Aşık Veysel

Aşık Veysel — Biography

Veysel Şatıroğlu, far better known as Âşık Veysel (25 October 1894 – 21 March 1973), was a Turkish Alevi folk bard, poet, composer and bağlama virtuoso. He was born in the village of Sivrialan, in the Şarkışla district of Sivas, at the time still part of the Ottoman Empire, as one of the children of Gülizar and Ahmet Şatıroğlu, who belonged to the Şatırlı clan of the Afshar tribe. Raised within the Alevi cultural environment, he grew to be regarded as one of the foremost figures of the Anatolian ashik tradition, and his name has become almost inseparable from Turkish folk music itself.

Veysel lost his sight when he was only seven years old and spent the rest of his life as a blind man. This condition profoundly coloured his art: his songs are generally melancholic and speak of the world through the perception of someone who cannot see it. His poetry explored themes such as morality, love, faith, life and death, tolerance, unity and solidarity, patriotism and nature. The mastery he displayed on the saz, combined with his remarkably plain yet powerful command of the Turkish language, made him one of the most celebrated saz poets Anatolia has produced.

His best-loved compositions include Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım, Dostlar Beni Hatırlasın, Kara Toprak and Güzelliğin On Para Etmez; these songs are now counted as classics not only of folk music but of Turkish literature as a whole. Alongside early recordings such as the 1945 Atatürk'ün Ağıtı, performances captured in his own voice were gathered over the years into numerous albums, among them Sivas Ellerinden, Ömür Kervanı, Anlatmam Derdimi Dertsiz İnsana, Aşık Veysel Klasikleri and Aşık Veysel Radyo Kayıtları.

His works were reinterpreted time and again by later generations of musicians; Tarkan, Barış Manço, Gülden Karaböcek, Selda Bağcan, Haluk Levent, Belkıs Akkale and Hümeyra are among the many artists who recorded his songs. His influence also travelled beyond Turkey's borders: the American electric guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani included an instrumental piece of his own composition titled Aşık Veysel on his 2008 album. On 25 October 2017, Google honoured what would have been the bard's 123rd birthday with a dedicated doodle.

Âşık Veysel died of lung cancer on 21 March 1973, in the very village where he had been born. Tributes continued long after his passing: in 2022 he was granted the Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award in the "loyalty" category. A presidential circular published in December 2022 declared 2023, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, the "Âşık Veysel Year" in Turkey. That same year, a proposal for a commemoration year was submitted to UNESCO, supported not only by Turkey but also by Azerbaijan, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, North Macedonia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.