Veysel and His Saz (Instrument) in Âşık Veysel's Poetry ÂŞIK VEYSEL’İN ŞİİRİNDE VEYSEL VE SAZI*
Milli Folklor, cilt.19, sa.146, ss.54-65, 2025 (AHCI, Scopus, TRDizin)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 19 Sayı: 146
- Basım Tarihi: 2025
- Doi Numarası: 10.58242/millifolklor.1616310
- Dergi Adı: Milli Folklor
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.54-65
- Anahtar Kelimeler: healing, poetry, traumatic memories, Veysel’s saz, Âşık Veysel
- Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
As one of the most significant representatives of the 20th-century Anatolian minstrelsy tradition, Âşık Veysel enriched Turkish culture not only through his mastery of the saz, a traditional stringed instrument, and his poetic expressions but also by healing his soul through his art. While healing himself with his instrument and words, Âşık Veysel also left immortal works to Turkish culture and folk literature. Diving into the depths of folk literature, he followed in the footsteps of poets such as Yunus Emre, Karacaoğlan and Pir Sultan Abdal, the leading names of minstrel literature. Veysel lost both of his eyes due to smallpox at a young age. While his visual impairment made his life difficult, it also led him on an inner journey and his saz helped him overcome the difficulties on this path. During his childhood, with the support of his family, Âşık Veysel turned to folk poetry and the bağlama. The instrument his father gave him as a gift became the most important tool that shaped Veysel's life. He brought together his feelings, pains, longings and hopes on the strings of his instrument. As a friend who relieved his loneliness, nourished his soul and allowed him to express himself, Âşık Veysel's saz and lyrics were not only a form of art but also a method of healing. In this way, Veysel learned to get rid of his pain and discover the beauties of life. As a minstrel, Âşık Veysel not only healed his own soul, but also offered hope, solace and the opportunity to make sense of life to those who listened to him. This is one of the most powerful aspects of art, and especially of folk literature, that is uniquely human: to reduce suffering by sharing it and to heal by giving it meaning. In this context, Veysel's life is a unique example understanding the healing power of art and music. Although Veysel was a poet who spent most of his life in tragedy, loss and hardship, he transformed all these negativities into a source that nourished his creativity. His saz and poems became a refuge where he made sense of his pain, strengthened his resistance to life and repaired his soul. In this article, Âşık Veysel's poems about himself and his saz will be evaluated to express the deep pains in his inner world, confronting these pains and finally as a kind of “self-healing” method. Based on this, we will try to evaluate on issues such as Veysel's struggle for survival, his motivation to cope with difficulties, how he healed his wounded soul, and how his poems and music guided his inner journey. Keywords.