Aşık Veysel, the great representative of the Aşık tradition

The minstrel, who was engraved in memory with the lines "I am on a long and narrow road / I am going day and night / I do not know how I am / I am going day and night", was born on 25 October 1894 in Sivrialan village, which is today in the district of Şarkışla in Sivas. His mother was Gülizar and his father was a farmer named Ahmet. Aşık Veysel, whose real name was Veysel Şatıroğlu, spent his childhood and youth in his village. Aşık Veysel, who lost both eyes at the age of 7 after contracting smallpox, which is widespread in the region, started playing saz and singing poems when he was 10 years old with the encouragement of his father. The great bard took lessons from the saz masters Çamşıhlı Ali and Molla Hüseyin at that time. Veysel Şatıroğlu, who made his first marriage with Esma Hanım in 1919 and lost his mother and father a year later, made his second marriage to Gülizar Hanım in 1928 after his wife left him. Veysel's 7 children were born from this marriage, namely Zöhre, Ahmet, Hüseyin, Menekşe, Bahri, Zekine and Hayriye, but one of his children, Hüseyin, died when he was a few months old. Poet and playwright Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, who worked as a teacher and director of national education in Sivas in the 1930s, made a great contribution to his recognition and the name of the poet was first heard on January 5, 1931 at the "Sivas Lovers' Festival" organized by Tecer. The poet, who also worked as a saz teacher at the village institute upon the invitation of Tecer and was brought to Ankara on the 10th anniversary of the Republic, then read his poems accompanied by saz in community centers, coffee houses and on the radio. Aşık Veysel's first poetry book "Sayings" was published in 1944.

LIFE IS WITH POVERTY AND DIFFICULTY

Aşık Veysel, who spent his life with poverty and difficulties, attracted attention with the publication of the epic he wrote for the 10th anniversary of the Republic, and worked as a folk song teacher in Arifiye, Hasanoğlan and Çifteler village institutes for 5 years. Known throughout the country in the 1950s, Aşık Veysel was the subject of the movie "Dark World", written by Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu and directed by Metin Erksan, together with the village of Sivrialan where he lived. Veysel, whose poems varied richly in terms of subject, showed traces of Sufism in his poems under the influence of Yunus Emre, with aspects that are mixed with the ferment of folk culture, and as one of the great masters of Turkish literature and instrumental poetry tradition, he influenced those who came after him.

BECOME ONE OF THE GREAT REPRESENTATIVES OF THE LOVE TRADITION

Aşık Veysel, who built a bridge between the public and the intellectuals with his poems that he wrote in a pure and pure language, was given 500 liras per month by a special law in 1965 "for his services to our mother tongue and our national unity" by the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The famous folk poet, who is among the last great representatives of the tradition of love, with his poems in which joy of life and sadness are intertwined with optimism and despair, gave his last concert in Hacıbektaş district of Nevşehir in 1971. Even a few hours before his death, Ozan said, "Get on well with each other, with your neighbors, don't let your order be broken, neither Kurdish, Turk, neither Circassian / Always Adam's son, daughter / Martyr together, veteran / Wrong is there and where? '' he said. Aşık Veysel passed away on March 21, 1973 in Sivrialan, the village where he was born, at 03.30 in the morning, in the house which is now organized as a museum in his name. Although he lost both eyes when he was a child, the folk poet, who both enlightened his own world and sheds light on the present, with the messages of patriotism, tolerance, joy of life and love he reflected in his poems, left many works engraved in memory. "Friends Remember Me", "Your Beauty Does Not Pay For You", "Kahpe Felek", "Black Earth", "I am on a Long Thin Road", "Lament for Atatürk", "Do Not Despise Me", "Five Days of World", " Aşık Veysel, whose works such as My Sorrow I Pour Deep Dreams, are etched in memories and uses Turkish in the simplest and most powerful way, always advised the Turkish nation of unity and solidarity with the messages he gave in his poems. In Aşık Veysel's poems in which he deals with the subjects of homeland, nature, unity, work, and solidarity, devotion to the homeland and idealism were the most striking points. Aşık Veysel, who uses pseudonyms such as "Veysel", "Sefil Veysel" and "Veysel Şatır" in his poems, quoted all his poems in quatrains, except one poem, and his poetry books named "Sounds from My Sazım" and "Friends Remember Me", after the death of the poet in 1984. His work "All Poems" was republished. While Aşık Veysel's works were reinterpreted by many artists, many foreign artists also caught the attention. Finally, the US electric guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani included an instrumental piece he composed, named "Aşık Veysel", in his 2008 album.