Local artist Abdullah Uluçeli̇k from Afyonkarahi̇sar province and his contributions to the folk culture

Local artists are the significant representatives of our folk culture who become a resource for the products belonging to the cultural memory of the region settled and hand down the tradition to the future generations by performing these products. In this regard, this study includes the contributions of hafız (the person who knows Quran very well and reads by heart), mevlithan (the person who reads Quran for praying after a funeral) and local artist Abdullah Uluçelik from Afyonkarahisar province to the folk culture, his life and detection and analysis of local ballads that were sang or composed by him. The research problem has been expressed with the question "How the local artist Abdullah Uluçelik did from Afyonkarahisar represent the Afyonkarahisar region within the scope of traditional authenticity when taking into account his artist identity and what kind of contributions did he make to our folk culture?" The purpose of this research based on the concepts of Oral Culture, Folklore, Field Study, Turkish Folk Music and Traditional Authenticity is to exhibit the biography of the local artist Abdullah Uluçelik being among the first individuals who chanted many of the ballads of Afyonkarahisar region in TRT institution and composed 9 (nine) of regional ballads, his musical equipment and his contributions to the regional culture, i.e. folk culture. This thesis study is thought to be important in that it is the first systematic research that manifests the local artist Abdullah Uluçelik with all of his characteristics and creates an inventory related to the region. Key Words: Afyonkarahisar, Local Artists, Abdullah Uluçelik, Folk Culture