ASIK VEYSEL         

 

Our famous folk minstrel. He was born in Sivrialan village of Sivas in 1894. He generally lived in this village. He lost his eyes due to smallpox when he was seven, and became a famous minstrel with the saz, he was given to console him, and his pieces of arts, being carried away and told from heart to heart, became famous. Aşık Veysel is the one who formed a model to most of the folk minstrels of today and opening the path of Yunus’ and Emrah’s  again.

          Asik Veysel was asked:

 

– Master, how is good saz?”, and he replied:

– How? Good saz is made of hornbeam in handle, body of mulberry, breast of pine....

Then they asked:

– And the good words of a good saz (musical instrument)?, which made him put a smile on his copper-colored wrinkled face:

– He, who makes the saz, fit into his hands, knows that...

It was year 1933. 10th year of the Republic was to be celebrated. There was a great feast in Ankara. In those days, a minstrel came to the inn in Atpazarı wearing rawhide sandal and carrying a saz, both eyes blind. He replied those asking his name “Veysel”, “Şatıroğlu Veysel”. He talked about his village to the askers:

– I am from Sivrialan village of Şarkışla district of Sivas. My mother gave birth to me while milking sheep. My father is Ahmet Effendi of Karacas. Both my mother and father have passed away...

      And he smiled bitterly to those who asked his eyes:

– Smallpox took them when I was seven, and then they gave this saz to me to console. I talked to him, he talked to me.

Uzun ince bir yoldayım

Gidiyorum gündüz gece

Bilmiyorum ne haldeyim

Gidiyorum gündüz gece

      But nobody asked to Veysel “how did you come”. On train? On truck? On ox-cart? On horse? No. Veysel put his food in a bundle and came along with a brave young man to take part in the great feast of the Republic. Yes, they had gone to Ankara in three months.

      Veysel, who hit the breast of “Tezene” only in village coffeehouses made himself heard for the first time in the country in this big feast. Then he got enthusiastic. Everyone said “Karacaoglan, Emrah, such men are over...”. Everyone thought that the golden era of folk minstrels was over. But Veysel, constituted a bright start where this era ended.

Karnın yardım kazma ilen, bel ilen

Yüzün yırttım tırmığınen, el ilen

Gene beni karşıladı gül ilen

Beni sadık yarim kara topraktır...

       Anatolian young men is bashful. He is respectful. He does not like commotion. Therefore, many folk minstrels are like a spring in desolate mountains, which are lost before reaching the village. They are not known.

       Veysel made all springs of today gain a new thunder and voice. Now, so many folk minstrels depicting beautiful Anatolia find their paths under his light... He was asked during a conversation:

– Would you like to see, if it had been possible?

       He refused, saying:

– No. “I created a world inside of me. I do not want to demolish it...”

 

      Then he added a few more words: “And I see.”, he said: “minstrels, see with their hearts, not eyes...”

       Veysel is a villager who works more than seeing people despite he cannot see. He established gardens of fruit on the yellow soil of Sivrialan which is told to be “arid, denies labor”. The bridge on Kaplan Stream is constructed thanks to his efforts. This bridge is even constructed two times. Veysel, collecting donations for Kaplan Stream bridge visiting all villages got enthusiastic on the day of inauguration of the bridge:

Kolay geçmek için Kızılırmak'tan

Alındı paralar, cemoldu halktan

Gayret köylülerden, izin Allah'tan

Yaptırdı köprüyü, güldürdü bizi...

      Kaplan Stream is a branch of Kızılırmak. It is a giddy water. People who made people cross the river on raft taking money lost their temper because of the bridge. They set fire to and burned down the bridge in a short time. Veysel cried his eyes out:

Fakir fukaradan alındı para

Yandı kömür oldu gitti sulara

Memlekete düşman, bir yüzü kara

Yaktı köprümüzü, yandırdı bizi...

       And pioneering once more, he constructed the bridge again. He did not see it, but felt the pleasure. He did not watch, but felt. Like his poems. He did not read, but made people read.

        Asik Veysel worked as a Folk song Teacher in Arifiye and Hasanoğlan between 1942 and 1944 and then in Çifteler Village Institute. His poems are most published on “Ülkü” magazine. Our famous minstrel is married with 6 children.