Elazığ

Music and folklore

In Harput music you feel the fervour of heartfelt worship. When a makam (melodic mode) begins, the gazels that are sung have a hymn-like flavour. The folk songs that follow are melodies that stir and heighten this spiritual feeling. The spiritual fervour created by the compositions truly pushes a person away from the human, material world; singer and listener alike feel as if they are flying. At this moment, with no need for any request or signal, out of instinctive enthusiasm, the saz finds its own pace and the music passes, like a call to prayer rising to the sky, into the high-pitched tunes known locally as "Kayabaşı and Hoyrat". These are melodies sung in a steep, high register that echo from mountain to mountain. The listener in particular feels as if about to take wing from earth to sky. With the soaring effect of these voices, the saz gathering now falls into ecstasy. The fervour and exuberance this ecstasy creates in the soul lets feelings and emotions pour out. Accompanied by the saz, singers and listeners together, in chorus, move on to şıkıltım, lively dance songs. Because these songs have an effect not only on the soul but on the body too, men's or women's dances suited to the same makam are danced at this point or straight after the şıkıltım.

Elazığ's folk dances should be considered within the "Halay Region", one of the dance regions. Within the Halay Region, Elazığ's folk dances are slower and more aesthetic in their movement than those of other provinces and areas. There are a few very lively dances too. This feature is obvious at once when we examine the dance tempos. The dances stand apart from other dances of the Halay Region in their music and figures. We believe this is because Elazığ folk music leans more towards Turkish art (classical) music and is performed on classical instruments.

This distinctiveness shows in the rich sections of the dance music and in the rich figures of the dances. It is also noteworthy, and not found in every region, that each dance form (figure, pattern) has a corresponding musical form.

Elazığ's folk dances generally have a "gently firm" character. Men's dances are a little firmer but aesthetic, while women's and girls' dances are softer and gentler. The harshness seen in the halay of neighbouring Diyarbakır is not present in Elazığ's halay: in place of that harshness and the small number of figures, the Elazığ halay has gentle firmness and a wealth of figures.

There are nearly sixty Elazığ dances, but only about twenty to twenty-five are still alive today. We describe a few of them below, with how they are danced and their features.

Çayda Çıra dance:

This dance was collected in the Harput sub-district of Elazığ. It is known around the world as the "Candle Dance". There are various legends about "Çayda Çıra". However, they resemble various folk tales passed from mouth to mouth and are told as variants or altered forms of legends told in our other cities.

In origin, the dance arose for the purpose of lighting. In our research we recorded various legends told among the people. Here is one example. According to the legend, two young people in love in a village on the shore of Lake Hazar used to meet in secret. To reach the meeting place, the young man had to swim across the lake. As they met at night, the girl would light a pine torch (çıra, dındik) to show him where she was, and he would swim towards the light, and so the lovers would meet.

The girl's father, sensing this, put out the torch one night of a meeting just as the young man had swum to the middle of the lake, causing the young lover to drown. Realising this, the girl threw herself into the water and was lost too. At this, all the villagers gathered and began searching for the two lovers with "çıra" torches in their hands. According to the legend, laments were composed and songs sung about this event, and the search with torches turned into a dance that has come down to the present day. (A similar legend is the “AHTAMARA” legend of the Van area.)

At a magnificent wedding in Altınova, torches were lit and Somats (feast tables) laid in the wedding square set up, as was the custom, beside the stream, and the wedding was going on in full swing. Then there was a lunar eclipse, and Pembe HAN, the groom's mother, had torches and candles set on plates, handed them to the young people and, leading them herself, walked grandly into the wedding square. Inspired by the brilliance of this idea, the "head zurna player" greeted the crowd, who had turned night into day in an instant with the plates in their hands, by playing music to match their steps. With the forty drums and forty zurnas accompanying him, the place began to resound, and so the melody of the "Çayda Çıra" dance was born. The event became a tradition, and Çayda Çıra has been danced ever since.

In the past, when there was no seclusion of women (kaç-göç), the dance was danced by girls and boys together; today it is danced both mixed and separately. The dance is said to be 200–300 years old. It is known and danced all over Elazığ and has recently spread beyond it, being danced in various forms in Malatya and Diyarbakır too.

In all the dances the person at the head is called the kolbaşı and the person at the end the sonbaşı or poçik. Only in the halay are the names "Halaybaşı" and "Halaysonu" used. The props are a pair of plates, each holding three candles. During the dance the cry “Heey, Teey, Tey” is shouted. In the Elazığ area young men are called "Gakkoş". The dance is performed at weddings and at religious and national holidays.

Çayda Çıra folk song:

(Roughly: “A torch burns by the stream, flickering on and off; walk slowly, tread softly, the watchers are waking… My love is a partridge and I the falcon; I follow wherever she goes.”)

Avreş dance:

This dance, also known as "Berber Yaşar", has not been found danced anywhere outside Elazığ. It comes from Harput. It arose from imitations of military movements in Elazığ and Harput, which once saw many troop dispatches, and it is danced all over Elazığ. It is said to be fifty or sixty years old. Today its music is played on drum and clarinet, but in the past it was played and danced to the zurna. (The zurna is still played today in many of our mountain villages and many of our Alevi villages.) Before the clarinet came to Harput, the zurna was the lead instrument at weddings; but the clarinet, which began to be used in Harput as soon as it entered Türkiye, strongly affected the zurna and reduced its role.

