (well almost, since he has the ablative Mağriğtan rather than the locative) and Gölpınarlı/Boratav in regards to köçek (both versions give the sense of a novice entering the tarikat). This deyiş is a good example of a theme found in the lyrics of Pir Sultan – the hope and expectation of the coming of the Shah, in this case the temporal ruler. It is for such allegiances that the kızılbaş were pursued by the Ottoman authorities. The word Urum refers to the land of ‘Rum’, Anatolia, the Ottoman lands.  Three generations of the Safavids are referred to in the lyric (as Fuat notes): Shah Tahmasp is the ‘beautiful leader’ who is expected; and he is the ‘Shah’s son’, that is the son of Shah Ismail, the first Safavid ruler, while ‘Old Haydar’ refers to Ismail’s father and Tahmasp’s grandfather. The mahlas verse reveals that this expectation may be but a wish of Pir Sultan’s.

Update:

An astute reader makes some good critical comments on this translation. Firstly in relation to my rendering, or non-rendering of the Persian izafet (nominal compound) construction Şah-ı cihan which is more correctly Shah of the World. I am inclined to agree with the reader that this would be a better translation to adopt. My original rendering and interpretation as “mortal Shah” was rather to emphasise the reference to the worldly rule of  Şeyh Haydar (Sheik Haydar) to who it refers. Nevertheless ‘Shah of the World’ conveys that meaning and does have are rather more poetic tone, perhaps, than a compromise rendering of ‘worldly Shah’ which I also considered. So I have changed this.

The reader suggests that perhaps imam should not be translated at all since the religious context is lost. This is perhaps true. In the construction of the On İki İmam in the final verse I do not translate imam because of its specific reference, whereas in the refrain line Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor I originally tranlated it as leader. This was deliberate in order to assert the temporal leadership that I think is certainly a strong aspect of the way these lyrics are looked upon today. I think the perspective of the age considering these lyrics is relevant for a work that emerges from folklore and certainly this is a consideration in my interest in these lyrics – the life and meaning they have now. However, I have decided to change this, for now, to ‘guide’ which perhaps retains a element of the religious or spiritual context. I am also inclined to persist with this line as a fully translated line – for the English reader for whom the translation is intended – since it is the refrain line.

The reader very reasonably questions the logic of rendering mağrib as West. Mağrib can mean Morocco or the Magreb, the place where the sun sets, that is the West. But this line did trouble me in my translation, for the geographic illogic. Still, these lyrics are of a nature that narrative logic is not always present, so I was prepared to render it as best I could and accept the meaning may remain obscure. However in looking at this again, I am coming to the view that the intended word here may not be mağrib but rather magib which means being absent or in concealment. It would be helpful to find variants of this lyric that pointed to such a reading, but I have not. Nevertheless I am prepared to go out on a limb and adopt this meaning, since the meaning of the ‘West’ may also incorporate a sense of  ‘absence’ or ‘concealment’. So I have changed the reading of this line to “Emerging from concealment he appears again” – which also obviously hints at the emergence of the twelfth imam.

The reader also suggest a reading of dolu with its meaning of ‘hail’ and in her view referring to the Shah’s martial spirit. I don’t concur with this reading. In Alevi and Turkish folk culture dolu specifically refers to a cup full of spirit or liquor. Özbek ( in Türkülerin Dili) gives the meaning as “içki, içkiyle dolu kadeh“; and Korkmaz (in Alevilik ve Bektaşilik Terimleri Sözlüğü) gives “içki doldurulmuş kadeh, içki“. In the Alevi cem ceremony the Saki scatters the holy liquor over the congregation. I have amended my translation to try this reading: “he dispersed the full cup of spirit at each step”. Not sure this is better, but these are works in progress.

