Âşık Veysel as an agent of the masters' repertory performer in the transmission of national culture

Establishment of nation state in Turkey did not only bring about political and economical reforms. The staff, which was shaping the republic during its early steps, made decisions and started reforms in several areas, which were motivated by representation of western face of the country and the ideals of reaching standards of modern civilizations. They, who were in search of directing and contributing to artistic and cultural life of Turkey, came forward by their practices on education and folklore, especially during one-party period. During creation of the narratives of common tongue, history and origin, compilation of folkloric products, which were considered as authentic basis for those narratives, gained significant importance. As a symbol name of the early republic period ideology, Âşık Veysel's recognition and popularity in 20th century Anatolian âşık tradition owes to studies of this period. The disband of dervish lodges in 1925 also rejected Veysel's cultural identity; in turn his presence around nationalist-democrat circles and their support on him might be associated with ideological preferences in the surface, but in practice, it was a consequence of a dialect, in which economical and artistic reasons possessed more weight. In the light of the studies that were performed for construction of national identity of the new state and unification of social layers by the officers of early republic period, this study will focus on to chronicle the period, when the process of Âşık Veysel's adaptation of popular culture in relation with bureaucrats of nationalist-democrat ideology and understand reasons that created this relationship, focusing on several cases. Founded in 1931 with the initiatives of Ahmet Kutsi Tecer in Sivas, Halk Şairleri Koruma Derneği (Association for the Conservation of Folk Poets) aimed in parallel with the reform movements of the newly established nation-state. In accordance with the nationalist-populist ideology of the one-party period, several studies were started to make use of the folklore products in the process of building the national culture and to compile them, and Halk Şairleri Koruma Derneği was established on a frame directly serving these purposes. The association was primarily aimed at raising interest and sympathy for folk artists, recognizing and introducing them, identifying and publishing their works. It was also aimed at eliminating the class distinction between the levels of society and operating in the field of public education to build a bridge that would provide educational unity between the generals and the people. In doing so, he showed an ideal of integrating people's language, music, tradition with the civilized knowledge of the mysterious side. For this purpose, an event was organized in 1931 on behalf of Halk Şairleri Bayramı (Folk Poets Festival). He was invited to love more of Sivas' other mastery. Among the folk artists participating in festival, Âşık Veysel was also present. Veysel participated in a repertoire of masterpieces with a repertoire, and his attention was drawn here, and Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, the founder and founder of the association, was praised. Âşık Veysel started to say his own poems in the sense of the confidence he had obtained with Halk Şairleri Bayramı. His repertory now includes his masterpieces as well as his own works. Veysel, who had been attracted to the weddings and entertainments previously held in the villages around Şarkışla, was acclaimed with his reeds and voice. In the same year, Veysel went out of his own neighborhood and performed the art by walking around the villages of Adana. In year 1933, which corresponds to the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic, was one of the breaking points in the life of Âşık Veysel. The destân he wrote in commemoration of the foundation anniversary was very popular. Although he could not reach the goal of Veysel who fall on the roads of Ankara to read in the presence of Ataturk, he succeeded in publishing the epic of Hakimiyeti Milliye newspaper known to be close to the power of the period. Ankara travel was very important for the recognition of Veysel. He also contacted the people of Halkevi, and exhibited his art with a repertoire of masterpieces from Ankara Halkevi. The following year, in the villages of İstanbul, İzmir, Denizli, Bursa and Konya, in January 1936, he was able to exhibit his art in Mersin Halkevi. In a letter written by a reporter he met during his travels to Izmir, Veysel had the opportunity to meet with Mesut Cemil Bey, the director of Istanbul Radio. This event which took place in 1936 that made it possible to broadcast his voice from radio microphones. In the same year, under the leadership of Yusuf Ziya Demirci, Istanbul Conservatory started to make compilations from folk artists, invited to Istanbul and concluded an agreement with the Columbia company to engage in the recording of the voice of some âşıks. Âşık Veysel, who is also involved in these works, first uttered six melodies composed of anonymous and masterful works for the Istanbul Conservatory archives. The following year, the recordings were also presented to the market by the same company, followed by new ones and made it possible for Veysel to announce his voice to a wide audience. In the following years it is seen that Âşık Veysel is a guest in the radios of Ankara and Istanbul, with increasing number of plaques. In addition, it is seen that he gave concerts in Halkevi's in many towns and served as a master instructor in the Köy Enstitüleri. It is seen that he is one of the top names of the 20th century âşık music as a folk artist who traveled through many provinces of Anatolia with their anonymous and masterful works and their own poems. In this process, besides Âşık Veysel, the presence of a number of names standing at the beginning, promoting him, supporting him and helping to meet with the masses of people, and at the same time acting as an institutional or individual means