Su Gelir Millendirir (The Water Comes and Leaves Its Silt)
Story
The song opens with water that comes, leaves its silt and turns the meadow green, and says that the beloved’s brows and eyes “would make the mute speak.” In seven-syllable verses, images follow one another: a yemeni (light printed headscarf), the path to the spring, water flowing in streams, and a beloved who arrives wiping her brow with a silk handkerchief. In the last verse, as muddy water winds around the garden and the beloved sways past, the singer asks whether any heart could bear it. No traditional story behind the song was found in the sources.
About
It is a “kırık hava” (metered folk tune) from the Mecitözü district of Çorum, registered as TRT Repertoire No. 4414. The source singer is Âşık Veli Erdem; it was collected by the Ankara State Conservatory and set to notation by Altan Demirel (Repertükül, Türkü Dostları). According to Repertükül, it uses the uşşak scale (makamsal dizi) in 4/4 time. The TRT repertoire also contains a separate song with the same title, registered under Çerkeş (Repertoire No. 1246, collected by Muzaffer Sarısözen); the song on this page is the Mecitözü record, No. 4414.
Âşık Veli Erdem is also the source singer of Bağdat Ellerinden Gelen Durnalar, collected by Muzaffer Sarısözen. For more on the district, see Mecitözü.
Lyrics
In short, flowing water and village scenes frame a series of short verses in praise of a beloved whose beauty is too much for the heart to bear. (The Turkish opening lines are quoted on the Turkish page; line variants differ between sources.)