In considering the readers comments I am reminded of Talat Halman’s – Halman is probably the best translator of this material – assertion that a single translator can hardly do a definitive version and that “a whole consort of virtuoso renditions … might be far more effective”.  As Halman further noted “many of the best poems were actually created as musical composition in their own right and require a miracle for successful transposition” (see Halman’s article Translating Turkish Literature and “Cultranslation” in Translation Review No. 68, 2004).

Pir Sultan Abdal: Yürüyüş eyledi Urum üstüne

Translation: Paul Koerbin

He made a march on Anatolia

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

I came down and kissed his hand

The beautiful leader of Ali’s descent is coming

He dispersed the full cup of spirit at each step

Arab horses tied in his stable

If you ask of his origin he is the Shah’s son

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

His fields are marked out step by step

From the hand of his rival his heart grieves

Dressed in green the young novice warrior

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

Emerging from concealment he appears again

No-one knows the secret of the sainted one

Descendant of Old Haydar  Shah of the World

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

I am Pir Sultan Abdal if I see those things

If I pay humble respect entreating

From the first the prince of the twelve imams

The beautiful guide of Ali’s descent is coming

————————————————————————————————————————–

Original text from Memet Fuat Pir Sultan Abdal (1999 ed.)

Yürüyüş eyledi Urum üstüne

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

İnip temennâ eyledim destine

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Doluları adım adım dağıdır

Tavlasında küheylânlar bağlıdır

Aslını sorarsan Şah’ın oğludur

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Tarlaları adım adım çizili

Rakîbin elinden ciğer sızılı

Al yeşil giyinmiş köçek gazili

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Meydana çıkar görünü görünü

Kimse bilmez Evliyanın sırrını

Koca Haydar Şah-ı cihan torunu

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Pir Sultan Abdal’ım görsem şunları

Yüzün sürsem boyun eğip yalvarı

Evvel baştan On İki İmam severi

Ali nesli güzel imam geliyor

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Ey benim dîvane gönlüm’

22 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

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Ali Haydar Avcı, deyiş, Erkan Oğur, Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun, Translation, İsmail H. Demircioğlu

dogubeyazit2The text given here and used for this translation is from Ergun’s 1929 publication and I have retained the original orthography which includes some flexibility in the choice of vowel, e.g. gice for gece, aktur for aktır, dir for der. This text is another that seems to have some age to it with strong sufi elements. Erkan Oğur and İsmail H. Demircioğlu recorded a languid, contemplative arrangement (tune written by Demircioğlu) on their 1998 Kalan recording Gülün Kokusu Vardı, which brings out this characteristic. Their recording includes some variations in the text, notably in the last couplet of first verse which they sing as Bu cefayı kendi özüm / Pek mail gördüm yalınız (the accompanying booklet prints cezayı for cefayı but they sing the latter). This verse equates to the text as presented by Ali Haydar Avcı in his work Osmanlı gızlı tarihinde Pir Sultan Abdal ve bütün deyişleri, Noktakitab, 2006 (p. 775).  He also provides another version of these lines: Yüce dağların başında / Kaynadım çoştum yalınız. Both these readings avoid the reference to the three day new moon period of the lunar month mihâk. The singers also discard the 4th verse. The other notable variations to be found refer to the final verse where “the forty” (kırklar) is added to “the three” and “the seven”, replacing Erenler; and Ergun also notes a variant in second line of the third verse, found in mecmua number 40 in the Selim Ağa Kütüphanesi in Üsküdar, which reads: Varsam hayır himmet alsam.

