November 19, 2012

ZEYBEK OF MUGLA / KULAKTAN KULAGA EPISODE 4

EPISODE 4 / Mugla - Düğerek / 17 Nov 2012

In this episode, Ferman visits Mugla in Western Anatolia, the land of the "Zeybeks", maybe the coolest folk dance in the world! He is going to dance the zeybek of course, but first of all he will take us to Düğerek Village where the music is the most important part of the life.

As in every episode, first he visits the coffee house of the village. It's the best way to get to know the general area and the people.

The Turks are proud of their hospitality that the foreigners admire so much. Ferman fully realizes that when he experiences it first hand. Once you're in Anatolia, it's impossible for you to be starved, or to end up homeless! The local people inevitably invite you to their homes and feed you with delicious food! This nice tradition is alive in Mugla, too. The village people invite Ferman to a house so he can taste the delicious food and get a glimpse of the folk songs of the village.



Dried chili peppers, grape vines, pickles, etc in the backyard... For Ferman, this is the picture of happiness. He is in the middle of tranquility. Let's spice it up with some music! The first song comes from Mr.Huseyin.
The grandma cooks for Ferman

The grandma of the house sings a folk song when she cooks the food. This is also a very old tradition. The people still sing songs when they go to the stream, work in the open field, or cook in the kitchen, etc... Singing is not a pastime here. It's the life itself! The music is around all the time and it's as real as the food, the water and the fields.

From the beginning of the first episode, Ferman learned a lot of things in terms of music and alongside this, he realized one more thing: It's why there are so many travelling cooking programs on TV! In addition to the hospitality, the food that were put in front of him is so delicious that he feels like producing a cooking program called "From Dish To Mouth" after "From Ear To Ear" was ended.
The grandma seems a little shy when she is asked about her elopement to his husband. Everybody, including Ferman laughs at her shyness! :)

Let's introduce Düğerek Village, also known as "Satan's Village" ("Satanville") to you. This is a very rare name for a village in Anatolia. According to the hearsay, in the 1700's, a group of construction workers from the village tore what they have built in the daytime down in the night, because they didn't want that building in the village. Then the owner of the construction site said, "Oh God! You've already created the Satan! Why did you have to create the Düğerek People?". This is the story behind the name "Satan's Village".

Ferman is having more and more fun with what he does in this program. Düğerek is such a village that a regular guy playing a card game in the coffee house could start singing one of his own songs that he wrote in any minute.

The next place after the coffee houses in the villages that a friendly chat is important is the barber shop! It's a vital spot where small talk from the economics to politics, from the harvest to the most beautiful wedding in the village, etc...is exchanged very heartily.

In the meantime during the small talk, Ferman gets a haircut in the village's barber shop.
 
After that he listens to another folk song of Mugla from Ms.Serin Yılmaz.

Ferman likes playing on the streets and plays soccer with the village kids at the playground. Soccer is important in Düğerek. They have a soccer team that combats in the amateur soccer league. This soccer team has something to do with this music documentary. It's the first and the only amateur soccer club that have a team song written in 2008.
 
Ferman playing soccer with kids of Düğerek
 
Ferman with Salih Volkan

If you have a soccer team in the land of the zeybeks, you have to have a team song of a zeybek sound! Ferman meets the composer of this team song: Salih Volkan. He asks, "Have you ever thought about making a song for Istanbul's soccer teams?". The answer is "If I get an offer, why not?" :)
Salih Abi sings a song that he wrote about Satanville. :)
At night, Ferman becomes a guest to a local radio station via telephone line and gives a mini interview as the representative of maNga.

After Düğerek, his next stop is Downtown Mugla. He wants to see the Zeybek dance and get some information about the Zeybeks and he visits the best place for this: Mugla Cultural House. This is a building that remained from 1800's.
Mugla Cultural House

Maybe it's much older than that and is a unique cultural heritage that reflects a mixture of Greek and Turkish architectural aspects. It belonged to a leading family of Mugla, but recently it was nationalized, restored and became a cultural house. He will see the Zeybeks in this building that has a legacy of both cultures.
Ferman Efe :)

Ferman himself shows us the main movements of zeybek dance. The Zeybek first wanders the ground. Then he lifts his arms up. With these movements, he simulates the eagles and hawks that they live together in the mountains for centuries. Now we will get some information about zeybek culture, what they played with their saz which they carry all the time, their music, etc. 
There are so many cultural contributions in Mugla's folk music, including coastal Anatolian and Aegean island cultures. The songs influenced by Aegean island cultures have a fast rhythm, but Mugla's songs have a slow rhythm.The slow zeybek have rhythmic patterns of 9/2 and 9/4. The fast zeybek have rhythmic patterns of 9/8 and 9/16.

Zeybek music is divided into 2 categories: with or without lyrics. They are the main dances in the local weddings. Zeybek is the last dance of the wedding and represents the closing of the party.

Zeybek interpretations from the islands are a little different. It's accepted that they come from the Dionysos festivals and they are Greek dances. We accept that they are our own dances.

