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In 1994, I set off as a filmmaker on a trip across Central
Turkey, traveling through villages in search of the roots and remnants
of the ashik tradition of Anatolia. This disk is one result of that voyage,
giving a representative picture of the current state of the ashik tradition
in Turkey and a look into the influence of the Alevi religious system
on that tradition. Ranging from a toothless 70-year-old who can still
improvise poetry on the fly, to a village bard who still remembers in
entirety one of the long traditional epics, to an up-and-coming ashik
who updates centuries-old songs with commentary on current events, this
collection of recordings gives a sense of the diversity of direction and
sound being achieved by ashiks alive today in Turkey.
For centuries, the spiritual and cultural identity of
Anatolia has been embodied in the ashik. Ashik in Turkish literally means
"one who is in love, and ashiks are those who are consumed by an inner
spiritual passion so strong that they are compelled to song. In days of
old, they forsook their home to wander alone from village to village,
singing of longings that found solace only in poetry and music. Ashiks
play the saz, a lute-like instrument whose current form dates from the
twelfth century. Their stories and
poems are derived from personal, spiritual, and historical sources; always
from memory, they sing of unrequited loves, of ancient heroes, of God
and of man.
Ashiks performances last from a few hours to a few days,
depending on the context. They perform in cafes, where they play with
or against other ashiks to earn the admiration and tips of customers;
at small Alevi village religious ceremonies; at social gatherings, parties,
and festivals; and in homes for those who offer them hospitality. With
their travels exposing them to a breadth of human experience and geographical
diversity, ashiks are the villages' connection to the outside world, serving
as journalists, entertainers, teachers, religious leaders, artists, and
wise men. Their music and poetry are essential elements of countryside
life across Turkey, with the ashik filling a vital role in traditional
Anatolian society.
The roots of the tradition are interwined with the origins
of the Turkish people themselves. From the 8th through the 11th century,
a stream of Turkic nomadic tribes moved steadily west from Central Asia
to Anatolia in search of grazing for their livestock and respite from
the raids of other tribes. At the time, bards and minstrels existed as
entertainers, poets, and chroniclers of a leader or tribe's conquests
and history. While these tribes originally practiced a shamanistic belief
system, they were heavily influenced by the emergence at the time of Islam
as the region's dominant creed. Their migration also exposed them to the
Christian and mystical sects that inhabited Anatolia when they arrived
there.
Fusing all of these disparate religious influences, some
tribes in Anatolia forged their own belief system, ostensibly Islamic
but entirely unique. Known as Alevis, their basic philosophy held that
the world was the manifestation of Allah. Rather than being some threatening,
discrete entity, God is man and man is God. In this way, every thing and
being was to be treated with the respect and tolerance afforded to God
Himself. An all-encompassing humanism, respect for nature and the earth,
and emphasis on love as the guiding spiritual value provided the foundations
of their belief system.
Because of their focus on the figure of Ali in Islamic
history, Alevis are often considered part of the Shi'a sect, but their
radically different interpretation of Islam, which stems from their strong
shamanistic roots, sets them apart from other Islamic groups. The most
obvious examples of difference are the fact that Alevis do not pray five
times a day, they do not keep the Muslim fast of Ramadan, and they refuse
to worship in mosques. Instead, they gather in the village cem evi (a
village house set aside as a communal space) to pray, to reaffirm their
connections as a community, and to resolve any family disputes or legal
matters.
Alevis have always worshipped in semi-secrecy, with no
texts nor set rules or liturgy. Ashiks have sustained the culture through
an oral tradition, using metaphor and music to convey history and philosophy.
In the Alevi religious service, the cem, all prayers and discussion are
focused around the ashik, culminating with the ashik playing and singing
for the sema, a swirling dance that illuminates the world's transcendent
nature. At the end of the dance, the dancers pay their respects to the
ashik and the elders of the village as those through whose memories the
Alevi tradition is kept alive.