Pir Sultan Abdal: Ey benim dîvane gönlüm

Translation: Paul Koerbin

Hey my foolish heart

I fell upon the mountains alone

This is the reason for this sigh of mine

I saw a time of the new moon alone

There are mountains higher than mountains

Can the soul endure this force

Of my pain for three days and nights

If I speak ceaseless, alone

If I were to reach the foot of the Shah

If I were to take the blessed prayer

If I were to plunge into the Red River

If I were to purl and flow alone

My Shah’s river flows clear

It’s taste more sweet than sugar

There is nothing greater than Allah

God I said and stood alone

I am Pir Sultan those who see tell

Those giving salutation to the saints

The Enlightened by threes and sevens

I came for blessing alone

————————————————————————–

Original text from Sadettin Ergun, Pir Sultan Abdal, 1929

Ey benim dîvane gönlüm

Dağlara düştüm yalınız

Bu benim âhım yüzünden

Bir mihâk gördüm yalınız

Dağlara var dağlardan yüce

Can mı dayanır bu güce

Hâlimi üç gün üç gice

Söylesem bitmez yalınız

Şâh’ın ayağına varsam

Hayırlı gülangin alsam

Kızıl ırmaklarına dalsam

Çaglasam aksam yalınız

Şâh’ımın ırmağı aktur

Lezzeti şekerden çoktur

Bir Allah’tan büyük yoktur

Hak didim durdum yalınız

Pir Sultan’ım dir görenler

Pirlere niyaz idenler

Üçler yediler erenler

Mürvete geldim yalınız

Nimri Dede ‘Özde ben Mevlana oldum da geldim’

29 Saturday Aug 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Ahmet Buran, Arif Sağ, Aşık Sarıcakız, deyiş, Mevlana, Nimri Dede, Translation

I have already posted an English version of Nimri Dede’s İnsan Olmaya Geldim as recorded by Arif Sağ which includes some word changes from Nimri Dede’s original and omits two verses. Here then is a translation of the original complete version with the original refrain line ‘…de ben Mevlana oldum da geldim‘ rather than ‘…de ben bir insan olmaya geldim‘, some other relatively small word changes and the two missing verses. The fifth verse (one of the verses omitted by Sağ) does pose some translation challenges, partly because of parataxis and partly because of the deft way Nimri Dede has divided Aşık Sarıcakız’s mahlas over the third and fourth lines.  I am not yet convinced of my rendering of this verse. This verse, perhaps, also gives a clue to the inspiration for this deyiş – was it composed upon hearing Aşık Sarıcakız (real name İlkin Manya), a renowned female ozan/aşık? We are fortunate to finally have a published collection of Nimri Dede’s deyişler prepared by Professor Dr Ahmet Buran published in Elazığ in 2006 by Manas Yayıncılık. However the version of this song included in that book has a small error in the first line of the second verse where ‘meğer‘ should read ‘meğerse‘ in order to fill the syllable count requirement of the koşma form. In a typescript provided to me by Nimri Dede’s grandson, Sercihan Dehmen, the correct form is given (see image below).

Nimri Dede: Özde ben Mevlana oldum da geldim

Translation: Paul Koerbin


I cast out this filthy duality from within me,

In the true self I came to become Master

Since established in the heart of the mystics

In the word I have come to become Master

Whatever love is, it is the essence of the soul;

The direction to it lies between the eyes.

The work of truth is the tint of strength.

In the face I have come to become Master

What all the teachers have described;

The halting place that the true ones have reached;

Where the Prophets and Saints have gone;

In the footsteps I have come to become Master

Those seeking Truth found it in the heart

Truth overflowed the heart and filled the world

All faces became the mirror of me

In you I have come to become Master

I have a garden clean of every thorn

They entered and trampled until rent in half

Her eyes closed, in Aşık Sarıca

Kız  I have come to become Master

At times I have examined and been examined

How many years I have been attached to a noose;

In a manner I have set alight that love and been set alight;

In the ashes I have come to become Master

At last I have come, drinking the wine of love.

Every bit of whiteness I have selected from the darkness.

