Expression Of Cultural Idendity Through Music: Cultural Performances In Kemaliye (eğin)

Tez (Doktora) -- İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2012Thesis (PhD) -- İstanbul Technical University, Institute of Social Sciences, 2012Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'nde Erzincan iline bağlı olan bir ilçe olan Kemaliye (Eğin), bugün kalabalık bir nüfusa sahip olmamasına rağmen özellikle yaz aylarında yaşadığı hareketlilikle de son zamanlarda dikkat çeken bir bölge olarak karşımıza çıkar. Tarihsel açıdan önemli bir konumda olan ve tarihte farklı etnik ve dini kimliklerden birçok halkın yaşadığı bölgede, özellikle ticaret yollarının getirdiği hareketlilik, bu zenginliğin de en büyük nedenlerinden birisi olmuştur. Bu hareketliliğe karşın, bölgenin coğrafi yapısını da getirdiği zorluklar ve farklı nedenlerle 16. yüzyıldan itibaren göç vermeye başlayan bölgede, nüfus azalmasıyla birlikte toplumsal ve buna bağlı olarak da kültürel pratiklerde değişimlere sebep olmuştur. Artık yakınları şehirde yaşayan halkın geleneksel gösterim biçimlerinden olan düğünler ve eğlencelerin takvimlendirilmesi dahil, dışarıdan gelecek olan Kemalye'lilere bağlanmakla birlikte, değişen ve yeniden oluşan kültürel formların da ortaya çıkmasına sebep olmuştur. Diğer taraftan ise şehirlerdeki Kemaliye (Eğin)li halk, şehirde aidiyet duygularını bölgedeki halka oranla daha yoğun yaşadıklarından, şehirde dernekleşme çalışmaları adı altında farklı kültürel gösterimler gerçekleştirmeye başlamışlardır. Ulaşım ve iletişim araçlarının gelişmesi ve yakınlaşan mesafeler, artık, aynı kökene bağlı ancak farklı yaşamlar sürdüren Kemaliye (Eğin)liler arasındaki iletişimi kuvvetlendirmiş ve bu zamandan itibaren farklı etkileşimler yaşanmaya başlamıştır. Bu etkileşimle meydana gelen farklı kültürel formlar, bugün Kemaliye (Eğin)'nin ulusal ve uluslararası platformdaki varlığının en önemli sembollerinden olmaya başlamıştır. Kemaliye (Eğin) toplu eğlencelerinden oluşturulan fasıl toplulukları ve doğal özelliklerinin tanıtıldığı doğa şenliklerinin yanı sıra, büyükşehirde de dernekleşme çalışmalarıyla birlikte, burada yaşayan ikinci hatta üçüncü kuşak Kemaliye (Eğin)lilerin Kemaliye (Eğin) kültürünü sahneleştirme yoluyla kurgusal da olsa, şehirde yaşamak için bazı etkinlikler gerçekleştirdikleri ve bu yolla farklı kültürel formların ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuşlardır.Although not having a crowd population at present, Kemaliye; a town in the borders of Erzincan City at Eastern Anatolia Region nowadays appears as a conspicuous place with the liveliness during the summer seasons. Many different people with different ethnic and religious identities had lived in this important intersection point of trade routes and this importance has brought a remarkable richness to the people of this historically important location. The migration that has started in the 16th century has caused a decrease at the population and due to this situation many changes had occurred at the cultural practics. It is known that there were migrations at the region before the two important and major movements of migration in Turkey at 1950?s and 1980?s. The inadequacy of the agricultural areas and the difficulties depending on this matter had caused migration where the intensive buoyant of the town did not prevent the migration. The migration has started in the 16th century mostly to Istanbul and West Anatolia. Istanbul; the capital of the Ottoman Empire was the first aim of the citizens of Kemaliye to be migrated and this situation forced the Authority to make provision against the migration therefore a law indicating that only one man from a family could imigrate to the Capital for finding a job and settlement was introduced. After the introduction of thi law most of the men from Kemaliye had imigrated to Istanbul and the other members of the family felt themselves alone and missed the ones which were gone. This change in the structure of the society had caused many evaluations in different cultural forms and behaviours. For example the wedding ceremonies which were the most important traditional cultural performances of the society had been scheduled according to the visits of the immigrated men to their town. Also one of the important cultural performance of the region Sıra Odası Gecesi had appeared due to the changes related to migration and had reached present being named as Oturak Alemi, Kısır Dugunu, Bag Eglencesi and Havuzbasi Eglencesi. The starting point of this cultural performance was the meetings organised in the long winter nights at one of the neighbours home. Each home was hosting these meetings in order by organising two big rooms one for the men and one for the women. In these meetings people were having chats and playing games sitting arround a stove or Tandır (a heating system). These meetings had also a rituelistic structure to remove the loneliness and missing for the attendants. On the other hand the citizens of Kemaliye living in the cities had started to practice different cultural performances by founding associations (society/club) as they were having the feelings of belonging more intensively than the ones stayed at their hometowns. The devolopments in communication and transportation had strenghtened the communication between the citizens of Kemaliye each living different lives but all tied to the same roots. The fact of having their families still in their home town has prevent the needly migrated people of feeling themselves as an urban and enhanced their awareness of belonging based on the native identity. Regarding to the governal records one of the first Associations founded in Istanbul is the Improvement Association of Kemaliye Hudu (Tuglu) Village. The perceptivity of being a member of an association (society/club) had prevent the citizens of kemaliye to disconnect their ties with the hometown although most of them had been living with their families in the major cities. The wish of living their traditional cultural practices -which were the most important effects of their local belongings- away from their hometown and work on the music and dances of their hometown and more importantly to narrate the feeling of being a citizen of Kemaliye to their children had initiated them to establish the Kemaliye Folklore and Tourism Association in 1966. The developments in the 20th century had positively affected the transportation conditions and the citizens of