The concept of Practical Turkish Folk Songs Books: The Case of Salih Turhan

Abstract

Folk song research classifies the books published in this field into different categories. These categories include books containing oral compilations, selections made from folk song texts and notes in written documents, scientific text/note interpretations and discussions, academic publications (such as language, literature, motif, or ideology discussions), or folk song books for popular purposes (with texts or notes). Since these publications in different categories are evaluated without considering their classification group, they can sometimes cause the author/publisher to be criticized undeservedly. In the literature, there is generally no information on the 'definition' of written sources of folk songs (e.g., terms such ascönk, defter, repertuar, türkü kitabı, seçki, mecmua, antoloji, etc.). In his 2007 study, Ali Yakıcı emphasizes anthologies as sources of information on folk songs and lists the records of minstrels/singers, tradition bearers, folk song composers, and compilers in the example of Bekir Karadeniz. We can categorize book publications about folk songs into the following categories based on their purpose, nature, and the way they publish the melody: 1)Books containing compilations. Manuscript books and compilations are included here. 2) Selections (with or without notes). It is possible to include books containing folk song stories in this category. Because here, too, there is a selection (regardless of how the stories were obtained). 3) Books containing research and analysis. 4) Books containing innovative-arranged-multivocal songs. 5) Books containing folk songs with musical compositions. 6) Books with mixed content (the most popular songs and folk songs of the year).In German folk song research, Gebrauchsliederbuch is a collection of texts and music books that meet certain groups' folk song repertoire needs. For many years, oral collections of folk songs were regarded as the primary source, and later were added handwritten folk song books and collections. Ernst Klusen distinguishes this category from scientific folk song editions by its purpose, nature, and the way it presents the folk song: "The purpose is to provide material for a certain group of people who love and sing folk songs."The Turkish equivalent of the word "book of folk songs for use" sufficiently characterizes this category: The melodiesincluded in the books are "for use" for practical purposes, with no claim to be scientific. In this context, our article will classify books of folk songs for use in Turkey and analyze Salih Turhan's books as the author/publisher of "book of folk songs for use." The fiction of Turhan's Selection Books will be demonstrated, and conclusions will be drawn through the descriptive document analysis method.