I pierced the mountains of existence and passed over;

On the level I have come to become Master

See then what Nimri Dede now has done:

Of the true love to every heart he has sung;

He has at last bid farewell to wine and whatever

On the lute I have come to become Master

————————————————————————————————————–

Original version from typscript provided by Sercihan Dehmen

nimri_dede

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Gel benim sarı tanburam’

23 Sunday Aug 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 4 Comments

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Besim Atalay, deyiş, Gölpınarlı, Pertev Naili Boratav, Sadettin Nüzhet Ergun, tanbura, Translation, Yunus Emre

tanburaThis 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

—————————————————————————————————————

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

Muhlis Akarsu ‘Demokrasi nerde ise ordayız’

07 Tuesday Jul 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 2 Comments

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Arif Sağ, deyiş, Muhlis Akarsu, Translation

akarsuMuhlis Akarsu was prolific in his composition and recordings (in the pre-CD days) and fortunately many have been subsequently released on CD. The more I listen too these recordings, both solo and as part of the Muhabbet series, the more his brilliance is evident. This deyiş is from his last recording prepared shortly before he was killed in Sivas on 2 July 1993. The album was released after the Sivas events with the title Sivas Ellerinda Ömrüm Çalınır which includes the recording of that re-written version of the Pir Sultan Abdal deyiş performed by Arif Sağ (see my previous post). Akarsu’s voice is extraordinarily rich – singing in the deep baritone he favoured from the time of the Muhabbet recordings in the early 1980s –  and the songs very strong, mostly his own compositions, including the deyiş that became, after his death, so poignant Yine gönlüm hoş değil (Again my heart is not happy). Akarsu also performs the Turna semahı and Pir Sultan’s Bir güzelin aşığım. Interestingly, Arif Sağ begins his 1993 recording called Direniş (‘Resistance’, recorded only a few days before the Sivas massacre and still only ever released on cassette) with this deyiş although he credits the source as Davut Sulari while the music is credited to Akarsu on his recording.

The deyiş translated here however is an unabiguous statement, straightforward, direct. The main complexity in the translation is what to do with the word Hak. It means God, especially in the context used in the song and evokes the Alevi concept of enel-hak (I am God) often considered as an expression of the humanistic qualities of Alevi belief. However, while this translation must prevail, it does lose the other meaning of hak as ‘right’, ‘justice’ or ‘true’. Akarsu does help out however by making a slight change to the repeated last line on verses one and three. Here he uses hak in the sense of human rights, insan hakkı. I have taken the text from the book Muhlis Akarsu, hayatı, yaşamı, sanatı, şiirleri by Süleyman Zaman published by Can Yayınları in 2006. Besides the change to the repeated last line, the only other difference between the printed and sung version is in the 3rd line of verse two where Akarsu sings bilinmez (is not known) rather than görünmez (is not seen).

Demokrasi nerde ise ordayız  (Presently democracy will be with us)

Translation: Paul Koerbin


Friends, what we believe is clear

Presently democracy will be with us

We are not duped by the words of bigots

Presently democracy will be with us

(Presently human rights will be with us)

Our dead don’t come back to life again

Ignorant fatwas are not given against humans

Not among us do class divisions appear

Presently democracy will be with us

Our ways are not reconciled with division

No meddling with the beliefs of humans

No conceit, no competition with anyone

Presently democracy will be with us

(Presently human rights will be with us)

We know mankind is God and God is mankind

Our rose opens within our hearts

I am Akarsu, all of us are sister and brother

Presently democracy will be with us

———————————————————————————————————–

Dostlar bizim inancımız bellidir

Demokrasi nerde ise ordayız

Softaların sözlerine kanmayız

Demokrasi nerde ise ordayız

(İnsan hakkı nerde ise ordayız)

Bizim ölüler’mız geri dirilmez

İnsanlara boş fetvalar verilmez

Bizde sınıf bölücülük görülmez

Demokrasi nerde ise ordayız

Yollarımız ikilikle barışmaz

İnsanların inancına karışmaz

Benlik yoktur kimse ile yarışmaz

Demokrasi nerde ise ordayız

(İnsan hakkı nerde ise ordayız)

İnsan Hak’tır Hak insandır biliriz

Gönüllerde açar bizim gülümüz

Akarsu’yum bacı kardaş hepimiz

Demokrasi nerde ise ordayız

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Bir nefesçik söyliyelim’

