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【★】 zleeha 【★】 · 12-15-2010, 02:23 AM

Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu

Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu (October 25, 1894 – March 21, 1973)

Aşık Veysel is an icon of the Turkish folk music, particularly the "Aşık" tradition and is one of the most respected figures of the 20th century Turkish folk music tradition. Many of his lyrics are poems written by himself and are known by heart (at least partly) by the older generation. His themes, especially the later famous ones, concentrate on death, life, and, finding a meaning in the monotony of everyday life. He was a great saz player as well.

Biography

Aşık Veysel was born in 1894. He caught smallpox at the age of seven, often a deadly disease. He survived the illness, but lost eyesight of the left eye. After an accident, he lost sight of the right eye as well, which left him virtually blind. This is when, with his father's encouragement, he took possession of a saz and started playing it. He was instructed by a friend of his father, who taught him works of the great "aşık"s such as Pir Sultan Abdal, Karacaoğlan, Dertli, and Rühsati.
The events around and following the first world war, and his blindness, have had a deep impact on Aşık Veysel's art, and generally may be summed up under the rubrics of loss and death. He was left virtually alone in the village with women (all men went to the war). After the war, he got married to Esma, and they had a son and a daughter from this marriage. His mother died in 1921 and soon after his son died. His wife left him and their 6 month old daughter and ran away with a houseworker in his brother's house. He lost his father 18 months after his mother died. His daughter did not live long either. All these losses packed into a short period of time are felt intensely in some of his best work such as "Benim Sadik Yarim Kara Topraktir", "Uzun Ince Bir Yoldayim", and "Dostlar Beni Hatirlasin".

Until 1933 Veysel played and sang the poems of past masters. However, with the encouragement of Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, he started writing poems himself, first on the Republic and Mustafa Kemal. He also started to write poems on universal themes, and touring the country, where his fame ultimately resides. Veysel rejected an opportunity of eyesight when advances in medical science made an operation possible late in his life. He died in 1973; He was 78 years old.