As the Alevi belief system developed and grew in Anatolia,
it was opposed by the central Ottoman government, who belonged to the
Sunni sect and who, as overseers of the holy sites in Mecca, saw themselves
as keepers of the true faith of Islam. Repressed by the Ottomans as heretical
and thus as a politically dangerous minority, Alevis were forced into
secrecy, compelled to shroud their mystical and unstructured beliefs from
the outside world. It is during this period that the ashik tradition bloomed,
becoming not only a spiritual and community-based tradition, but now also
moving into the realm of protest music, decrying the attempt of the Ottomans
to political subjugate the Alevis and convert them to the Sunni sect.
Ashiks became figures of resistance, their poetry not only discussing
love and the beauties of the world, but also describing the bloodshed
and intolerance of Ottoman rule.
The Sunni and urban populations of Turkey remain generally
ignorant of Alevi traditions, beliefs, and practices, partly because of
the tradition's historical tendency towards secrecy (driven by fear of
repression) and partly because of a disinformation campaign. This ignorance
perpetuates myths that the Alevis, because of their focus on love and
their worship as a group behind closed doors, engage in group sex, that
they are backward and illiterate, and that they don't believe in God.
During the 1960s and 70s, because of the inherent ideal of equality of
Alevi beliefs and the conditions of extreme poverty found in many villages,
Alevis often sympathized with leftist groups, only to be imprisoned for
their political leanings, further adding to the impression that they were
subversive and dangerous. In 1993, hundreds of Alevi intellectuals, ashiks,
and artists gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of one
of the most revered Alevi ashiks, Pir Sultan Abdal. Thirty-seven of them
were burned to death in a hotel fire set by a mob incited by fundamentalist
religious radicals, who spoke of Alevi ways as going against the Islamic
roots of the Turkish people. It is in response to this type of violence
that the ashik tradition continues to protest, drawing on its humanistic
elements to call for love and brotherhood and an end to fundamentalism
and exclusionary ideology. It is within the ashik tradition that the roots
of Turkish culture lie, and it is in the ashik tradition that the future
of Turkey as a community lies.
Nonetheless, the ashik culture that was is no more. No
more do ashiks wander the countryside; instead, old men sit in cafes and
tell stories of the past. More and more, their children forsake the life
of the village for the promise of the city, losing touch with folk culture
and the Alevi oral traditions as they dream of becoming the next pop star.
As modern industry and technology change the face of village culture,
and as the political and intellectual realms in Turkey slowly begin to
broaden and evolve, the possibility of and the need for an oral tradition
fades, leaving behind the memories of a generation about to disappear
as the culture is transformed into something entirely new. Today, ashiks
put out CDs, run for seats in parliament, and do television shows. In
some way, however, the soul and the idea of the ashik survives, permanently
woven into the fabric of Turkish society.
David Grabias, Los Angeles, 1999
Ashiklar, Those Who Are in Love is also a documentary
film, directed and produced by David Grabias. Videocassettes of the film
are available from Documentary Educational Resources, (800) 569-6621.
reviews
Ashiklar, Those Who Are in Love is an album with a story
behind it which is as interesting as the music it presents. The audio
document of a film project by David Grabias, it is a series of recordings
of the Ashiks, a dying society of ecstatic poets and musicians who were
part of a Shi'a Sufi sect called the Alevis. Persecuted by the Ottomans
100 years ago and by fundamentalist Muslims today, the Alevis are also
threatened by the transition of the Turkish economy and population centers
away from the villages and into cities. The old-time Ashiks were travelling
bards of sorts, supported by donations and tips from the communities that
they visited, where they would perform in homes and festivals and in small
religious ceremonies. Their songs focused on spiritual and devotional
themes, and later, when they began to be persecuted, the music took on
protest and political themes. The music captured on this album has elements
of all of these themes and documents the last few Ashiks in existence.
Accompanied by the saz, a traditional Turkish lute-like instrument, the
singers chant and sing relatively simple melodies with reverent tones.
Soothing and hypnotic, it provides both a pleasant listening experience
and a window into a vanishing culture.
Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
Review
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