From Gosan to Ozan

Ilhan BA≤GÖZ 229 FROM GOSAN TO OZAN T he western Turks Oguz called their epic teller Ozan. The best description of that bard, is found in the Book of My Grand Father Korkut, the Turkish epic which was written down in the second half of the 15th century. The epic mentions the Ozan in several places∞: “∞The Ozan with his musical instrument Kopuz, goes from land to land, from lord to lord∞; he knows who is stingy, who is generous∞”1. In the lay of Bamsı Beyrek, the hero in the return episode, meets an ozan and asks him “∞O Ozan where are you going∞?∞”. The Ozan replies∞: “∞My lord I am going to a wedding∞”. “∞O Ozan, give me your dress, I will give you my horse in return∞”. The Ozan tells himself∞: “∞Before my voice goes bad, my fame is forgotten, and my kopuz is broken, I would own a horse, so I should take it∞”. Beyrek took the kopuz and went to his father’s house. There he meets his sister who does not recognise him in disguise. His sister tells him∞: “∞Do not play oh Ozan, do not sing here, there is a wedding farther on, go play your kopuz there.∞” The Ozan goes to the wedding ceremony where his fiance is being married with his rival∞; he sings and plays music there. Kazan Bey, the head of the tribe hearing his music, says∞: “∞Oh Ozan∞! What do you wish from me. Do you want a tent, or slaves or money and gold∞? I shall give you whatever you wish∞”. The Ozan refuses all but asks for a permission to go to the wedding banquet and play and sing there for women. His wish is granted. Beyrek goes to ladies quarter and plays music and sings songs, while the bride and guests dance. At the end of the epic lay, when Beyrek maries with his fiance in a fourty days and nights banquet, “∞Dede Korkut∞”, the leg- endary Ozan came and played joyfull music on his kopuz and narrated the stories which recounted the heroic adventures of heroes. Then he said∞: “∞Let this lay be Beyrek’s∞”2. At the end of another epic lay Dede Ilhan Ba≥göz is Professor Emeritus from Indiana University — Bilkent University — Department of Turkish Literature — Bilkent/Ankara (Turkey). 1 GÖKYAY, 1973∞: 2. 2 GÖKYAY∞: 56-57. Turcica, 33, 2001, pp. 229-236 230 ILHAN BA≤GÖZ Korkut came, and narrated the epic and sung songs. He said∞: “∞Let this lay be Deli Dumrul’s. Let the brave ozans after me sing it, and let generous men with clean forehad listen to it∞”3. In the majority of the epic lays in the Book of Grand Father Korkut a formula which mentions the ozan’s name is repeated∞: “∞Horse is quick of foot and the ozan is quick in tongue∞”4. Thus we learn from the Book of Dede Korkut that the ozan is a com- poser-creator of the epic, who also narrates and sings it with the accompaniment of a musical instrument. The instrument is called kopuz. He would be invited to wedding ceremonies, to entertain the people with music and songs, eulogize lord, criticize people. He travels from tribe to tribe. He was given horse, gold, tent as either gift or pay- ment for his performance. He was the wise man and sootsayer of the people, and he would be considered a miracle worker with magical power. Although the Dede Korkut epic is recorded in the 15th century, its oral versions in Anatolia may be dated to the 11th. Just we may safely assume that the reference made to Ozan in the 15th century manuscript is the sur- vival of the early oral versions. Thus the ozan has been known the Oguz Turks since the seventh century A.D. Fuat Köprülü in his pioneering article entitled “∞Ozan∞” examined the history, function and origin of that bard among the western Oguz Turks5. A summary of Köprülü’s work is as follows∞: The word ozan designs a musical instrument of foreign origin which is played by musicians during the march of the Sultan. The musician who is in charge of that function chants in Turkish the story of fight, history of the ancient kings, and campaign of the famous fighters6. Abu Hayyan who wrote his book in the 14th century in Egypt, indicates that ozan is the name of a bard who sings by the accompaniment of kopuz, a musical instrument7. Yazıcıoglu Ali in his work Selçukname written in the reign of Sultan Murad II (1403-1451) informs us that in the armies of Anatolian Saljukides there were ozan's and kopuz players8. Kemal Ummi, the sufi poet of the 15th century, mentions the Oguz ozan's who screem unpleasantly in chanting poems. AÒıkpa≥azade refers to a Kurdish ozan in the time of Sultan Bayazıd (1360-1403)9. 3 GÖKYAY∞: 82. 