Zeybeks are brave Anatolian guerrilla fighters. They acted as protectors of village people against landlords and bandits. Their dance reflects their bravery, possesive instinct. In a nutshell, it's an interpreted blend of many cultures.

A leader of a Zeybek was called EFE. Yoruk Ali (1895-1951) was a famous Efe. He was an important leader from Aydin during the Independence War and one of the last zeybeks in Turkish history. Zeybeks were irregular militia. They refused to put on military uniforms and went to battles in their own zeybek costumes. They were free spirits.
####

Back in Istanbul. In this episode, Ferman hosts another old friend of him: Rocker Hayko Cepkin. The shooting of the briefing was not a piece of cake for Ferman this time. He had a very hard time during the shooting of the briefing with him. They are old friends and they always have fun whenever they're together. So they couldn't stop laughing at friendly and easy-going jokes during the shooting in the studio and they had to shoot the same scene over and over again. The shootings go on like this:
From the behind-the-scenes:

F: I swear we're the last 2 guys you can have a serious interview. I don't know how we do this. Anyway...
H: I'll be serious as much as I can. Will we be serious?
F: Yes, let's be serious, bro...
(Hayko makes a "serious" face and Ferman cracks up)
-------
H: Won't you speak to the camera first, man?
F: No.
H: Oh, you'll just start with me...
F: I can't speak when you're with me!
-------
F ("serious") : Even though you're exhausted after your rehearsal in your studio, you kindly took the trouble to come all the way here...
H ("serious"): No problem.
F: Thank you so much.
H: Don't mention it. I would eat a raw chicken for you.
F: I'm honored.
-------
Again...F: Even though you're exhausted after your rehearsal in your studio, you kindly took the trouble to come all the way here...
H: No problem. I'd go anywhere for you, my dear Ferman.
F: I'm thankful, brother.
H: I'm thankful to you, too!
(Ferman cracks up and falls over)
-------
Then Ferman tries to start again, but he can't.
F: Now...in each episode...(giggles)...I swear this is gonna be very hard.
The cameraman: Try to start with a "welcome" first.
H: Yes.
F ("serious"): Welcome.
H: Glad to be here, my dear Ferman.
-------
F: Welcome, brother.
H: No problem.
F: Now...we're going to a different town in each episode. And from that town...er...in that town...(laughter)...
H: What? Plucking fruits, right?
(Ferman falls from the sofa laughing)
--------
F: And...we got the song that we planned for you from Mugla.
H: Hmmm... What price did you get it for?
(and comes an explosion of laughter from Ferman)
-------

After several attempts to shoot the short briefing, finally they managed to get it done. In this briefing, Ferman explains him the concept of the program. How they discover the unheard songs in the villages, how they record them, how they rearrange the songs... In Mugla they went to a Classical Turkish Music society and recorded some of the songs about zeybeks with Ms.Serin Yilmaz. Hayko has an experience of Classical Turkish Music recording for a special project, so that's why Ferman thought of him for this episode's song. That's Hayko's only experience, but he had so many chances to sing classical in the drinking bouts with friends. He can't help joking again, "where is the table? I can't sing without a table!" :) Then when Ferman pulls up the table towards Hayko, saying "here it is, brother!", Hayko jokes again, "I haven't seen a production like this! I hope God turns you into a drum!". Somebody stop these guys! :) They are so funny!

Ferman has already sent to him some raw materials of the song. But he doesn't know how it will change with the Hayko's voice. Hayko says that it is the surprising part of all. The end product is a surprise for Ferman, too. He says that certain names appear in his mind listening to the songs in the villages.
Hayko asks smiling, "So you recorded the song with my name in your mind? Is that what you're trying to say?"
Ferman: Exactly. I want to admit that, brother. :)
Hayko: I'm very glad then!

Then they listen to the song and check the lyrics. Hayko works on some voice controlling exercises in the recording room. These scenes are especially interesting. We witness how Hayko rehearse on the song. And they work until 4 am in the morning on the song's recording.

This week's song is about a zeybek named Kamil Bey and his bravery. Hayko performs it very heroically and we realize that he has a very nice voice, suitable also for military marches.

GÖRÜNDÜ MÜ DÜMBEREĞİN YOLLARI

Göründü mü aman Dumbereğin yolları
Al gan olmuş aman Kamil Bey'in golları
Aman dostlar aman avdan geldim yorgunum
Şu dağlarda aman bir kekliğe vurgunum
Tabutumu aman sarı çamdan yaptırın
Yaptırın da cümle aleme baktırın
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Is the road to Dumberek visible yet?
Kamil Bey's arms are covered with red blood
Oh, friends, I returned from hunting and I'm exhausted
I'm in love with a partridge on the mountains
Get my coffin made of yellow pine
And make sure everybody see it


Well, so what is the next week's surprise with Dear Can Bonomo? :)


You can watch the full episode 4 on below You Tube link:



FOR FULL VIDEOS OF KULAKTAN KULAGA, please click below TRT Muzik's KK Video Page:

http://trtmuzik.net.tr/Gallery/Video/47/kulaktan-kulaga




1 comment:

  1. Çok teşekkurler Inci :) It's great!, as always :) Thanks for your work :)
    Esther.

    ReplyDelete