to economically keep Veysel standing. The first of these names is Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, whom Veysel contacted in 1931 for Halk Şairleri Bayramı. The opportunities that Tecer provides to Veysel are not just artistic and economic stimuli. The period when Tecer was active in the parliament and Halkevleri coincided with the years that Veysel met, organized and directed the activities of the one-party period in the field of culture and art. In short, the years in which he was in contact with nationalist-populist ideologues include the period in which Âşık Veysel appeared throughout the country as a celebrated âşık. The years of Âşık Veysel's fame were at the time when comprehensive and formal studies were carried out to determine the folk culture products. As mentioned before, the Istanbul Conservatory is working to identify the works of folk artists; it was the first time in Turkey that the records were filled in with the help of the Columbia company and the doors of the archives were opened to be recorded in a professional environment. In the same year, the Ankara State Conservatory started to work to determine the folk songs. These works, first starting in Sivas in 1937 and sending teams to various provinces of Anatolia, continued for about 16 years. In all these studies took place different âşıks from around Sivas besides Âşık Veysel. In addition, hundreds of âşıks in different provinces of Anatolia were sent to get recordings. Despite the fact that over 60 years have elapsed over a long period of official compilation work, the public artist, who reached the reputation by Âşık Veysel in the art of âşık in Anatolia, was seen as a virtue. Moreover, in the tradition there were also other folk artists who could be given precedent to Veysel in terms of literary creation and executive capacity, and most of them could not operate outside their own neighborhoods. Veysel's reputation was largely attributed to his close relationship with the ruling circles in a one-party period. In particular, it should be emphasized that, as a consequence of the reform movements in the one-party period, the determination of folk culture products led to an increase in the importance given to folk artists. In particular, the representatives of the art of love have received great interest. The precedents of interest and support shown to Âşık Veysel are found in written and auditory archive records, which proves that the support given to the folk artists is not limited to Âşık Veysel. However, the impression that Âşık Veysel left in the cultural and artistic circles of the country was largely due to its tradition representation and literary ability. Ahmet Kutsi Tecer and some of the names working in folk poets and the literary circles of the period, one of the important figures of the 20th century âşık music, Âşık Veysel is the follower of Karacaoğlan, Dadaloğlu, Köroğlu, Yunus Emre. Especially the style, the lean language, the intense feeling in his poems and the subjects he was working with were worthy of praise by many names of the period. In short, Veysel was seen as a bridge bearing the style of the masters of the past in the poetry of the traditional âşıks of the 20th century. Despite having a Bektashi belief, he became a figure that he could often stand with the secular discourse of his art behind the Early Republican staffs and even frequently to promote folk art. The position of Âşık Veysel in tradition should be evaluated not only in terms of language and style, but also in terms of the representation of tradition in the music of âşıks. Because Veysel shown as the follower of the radical representatives of the tradition must follow certain criteria not only from the literary point of view but also from the musical point of view. In fact, it requires that your individual competence be appreciated at the point where the art of love is transmitted to the audience. The aspect of the art of inhabitation, in other words the dimension of the work, takes place with the emergence of the relation of the word and music to a certain extent within certain rules, and tradition makes certain criteria that are built in itself in terms of representation. However, there are exceptions to these rules in certain geographical areas and the sociological structures of those areas. There is an element in the education-transmission systems of the North Eastern Anatolian âşıks, such as saying an extemporisation or muamma (musical type of enigma in âşık tradition); but these are not seen among the âşıks with the Alevi-Bektashi belief. In addition, while the Alevi-Bektashi âşıks seem to belong to some repertoire elements within the ritual of belief, the existence of such a repertoire in others is not a known fact. When the tradition representation of Âşık Veysel is judged from his voice recordings coming from the day-to-day, three types of works with different identities are found. These include Emlek's surroundings and anonymous folk music products based on anonymous folk literature, which are sometimes seen in nearby areas such as Kayseri, Niğde, Nevşehir and Kırşehir. The second type of work comes from the artifacts which are named "usta malı" (masters' repertory) in the tradition by being built by the anonymous or masters' repertory who are based on the bases of the folk literature. Finally, the master âşıks of the loft or the works of his production poetry are found in the works of his own poetry, which are largely due to the integration of the creativity of Âşık Veysel by means of education-transmission. In short, the repertoire elements of Veysel, through which the way of production of new works can be defined through the cultural memory in the region, are composed of these melodies. All these types of melodies, while being followed in the voice recordings of Âşık Veysel, reveal to a great extent the data about the traditional âşık type identity that the early republic preiod members admit to it. The production mechanism that contains the cultural codes of the Âşık art is tried to be defined in this work through the artifacts of Âşık Veysel.