Kara Kaşlar Kara Gözler Sende Var (Dark Brows and Dark Eyes Are Yours)
Story
The song opens by setting the beloved’s dark brows and dark eyes against the lover’s tireless “deli gönül” (wild heart); having sought a cure for his pain for seven years, the lover says the cure lies with the beloved. The refrain “Vermem seni yad ellere” (I will not give you up to strangers) expresses his resolve not to lose her to outsiders. The second verse mentions the stretch between Çorum and Sungurlu, where her dark brows set him on fire. No traditional story behind the song was found in the sources.
About
It is a “kırık hava” (metered folk tune) registered as TRT Repertoire No. 2307. turkuler.com, Repertükül and Türkü Dostları give its region as the Sungurlu district of Çorum, while the TRT Music Department’s score sheet gives “Orta Anadolu” (Central Anatolia). The source singer is Rıfat Özsaraç; it was collected by Aziz Kızılgün and set to notation by Ahmet Yamacı (TRT score sheet, turkuler.com, Repertükül). It is in 4/4 time. The sources name its scale differently: Repertükül gives the muhalif scale (makamsal dizi), while Türkü Dostları describes it as a misket scale with its final on B, played in the bozuk tuning of the bağlama. 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).
Rıfat Özsaraç is also the source singer of Fistan Giymiş Kırmalı, Kaşların Karasına and Pencereden El Eder, all featured on this site. For more on the district, see Sungurlu.
Lyrics
In short, the lover praises the beloved’s dark brows and eyes, says only she can cure his long-standing pain, and vows never to let her go to strangers. (The Turkish opening lines are quoted on the Turkish page; line variants differ between sources.)