the Town living in the major cities have got the opportunity of visiting their hometown more often with their families. These visits have created stronger ties and revealed the wish of making novelties for this geographically closed and introverted town. The different cultural forms occured by the means of these mutual effects have been one of the most important symbols of the existence of Kemaliye at national and international platforms. The Fasıl groups created from the collective entertainments, Nature Festivals where the natural beauties of kemaliye were being presented, the performances of second or third generations of Kemaliye citizens educated at the associations all effected the appearances of new cultural forms feeded by the basic culture of Kemaliye. This liveliness also effected the life practices of the Kemaliye citizens living at the major cities where the local belonging was strongly felt. This situation has also effected the appearances of new cultural forms in both sides feeded by the basic culture of Kemaliye. One of these effects is the change of the schedule of the marriage rituals. The wedding ceremonies before the migration were made mostly in september when the gathering of the agricultural products was completed but at present the ceremonies are being made in summer months where the relatives and friends living in the major cities have been visiting the town. At present the meetings of winter nights are not being organised as the population of the town has been decreased and the people living in the town are now having new ways of entertainments such as television radio and internet but in summer time when the immigrants visit the town the cultural performances appear in different forms. The meetings in summer season are being organized under the names of ?Bağ Eğlenceleri?, ?Kısır Düğün? and ?Oturak Alemleri? with a collective performance of music and dance. The citizens of Kemaliye living in the major cities have also the opportunity of performing their cultural rituals by the support of the associations and foundations. The performances of the cultural forms have been effecting the apparency of the town positively. In this point some new cultural performance styles have occured in the cultural tourism presentation which will provide the apparency of Kemaliye at national and international platforms. The most important presentation of these cultural presentation styles is International Cultural and Sports Festival of Kemaliye. By using the natural beauties of Kemaliye every year many sportsman and visitors are being invited to the town. In the festival based on the sport activities the most important aim is to present the cultural activities. The songs and dances of the town are being performed in the festival and besides the handcrafts; photograph exhibitions, henna night performances and a special old Turkish horseman competition with javelin named as CIRIT are presented to the visitors. One of the most important characteristics of these presentation is the performing of the culture by animating it on the stage and this situation caused a different cultural performance way in the town. Another sample of the cultural animations in the festivals is assembling performances. The entertainments in Kemaliye is formed in performances singing the songs of the location by the accompany of the local instruments. Kemaliye Fasıl Group is the most important performer of the assembling performances which was founded by the advice of the Governor Recep Yazıcıoğlu who was on duty at the period. In fact the performance of the group is much different than the local assembling performances as they have adapted their performance to stage where they have their performances to the TV documentaries, protocol visitors and in festivals. This situation also explains their domestic and international concerts and relaising CD?s for the publicity of Kemaliye. Besides the changes in the performance styles in the area the different cultural presentations in the major cities are also remarkable. The society living in the major cities won?t be able to stand against the changes therefore will go on living without losing the feeling of belonging and have hold on to their cultural traditions. This makes them to keep all traditional behaviors and cultural performances alive in their minda and to narrate them to their children. When we look at the henna night performances both in Kemaliye and in the major cities we can easily see that the urbans are more conservative than the ones in Kemaliye. The urbans want to go on living by keeping the distance always close to the traditional cultures of the hometown they have a strong feeling of belonging. They also always want to share this situation with the society that they created in the major city. This conservativity is being shaped around the behaviors remained in their memories. In Kemaliye the situation shows differences. It was mentioned that cultural performance forms have been presented as a capsulized symbol of the society?s way of living and cultural beliefs. In Kemaliye we can see the effects of the new way of living and symbols in henna night performances and rituals. Specially two Associations Uskudar Folklor ve Turizm Dernegi (UFTUD) and Kemaliye Folklor ve Turizm Dernegi (KEFTUD) come to the forefront with the important studies on this subject. The Eğin Nights organized by these associations especially based on the dance and music culture; Independence day celebrations which all the citizens of Kemaliye are being invited and got the chance to meet each other; Brunches organized by the associations and new performance styles such as Dance of Euphrades (Fırat?ın Dansı) are the samples which could be mentioned. All changes occurred on the social area effect the cultural area. In this point the social changes in Kemaliye has brought the changes in the cultural areas and afterwards the changes have moved out of the area and caused new practices on the axis of locality to occur in the different places where the citizens have been living. Today when we talk about the citizens of Kemaliye that means we also talk about the citizens of Kemaliye living out of the area. In this sense it could be seen that the cultural dynamics cannot be concerned to the place and region so that they could appear with new practises by the means of cultural senses where the societies have reached to different places to go on living.DoktoraPh