Melodic component in medieval Turkish ashik poetry

Abstract

The article is devoted to the role of melodic component in the medieval Turkish ashik poetry — oral individual-author creation of ashik-songers. The author analyzes main criteria and rules which an ashik takes into consideration while choosing a certain melody for his songs. From the very outset of studies concerning ashik creation, which started in Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century, Turkish philologists pinpoint the importance of ashik melodies, but so far no fundamental analysis on the role of melodic component in the medieval ashik literature has not been made. The author analyzes pluses and minuses of existing views of the Turkish investigators concerning the role of melodic component in ashik’s creation. The author makes some new conclusions taking into consideration the most modern works by Turkish philologists and ashiks themselves. The article argues that a certain melody chosen by the ashik from the already existing classical melodies has to correspond to the thematic plan of the song and perfectly fit a number of syllables in a line of the song. The author indicates that melodic component in ashik’s creation must be analyzed not only as an instrument emphasizing the emotional recourses of the song but also as a genre determining a category and as a certain frame due to which ashik’s creative impulses were held in traditional for ashik’s songs versification forms.

Keywords:

ashik, ashik poetry, melody, saz