The Avreş dance has no song. No other dance is danced to its melody, and it is not danced to any other melody. Its music is first in 6/8 time at a slow tempo, then in 4/4 time at a fast tempo. Its makam is İbrahimiyye. It is danced in a single line, sometimes with turns to the right and left. The dance has no story; its figures are concentrated mostly in the feet and partly in the head. Its figures, made up of natural body movements, imitate military movements. During the dance people cry "ha-ha, hey-hey". It is danced mostly at send-offs for soldiers and at weddings.

Halay dance:

Also called the Harput Halay, its variants are the “Palu” variant, the dance called “Karaçor" in İngüzek, the “Düz Halay” in Ağın, the Halay in Baskil and the "Düz Haley” in Sivrice. It comes from Harput and has been danced with pleasure by young and old for 200–300 years. Its music is played first in 2/4 time and, in the figure called "zazaki", in 6/8; its makam is İbrahimiyye. It is danced in a single line with palms clasped together. Its figures are concentrated in the feet. It is danced mostly at send-offs for soldiers and at weddings.

Knife dance (Bıçak oyunu):

This dance was collected in the Hankendi (Hanköy) sub-district of the central district. Its true origin is not known. Knife dances are found in different forms in almost every region of Türkiye: in Erzurum there is the “Hançer Bari”, and in the Black Sea region various horons are danced with knives. Danced to drum and clarinet, this dance has no song. It is not danced to any other melody, and no other dance is danced to its melody.

The dance is in 9/8 time and in the "İbrahimiyye" makam. It is danced by three people: two men and a woman, or a man dressed as a woman. It also has the features of a bar dance. The dance is made up of hand and foot movements and is not imitative. The music keeps the same metre throughout, with no change of rhythm. In conservative places girls and women cannot enter the wedding square and watch the dance from rooftops or from a distance, so the course of the dance changes.

The props are two knives in each dancer's hands, with which the dancers make figures. The knives pass between them and are swung towards the chest. The dance is performed at weddings and has no song.

Sword and shield dance (Kılıç Kalkan):

It is said to have been danced by older dancers, but no one has seen it. Because the music has been written down, it is easy to learn about it. When we spoke to one of our sources, Tahsin AYIK, he said this about the dance: "I saw people dance it. They were older than us. As they had no swords and shields, they used the sticks in their hands as swords and their shoes as shields. Sadly this dance of ours, which no one looked after, has died out."

Delilo dance:

This dance, collected in Harput, goes by names such as "Derilo" and "Delilo". It is danced with similar features almost everywhere in the halay region. It is not possible to reach a conclusion about where it really originated.

The Delilo dance is said to be 150–200 years old. It is a dance with a song, danced to drum and clarinet, and the song is sung by the dancers. It is not danced to any other dance's melody, and no other dance is danced to its melody. With music in 4/4 time, it is a little slower than the "Delilo" dances of the surrounding provinces.

Dress

Proverbs and sayings

Source: https://www.elazig.bel.tr/

Elazığ is the continuation on the plain of the city of Harput, which goes back to around 4000 BC, and for many years it was known as Harput. Until it passed to the Turks, Harput was only a strong fortress; after the victory at Manzikert it developed into a city.

The region came under the Çubukoğulları in 1085 and the Artuqid beylik after 1110. The Mongols ruled it in 1230 and the Anatolian Seljuks after 1234; in 1507 it passed to the Safavids. After the Battle of Chaldiran, in 1514, it came under Ottoman rule.

In 1834 people moved to the present site, known as the hamlet of Ağavat. In 1862, at the suggestion of Governor İsmail Pasha, it was named the Province of Ma'mûretü'l-Azîz in honour of Sultan Abdülaziz, which people shortened to El-Azîz. The name was changed to Elazığ in 1937.

Elazığ can be reached by road, rail and air. Elazığ's most important road link is the state highway coming via Ankara–Kayseri–Malatya and going on to Tunceli and Erzurum; 156 kilometres of it lie within Elazığ province. A branch leaving it to the north-east at Kovancılar, at kilometre 87 of the Elazığ–Palu section, runs via Bingöl and Muş all the way to Van. The city's second important state highway runs via Diyarbakır and Mardin to the Nusaybin and Cizre crossings on the Syrian border and the Habur crossing on the Iraqi border.

Elazığ can also be reached by air. There are daily connecting flights from every province in Türkiye via Ankara and Istanbul, and direct flights from some large cities. Elazığ Airport is 12 km from the city. With its newly built runway it has become the largest in the region, and you can get to the centre by airline shuttle buses and taxis.

Elazığ has few plains, but they are fertile. Wheat, barley, rice, sugar beet, tobacco, vegetables and fruit are grown; cabbage, melons and strawberries are important sources of income. When the Keban Dam was built, some farmland went under water, but industry picked up.

The province's main minerals are copper, chrome, argentiferous lead and bentonite. The marble quarried in the Alacakaya and Arıcak districts is famous, and many marble processing factories have been set up in recent years.

The source notes that production of flour, leather, sugar, cement, milk, marble, furniture and soap stands out, and that the province has one of Türkiye's large hydroelectric power stations.