Vocals and arrangement by Farya Faraji, music and lyrics by Muhlis Akarsu. This is a Turkish folk song belonging to the group of songs known as Türkü, which is the colloquial name given to the folk music of Anatolian Turks. More specifically, this song belongs to the "Kırık havalar" category, which contains the songs with regular rhythmic melodies, as opposed to the "Uzun havalar", which have non regular rhythms, or no rhythms at all. For me, the principal aspect of Türkü is the ubiquitous presence and importance of the bağlama, the main instrument in Türkü.
I believe the bağlama is what differentiates older folk Turkish music, such as the Classical Ottoman repertoire from Türkü. Whereas older forms of Turkish folk music revolved around the sounds of the oud, qanun and kemenche, the Türkü has its natively Anatolian Turkish sound with the importance of the bağlama. In fact, unlike most other forms of Middle-Eastern music, it is often the bağlama that provides the basic pulse and rhythm of the song, and not the percussions. This is in part due to the nature of the plectrum style playing of the bağlama in Türkü--the player is often meant to strike the strings hard enough that the plectrum hits the wooden surface of the instrument, and this generates a percussive pulse. With this arrangement, I incorporated a string section reminiscent of late Classical Ottoman music, which layers itself over the sound of the bağlama.
Türkü songs often feature lyrics revolving around love, sadness and melancholy, as is the case with this song. As for the video, I wanted to capture the energy of the night life of Istanbul--a beautiful, lively and vibrant city; I fell in love with the chaos of its streets filled with sound and energy.
Video filmed in October 2021 during my trip to Turkey.
Lyrics:
Bugün dost yaralanmış
Yine gönlüm hoş değil
Her yanı parelenmiş
Yine gönlüm hoş değil
Dost hasreti zor imiş
Her dem ahu zar imiş
Dert adamı yer imiş
Yine gönlüm hoş değil
Akarsu'yum yansam da
Kül olup savrulsam da
Bazı bazı gülsem de
Yine gönlüm hoş değil
English translation:
My friend, I am hurt today,
I'm not happy again,
Pierced on all sides,
I'm not happy again,
Longing for friends is hard,
In every groaning,
Sorrow can overwhelm the man,
I'm not happy again,
I'm a river* even if I burn
Even if I'm blown away
Even if I laugh some
I'm not happy again
*The "river" here is likely a play on words, as river is Akarsu in Turkish, and it is also the original singer's last name.
14 окт 2024
