Talihsiz Bir Türkü: “Yaban Gülü müsün Sarp Kayalarda”
An Unfortunate Turkish Folk Song: “Are you a Wild Rose in the Rock Faces”

Summary/Abstract: This study aims to examine the folk song titled “Yaban Gülü Müsün Sarp Kayalarda” recorded in the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) Turkish Folk Music Repertoire (No. 4095). This folk song, which was originally written and composed by Ashik Davut Sulari, has been performed by many TRT artists and others using the text in the archive records and has become widespread as such. However, some gaps and inconsistencies have been identified in the archival text of the folk song, which completely change the context and meaning. To rectify these gaps, texts of the folk song were examined comparatively. First, the original text of the folk song was determined based on Ashik Davut Sulari’s recordings and then compared with examples in the written sources. Next, an eight-item data set containing details about his life story was created. The resulting text was analyzed using qualitative content and discourse analysis methods. Moreover, it was also determined that the composition of the folk song titled “Çankaya” was copied by Ashik Mahzuni Şerif who claimed it as his own. All these factors, as stated in the title of the study, have led the aforementioned folk song to be described as an “unfortunate song”.

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