Ashik

History

The ashik tradition in Turkic cultures of Anatolia, Azerbaijan and Iran has its origin in the Shamanistic beliefs of ancient Turkic peoples. The ancient ashiks were called by various names such as bakshy/bakhshi/Baxşı, dede (dədə), and uzan or ozan. Among their various roles, they played a major part in perpetuation of oral tradition, promotion of communal value system and traditional culture of their people. These wandering bards or troubadours are part of current rural and folk culture of Azerbaijan, and Iranian Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Turkmen Sahra (Iran) and Turkmenistan, where they are called bakshy. Thus, ashik, in traditional sense, may be defined as travelling bards who sang and played saz, an eight or ten string plucking instrument in the form of a long necked lute.

Judging based on the Turkic epic Dede Korkut, the roots of ashiks can be traced back to at least the 7th century, during the heroic age of the Oghuz Turks. This nomadic tribe journeyed westwards through Central Asia from the 9th century onward and settled in present Turkey, Azerbaijan Republic and North-west areas of Iran. Naturally, their music was evolved in the course of the grand migration and ensuing feuds with the original inhabitants the acquired lands. An important component of this cultural evolution was that the Turks embraced Islam within a short time and of their own free will. Muslim Turk dervishes, desiring to spread the religion among their brothers who had not yet entered the Islamic fold, moved among the nomadic Turks. They choose the folk language and its associate musical form as an appropriate medium for effective transmission of their message. Thus, ashik literature developed alongside mystical literature and was refined starting since the time of Turkic Sufi Khoja Akhmet Yassawi in early twelfth century.

The single most important event in the history of ashugh music was the ascent to the throne of Shah Isma'il (1487–1524), the founder of the Safavid dynasty. He was a prominent ruler-poet and has, apart from his diwan compiled a mathnawi called Deh-name, consisting of some eulogies of Ali, the fourth Caliph of early Islam. He used the pen-name Khata'i and, in ashik tradition, is considered as an amateur ashugh. Isma'il's praised playing Saz as a virtue in one of his renowned qauatrains;

According to Köprülü’s studies, the term ashik was used instead of ozan in Azerbaijan and in areas of Anatolia after the 15th century. After the demise of Safavid dynasty in Iran, Turkish culture could not sustain its early development among the elites. Instead, there was a surge in the development of verse-folk stories, mainly intended for performance by ashiks in weddings. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union the governments of new republics in Caucasus region and Central Asia sought their identity in traditional cultures of their societies. This elevated the status of ashugs as the guardians of national culture. The new found unprecedented popularity and frequent concerts and performances in urban settings have resulted in rapid innovative developments aiming to enhance the urban-appealing aspects of ashik performances.

Ashik music in Armenia

A concise account of the ashugh music and its development in Armenia is given in Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. In Armenia, ashughs are known since the 16th century onward. By far the most notable of the ashughs was Sayat Nova (1712–95), who honed the art of troubadour musicianship to crowning refinement.

Revival of ashik music in Iranian Azerbaijan

Pahlavi era was the darkest period for Azerbaijani literature. The education and publication in Azerbaijani language was banned and writers of Azerbaijan, had to publish their works in the Persian language. However, ashik music was tolerated. Ashiks frequently performed in coffee houses in all the major cities of east and west Azerbaijan in Iran. Tabriz was the eastern center for the ashiks and Urmia the western center. In Tabriz ashiks most often performed with two other musicians, a Balaban player and a Qaval player; in Urmia the ashugh was always a solo performer. After the Islamic revolution music was banned. Ten years later, ashugh Rəsol Qorbani, who had been forced to make a living as a travelling salesman, aspired to return to the glorious days of fame and leisure. He started composing songs with religious and revolutionary themes. The government, realizing the propaganda potential of these songs, allowed their broadcast in national radio and sent Rəsol to perform in some European cities. This facilitated the emergence of the ashug music as the symbol of Azeri cultural identity.

In September 2009, Azerbaijan’s ashik art was included into UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The foundations of ashik art

Ashik art combines poetic, musical and performance ability. Ashiks themselves describe the art as the unified duo of saz and söz (word).This duo is conspicuously featured in a popular composition by Səməd Vurğun:

The following subsections provide more details about saz and söz.

Musical instruments

Mastering in playing saz is the essential requirement for an ashik. This instrument, a variant of which is known as Bağlama, is a stringed musical instrument and belongs to the family of long-necked lutes. Often performances of ashiks are accompanied by an ensemble of balaban and Qaval performers. During Eurovision Song Contest 2012 all three instruments were symbolically played as a cultural symbol of the host country, Azerbaijan.

Poetry genres

The most spread poetry genres are gerayly, qoshma and tajnis.

Gerayly (Gəraylı)

The sample of Ashuq poem consisting of 3-5 couplets, four hemistiches per couplet and eight syllables per hemistich. Rhyme structure of garayli is as follows: First couplet: abcb. Next couplets: cccb, dddb. Example:

Qoshma (Qoşma)

The genre of ashuq poetry consisting of four hemistiches per couplet and eleven syllables per one hemistich is called qoshma. Rhyme system is like abcb, çççb, dddb... Name of the author is given at last couplet (it is same on other ashuq poems), it is called mohurband. Depending on content, there are four main types of qoshma: Gözəlləmə (beatification), Ustadnamə (Masterpiece in literature), Vucudnamə (from birth till death of man), and Qıfılbənd (with content of question and answers or riddles). Example:

Tajnis (Təcnis)

Tajnis, which often has similarity with qoshma, is based on rhymed jinas words (i.e. suffix is same but meaning is different). Example:

Ethical code of behaviour and attitude for ashiks

The defining characteristic of ashik profession is the ethical code of behaviour and attitude, which as been summarized by Aşiq Ələsgər in the following verses;

Ashik stories (dastan)

İlhan Başgöz was the first to introduce the word hikaye into the academic literature to describe ashik stories. According to Başgöz, hikaye cannot properly be included in any of the folk narrative classification systems presently used by Western scholars. Though prose narrative is dominant in a hikaye, it also includes several folk songs. These songs, which represent the major part of Turkish folk music repertory, may number more than one hundred in a single hekaye, each having three, five or more stanzas.

As the art of ashik is based on oral tradition, the number of ashik stories can be as many as the ashiks themselves. Throughout the centuries of this tradition, many interesting stories and epics have thrived, and some have survived to our times. The main themes of the most ashik stories are worldly love or epics of wars and battles or both. Interestingly, in stark contrast to the conservative medium of Islamic societies where most stories take place, the heroine's rule is always as important as the hero's. In contrast to the doctrine of Islam, there is no objection to the heroine publicly singing.

In the following we present a brief list of the most famous hikayes:

Verbal dueling (deyişmə)

In order to stay in the profession and defend their reputation ashiks used to challenge each other by indulging in verbal duelings, which were held in public places. In its simplest form one ashik would recite a riddle by singing and the other had to respond by means of improvisation to the verses resembling riddles in form. Here is an example:

21st century

20th century

19th century

18th century

17th century

16th century

Khatai, he produced a large volume of lyric poetry in Azerbaijani language.Khatai's poetry is graceful and polished and his language closely approaches to folk idiom:

15th century

kaplu kaplu bağalar kanatlanmiş uçmağa.. ---- The turturturtles have taken wings to fly...

13th century