4 GÖKYAY∞: 6, 12, 84, 139, 145. 5 KÖPRÜLÜ, 1934∞:273-292. 6 KÖPRÜLÜ, op. cit., 275, quoted from QUATREMERE∞: 136. 7 KÖPRÜLÜ∞: 225, quoted from ABU HAYYAN. 8 KÖPRÜLÜ∞: 226, quoted from HOUTSMA, vol. III∞: 348. 9 KÖPRÜLÜ∞: 278. FROM GOSAN TO OZAN 231 Ahmet Talat believes that the name ozan is a derivation of Oguzan, the plural form of Oguz10. I may add another 15th century reference to the ozan. ≤eyh ≤emsi Sivasi who dedicated a kaside to Yavuz Sultan Selim (1467-1502) writes in his work Dastan-ı Murgan in the description of the stork∞: Kimi a≥ik kimi dani≥mend ozan. Her biri bir makamda çift bozan. Some are ashiks, minstrel, some students of religion, and some ozan's. Each absetting the tune like refusing his contract in ploughing a field11. Köprülü indicates that after the 15th century the ozan appellation assumed a deragotary meaning and implied, under the impact of Islam, to ignorant minstrels who told lies and nonsense and documented his claim by several examples. The word ozan is also found among the Asian Turks in Azerbaijan, in the 14-15th century, a musical instrument was also called ozan which took the place of kopuz. In the palace of Shirvanshah, in the 15th century the presence of the ozan is known. Among the Turkmen the word ozan survived only in a proverb which reads∞: «Wherever wealth comes bahÒı and ozan follow». According to Köprülü the word ozan disappeared among Turkmen and was replaced by bah≥ı which has the same meaning. In Çagatay area ozan is referred for the first time in a work by Ali ≤ir Nevai, who says the ozan’s has a strange metric which does not fit to any classical poetic system12. In the ethnography of Anatolia and Azerbaycan the name of ozan is preserved in various areas∞: in the 15th century, two communities, one of which consisting of 25 male adults and the other of 10 families, were called ozan's13. In Gence in the 17th century14, and in Diyarbakır in 191515 a section of each city was called ozan mahallesi, the quarter of ozan. Köprülü finds seven villages in Anatolia which were called ozan village. The word ozan and ozanlama (literally talking like an ozan), the former referring to a person who talk too much and nonsense, the latter a person who quotes proverbs and traditional sentences, are still in use in Turkey16. In Azerbayjan the name ozan survived in two manis, folk quatrains∞: Evime ozan geliptir An ozan came to my house Perdeni bozan geliptir Who apset the tune 10 TALAT∞: 14. 11 SIVASI∞: 35. 12 KÖPRÜLÜ∞: 288. 13 LINDNER∞: 1983∞: 124. 14 ABBASOF, 1963∞: 60. 15 KÖPRÜLÜ∞: 287. 16 KÖPRÜLÜ∞: 282. 232 ILHAN BA≤GÖZ Gündüz olan i≥leri Who records at night Geceler yazan geliptir. What happened during the day. Gızım gızım Gızana Oh my daughter called Gızana Gızım verem ozana I will mary her to an ozan Ozan akça kazana Ozan will earn money Gızım gezip bezene. My daughter will spend and enjoy it17. The word ozan survived also in Turkey in a mani which was collected in Kırıkhan, in 1991. Ocakta hezan The wood in the hearth Üstünde kazan Cauldron on it Aglama kızım Do not cry my daughter Ni≥anlın ozan Your fiancee is an ozan18. Köprülü concludes that∞: 1. The ozan is a word which is used by Oguz, before they moved to Anatolia to refer to a musician poet. 2. This word survived in different Oguz areas, and probably in Azer- bayjan the name was given to the musical instrument kopuz, from that ozancı, meaning player of instrument derived. 3. The word a≥ık among Turks in Anatolia, and bah≥ı among Turk- men in Asia replaced the word ozan. 4. When the old meaning of ozan is forgotten in Azerbaijan and Ana- tolia, the word ozan assumed a new meaning, mainly a person who talk too much and nonsense. 5. The other Turkic groups did not use the word ozan. Çagatay writ- ers must have learned it from either Horasan Turkmen or Azeri’s. As to the linguistic origin of the word ozan, Köprülü, basing his opinon on Ibni Muhenna proposes “∞a hypothesis for the time being∞”. “∞I believe∞”, he says, “∞The word ozan derives from the verb ozmak in Turkmen, meaning to lead, to come first, from which the subject partici- ple ozgan has derived. By dropping the (g), the word became ozan∞”. The Turkmen called the dog which wins a race ozgan19.. M. Tahmasib who reads the word uzan, not ozan, claims that it derives from the infinitive uzmak, meaning to bring together two things, to harmonize the words, ryhmes and lines20.

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