Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Vocals & instrumentation by Farya Faraji. This is a Turkish folk song from the region of Manisa. I arranged it using three saz varieties, the standard short necked one, providing the middle octave range, the cura saz, providing the higher octave range, and the divan saz, providing the lower octave range, as well as an oud. The maqam of the song is Bayat, and I performed an ending "aman" section in that same mode. This song belongs to the category of Türkü songs, secular folk songs often dealing with themes of love and grief. I utilised a recognisable chest voice register for this that is characteristically Turkish, this preference for lower voice registers being quite unusual in this region of the world from the Balkans to the Middle-East where brighter, sharper vocal textures are more often utilised.
Lyrics in Turkish:
Hey buğdayım buğdayım
Sereyim kurutayım
Nazlı yarin dilini
Ben nasıl unutayım
Ellere hanım gızım ellere vay
Ben dayanamam dokunaklı dillere vay
Kapıları sürgülü
Siyah saçları örgülü
Benim sevdiğim güzel
Anasından görgülü
Ellere hanım gızım ellere vay
Ben dayanamam dokunaklı dillere vay
As always, English translations of Turkish songs can be quite hard so our Turkish viewers are welcome to offer any.
Vocals & instrumentation by Farya Faraji. This is a Turkish folk song from the region of Manisa. I arranged it using three saz varieties, the standard short necked one, providing the middle octave range, the cura saz, providing the higher octave range, and the divan saz, providing the lower octave range, as well as an oud. The maqam of the song is Bayat, and I performed an ending "aman" section in that same mode. This song belongs to the category of Türkü songs, secular folk songs often dealing with themes of love and grief. I utilised a recognisable chest voice register for this that is characteristically Turkish, this preference for lower voice registers being quite unusual in this region of the world from the Balkans to the Middle-East where brighter, sharper vocal textures are more often utilised.
Lyrics in Turkish:
Hey buğdayım buğdayım
Sereyim kurutayım
Nazlı yarin dilini
Ben nasıl unutayım
Ellere hanım gızım ellere vay
Ben dayanamam dokunaklı dillere vay
Kapıları sürgülü
Siyah saçları örgülü
Benim sevdiğim güzel
Anasından görgülü
Ellere hanım gızım ellere vay
Ben dayanamam dokunaklı dillere vay
As always, English translations of Turkish songs can be quite hard so our Turkish viewers are welcome to offer any.