22 Monday Jun 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

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Cahit Öztelli, deyiş, Gölpınarlı, nefes, Translation, Vahid Dede (Salcı)

 

Lake Eğirdir, 1996

Lake Eğirdir, 1996

The opening line declares this lyric as a little nefes (hymn) – a song of praise or worship. We may still understand this as an Alevi deyiş in its synonymous sense or course – it is Pir Sultan – but it does fit will with the Bektashi sensibility and indeed there are at least two musical settings of this nefes in the Bektashi tradition. The first is in the gerdaniye makam and is published in the second edition of Gölpınarlı’s Alevi-Bektaşi Nefesler (the piece is sourced from Rauf Yekta’s publication of nefesler in the 1930’s for the Istanbul Konservatuvarı). The other setting is from Vahid (Salcı) Dede and was first published in Cahit Öztelli’s 1971 book on Pir Sultan Abdal and also in the final volume (vol. 5) of İsmail Özmen’s Alevi-Bektaşi Şiirleri Antolojisi. Both settings are in 8/8 time, interestingly, as the lyric itself is in semai form with an eight syllable count (the greater majority of Pir Sultan’s lyrics are in koşma form with an 11 syllable count. The language is simple though it uses some terms with specific meaning in Alevi-Bektaşi culture. In this case I have thought it preferable to attempt translations of these terms rather than leave them in their original form because of the overall simplicity of the language. In the first verse are terms suggesting a watery symbolism – derya (sea) and umman (ocean), but these also have meaning relating to the kamil insan (perfect person), a person of depth, integrity and knowledge. Ideas that the translator needs to try and convey. The Meydan can mean simply an open space, but here it refers to the specific place where the ritual ceremonies (ayin-i cem) are conducted. The Dar here refers to the central place of the Meydan where the main services are conducted and where a person confesses faith to the way.

Pir Sultan Abdal: Bir nefesçık söyliyelim

Translation: Paul Koerbin

Bir nefesçik söyliyelim

Dinlemezsen neyliyelim

Aşk deryasın boylıyalım

Ummana dalmağa geldim

 

Aşk harmanında savruldum

Hem elendim hem yuğruldum

Kazana girdim kavruldum

Meydana yenmeğe geldim

 

Ben Hakkın ednâ kuluyum

Kem damarlardan beriyim

Ayn-i Cem’in bülbülüyüm

Meydana ötmeğe geldim

 

Ben Hak ile oldum aş’na

Kalmadı gönlümde nesne

Pervaneyim ateşine

Şem’ine yanmağa geldim

 

Pir Sultan’ım yer yüzünde

Var mıdır noksan sözümde

Eksiğim kendi özümde

Dârına durmağa geldim

Let us sing a little hymn

If you don’t listen what should we do

Let us traverse the depths of love

I came to plunge into that vast ocean

 

I was winnowed in the harvest of love

I was both sifted and kneaded

I entered the pot and was roasted

I came to attain the Sacred Place

 

I was the lowest of God’s slaves

I was clear of malicious streaks

I was the nightingale in the Ceremony

I came to sing for the Sacred Place

 

I was well acquainted with God

Nothing else reamained in my heart

I am a moth unto your flame

I came to burn at your candle

 

I am Pir Sultan here in the world

Is there anything deficient in my word

Anything lacking in my very self

I came to stand right before you

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Şu karşı yaylada göç katar katar’

11 Thursday Jun 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 6 Comments

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Cahit Öztelli, deyiş, Muazzez Türüng, Translation, İbrahim Aslanoğlu

 

View of Doğubeyazıt

View over Doğubeyazıt from the ancient fortress

This deyiş does not appear in the anthologies of Pir Sultan Abdal poems until Cahit Öztelli’s 1971 publication of the ‘complete poems’ (bütün şiirleri). That collection was indeed a more complete collection than earlier anthologies with 297 songs included. However later editions such as the massive work by Ali Haydar Avcı, now run to around 400 texts. The text was collected by the great Sivas folkorist İbrahim Aslanoğlu and was subsequently published in his 1984 book Pir Sultan Abdallar. Interestingly the song was actually recorded by a popular singer, Muazzez Türüng, for Odeon records in 1962 (and recently made available again by Odeon on its album of archival recordings called Harman).

