A REPRESENTATIVE FROM VAN MINSTREL TRADITION: ÂŞIK ÇAĞLARI ( MEHMET AKÇAY)

The historical adventure of music art, since the first day of humanity, the geography, traditions and customs, behavior patterns, lifestyle, etc. It has been shaped by all activities and has survived to the present day. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, melodies, etc. Music, which is a type of art that is composed of many elements such as and reflects the life of the society in the best way, is the people's sadness, joy, rebellion, pain, love, etc. He expressed his feelings like this in the most sincere way and transferred it from generation to generation. Anatolian geography, which has a deep-rooted musical culture, has great cultural richness. These riches have a very important place in the survival of societies, their development day by day, and the transfer of cultural memory from generation to generation. The tradition of minstrelsy, which is at the forefront of these elements and is the most important part of the instrument-word union, is a very important rooted tradition in Anatolia, although it is a cultural accumulation and communication that connects with the future.

Having hosted many civilizations with its eight thousand years of history, Van is a part of Turkey's cultural richness, and is one of the cities that draw attention with its history, nature, social and cultural richness. In the Van region, which constitutes an important part of the Anatolian minstrel tradition, there are important representatives such as Âşık Çağlarî (Mehmet Akçay) who still maintain this tradition and make significant contributions to Van in terms of transferring cultural memory. The aim of this study is to deal with Âşık Çağlari (Mehmet Akçay), who is one of the representatives of the minstrel tradition of Van, with all his aspects throughout his artistic life, to introduce Âşık Çağlarî to future generations and to reveal how this oral culture is kept alive by handling the developments about the minstrel culture in the region with his transfer.

In the first stage of the research, which was designed as a qualitative study, a source research was conducted and the literature on the subject was scanned. Afterwards, Âşık Çağlarî, who is the subject of our study, was interviewed, and information and records were obtained about the tradition of minstrelsy, his art life, his works from the past to the present, and the tradition of Van minstrelsy. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the Minstrel Ages, one of the representatives of the Van Minstrel tradition, are very important within the scope of transferring them to the next generation and their contribution to the transfer of cultural memory is very important.

Keywords

Van, Minstrelsy Tradition, Minstrel Ages