Gayalar Ulam Ulam (Rocks Joined One to Another)
Story
The song opens by pointing to rocks lying “ulam ulam” and asking where the beloved can be found; according to Repertükül, “ulam ulam” means joined to one another, one after another. The verses voice the longing of someone who wishes for nothing but a single pillow shared with the beloved, who mourns the separation and asks for frequent letters; the refrain “give me your hand” expresses the wish to stay together until death. No traditional story behind the song was found in the sources.
About
It is a “kırık hava” (metered folk tune) from Kuyumcusaray, a village of the Alaca district of Çorum (turkuler.com, Repertükül), registered as TRT Repertoire No. 3594. The source singer is Muharrem Coşkun; it was collected and set to notation by Yücel Paşmakçı. According to Repertükül, it uses the hüseyni scale (makamsal dizi) in 4/4 time. The title is “Gayalar Ulam Ulam” on the TRT Music Department’s score sheet, turkuler.com and Türkü Dostları, but “Kayalar Ulam Ulam” in Repertükül; the score sheet gives the region simply as “Çorum” and leaves the collection-date field blank. Türkü Dostları notes that the song also appears in Levent Sezgin’s Çorum Halk Türküleri ve Oyun Havaları (Folk Songs and Dance Tunes of Çorum, 2004).
According to the TRT record reproduced on turkuler.com, Muharrem Coşkun is also the source singer of İğdenin Dalları Yerdedir Yerde, featured on this site. For more on the district, see Alaca.
Lyrics
In short, the singer searches for an absent beloved, wishes only to share one pillow with them, and asks them to hold hands, embrace and write often while apart. (The Turkish opening lines are quoted on the Turkish page; line variants differ between sources.)