The poem has more of the folksong quality about it and the theme of love, rather than the batınî mystical esoteric qualities of many of the lyrics attributed to Pir Sultan – and is thus somewhat easier to get an English translation. It is one of the Pir Sultan lyrics that so wonderfully evokes the Anatolian landscape, with the image of the nomads migrating across the high plateau. One of the main problems for tranlation include finding the right feel in English for the word suna which is a type of pheasant bird (or as Mehmet Özbek in his new dictionary of folksong terms Türkülerin Dili says, göl ördeği, lake duck). The bird is addressed personally in the song and I believe it needs to be retained in the translation; but a translation like ‘my duck’ is not going to work in English. I have used ‘pheasant’ which is not much better but have added ‘little’ so as to emphasise the intimacy of the conversation and the estrangement of the singer. The second last line of the last verse is also a little problematic in regard to getting the nuances. The word nimet can mean ‘favour’ or ‘blessing’ but also ‘food’ or ‘bread’. The latter would work very well with the verb used (yemek meaning ‘to eat’) but I’m not convinced this is the sense intended; and yemek can also act as an auxillary verb without its literal meaning of ‘to eat’. The last word in this line, helallaşalım, translates well enough as ‘let us fogive all’ but it implies mutal forgiveness and even has the sense of ‘last rites’ as in someone dying. Though tempted I have chosen not to emphasise that finality in the translation. This song was a favourite of a good friend of mine and confessed it sometimes brought him to tears to hear it or play it.

Şu karşı yaylada göç katar katar

Translation: Paul Koerbin

On the high lands opposite they depart in lines

The love of a beauty fumes in my mind

This separation is worse than death to me

It has passed, the beloved caravan, don’t delay me

The one that I love sits at the head

This pain of that beauty destroys me

This separation brings a cruelty upon me

It has passed, the beloved caravan, don’t delay me

If I disappear, my little pheasant, don’t weep for me

Don’t burn my heart in love’s fire

Don’t take love from me to bind to some other

It has passed, the beloved caravan, don’t delay me

If I go let this land be your home

Let the wolf at the hypocrites among us

If I die let the pain be in that one’s heart

It has passed, the beloved caravan, don’t delay me

I am Pir Sultan Abdal let us pass over mountains

Let us pass and come to the loved one’s land

I have had much of your favour let us forgive all

It has passed, the beloved caravan, don’t delay me

————————————————————————————————–

Original text (from Cahit Öztelli Pir Sultan Abdal Bütün Şiirleri)

 

Şu karşı yaylada göç katar katar

Bir güzel sevdası serimde tüter

Bu ayrılık bana ölümden beter

Geçti dost kervanı eğleme beni

Şu bemin sevdiğim başta oturur

Bir güzelin derdi beni bitirir

Bu ayrılık bana zulüm getirir

Geçti dost kervanı eğleme beni

Ben gidersem sunam bana ağlama

Ciğerimi aşk oduna dağlama

Benden başkasına meyil bağlama

Geçti dost kervanı eğleme beni

Gider isem bu il sana yurt olsun

Munafıklar aramıza kurt olsun

Ben ölürsem yüreğine dert olsun

Geçti dost kervanı eğleme beni

Pir Sultan Abdal’ım dağlar aşalım

Aşalım da dost iline düşelim

Çok nimetin yedim helallaşalım

Geçti dost kervanı eğleme beni

Pir Sultan Abdal ‘Bu yıl bu dağların karı erimez’

01 Monday Jun 2009

Posted by koerbin in Translations

≈ 1 Comment

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deyiş, Memet Fuat, Metin Kunt, Translation

img453One of the most evocative of Pir Sultan’s lyrics; especially when sung to the beautiful melody with which it is associated. Tolga Sağ performs the most familar version; while Muharrem Ertaş performs a spine-tingling bozlak version that seems to suggest deeper roots. It illustrates very well the evocation of the Anatolian landscape, Pir Sultan’s world, and how this is reflected in the inner being. The language of this deyiş is somewhat simpler than the earlier ones I have posted, but not without challenges for the translator. While I generally prefer to retain the names of specific places I have translated Kızılırmak as Red River. Firstly, Kızılırmak in its English form “Kizilirmak” is likely to create something of a monstrosity in pronunciation. Secondly, I like the very slight hint to the frontier nature of ‘Red River’.  On the other hand I have left saz untranslated, preferring not to use ‘lute’ as that gives too much of a courtly ‘troubadour’ idea. I have not gone as far as Memet Fuat in his book on Pir Sultan Abdal in associating Zalim Paşa (‘tyrant Pasha) with Hızır Paşa the former follower of Pir Sultan who was later to become a Governor of Sivas and be responsible for Pir Sultan’s execution. Though of course such a connection makes sense and is supportable and indeed both versions of the song I linked to above refer to Hızır (Hıdır) Paşa. Fuat also offers Tanrı (God, lord) as a reading of Dost in the last verse. I have not accepted this and go with Companion as a stronger take on the literal meaning of  ‘friend’. The other word that is somewhat problematic to translate is kul. This literally means slave though as Metin Kunt notes in The Sultan’s Sevants: The Transformation of Ottoman Provincial Government, 1550-1650, the term is possessed of some abiguity meaning not only ‘slave’ but also more generally ‘servant’ as well as the specific meaning of a ‘slave’ reared for an official career in the Ottoman administration. Kul also has specific Alevi-Bektashi meaning: according to Esat Korkmaz in his Alevilik-Bektaşilik Terimleri Sözlüğü it expresses man’s relationship to God (‘Tanrı’ya göre insan‘) or the mürit‘s (disciple, follower) relation to the mürşid (spritual leader). Given the socio-political nature of this deyiş however I have gone with a rendering of kul as ‘mere subject’ that I think best suggests the idea of slave and servant. 

Bu yıl bu dağların karı erimez

Translation: Paul Koerbin

Bu yıl bu dağların karı erimez          

Eser bad-ı saba yel bozuk bozuk

Türkmen kalkıp yaylasına yürümez

Yıkılmiş aşiret il bozuk bozuk

 

Kızılırmak gibi çağladım aktım

El vurdum göğsümün bendini yıktım

Gül yüzlü ceranın bağına çıktım

Girdim bahçesine gül bozuk bozuk

 

Elim tutmaz güllerini dermeye

Dilim tutmaz hasta halin sormaya

Dört cevabın manasını vermeye

Sazım düzen tutmaz tel bozuk bozuk

 

Pir Sultan’ım yaratıldım kul diye

Zalim Paşa elinden mi öl diye

Dostum beni ısmarlamış gel diye

Gideceğim amma yol bozuk bozuk

The snow doesn’t melt on the mountains this year          

The morning breeze blows an ill wind of ruin

The Turkmen don’t start and make for the highlands

The nomads have cleared off and the land is in ruin

 

I purled and flowed like the Red River

I struck out and threw off the barrage within me

I entered the orchard of the rose faced gazelle

I entered its garden of roses all broken and in ruin

 

I cannot hold its roses for the gathering

I cannot speak of my sickness for the asking

Nor to give the meaning of the sacred books

My saz is un-tuned, the strings broken and in ruin

 

I am Pir Sultan I was created a mere subject

To die they say by the hand of the tyrant Pasha

My Companion commanded me, saying come

I will go but the way is broken and in ruin

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