Insan Olmak, Ey Dağ! /
To Be Human, O Mountain!
To Be Human, O Mountain! takes place in the Ortahisar valley of Cappadocia during sunrise. Church cantors serenade humans and birds, water and the sun, peppers and garlic, walls and mountains, coal and gravel… 3 medleys comprised of quotes referencing natural, vegetal and animal motifs, borrowed from prison songs.
Among the valley’s ancient caves, where monks, pigeons and harvests once dwelled, the cantors attempt to make resonate the overlapping echoes from three quintessential sites of music production and performance: the church, the field, and the prison. These sites of collective worship, cultivation and incarceration were also where ethnographers sought to collect and preserve musical traditions they considered endangered by modernity. These practices of transcription and classification culminating at the turn of the 20th century, rarely left the music recorded untouched, driving a process of mutation that altered it and the cultures that produced it in profound ways.
To Be Human, O Mountain! aims to make audible traces of musical and human displacement present in landscape. The performance emerged from a conversation with Mükremin Tokmak, around the Meryem Ana church in nearby Nevsehir. The church was abandoned in 1923 after the Greek-Turkish population exchange, transformed into a storage of agricultural goods, then into a prison in the 1950’s, and left in a state of disuse since the 1980’s. Tokmak spent 4 years in the political wing of the prison. The performance continues Aivazian’s interest in the histories and politics of ethnomusicology and the power dynamics inherent in the collection, inscription and classification of the musical practices, from the Eastern Mediterranean to West of the Atlantic, by populations rendered fugitive.
Performed on June16th, 2018, at 7:00 am, Balkan Deresi Valley, Ortahisar, Cappadocia, TK.
Commissioned by Cappadox 18/Sessizlik
Among the valley’s ancient caves, where monks, pigeons and harvests once dwelled, the cantors attempt to make resonate the overlapping echoes from three quintessential sites of music production and performance: the church, the field, and the prison. These sites of collective worship, cultivation and incarceration were also where ethnographers sought to collect and preserve musical traditions they considered endangered by modernity. These practices of transcription and classification culminating at the turn of the 20th century, rarely left the music recorded untouched, driving a process of mutation that altered it and the cultures that produced it in profound ways.
To Be Human, O Mountain! aims to make audible traces of musical and human displacement present in landscape. The performance emerged from a conversation with Mükremin Tokmak, around the Meryem Ana church in nearby Nevsehir. The church was abandoned in 1923 after the Greek-Turkish population exchange, transformed into a storage of agricultural goods, then into a prison in the 1950’s, and left in a state of disuse since the 1980’s. Tokmak spent 4 years in the political wing of the prison. The performance continues Aivazian’s interest in the histories and politics of ethnomusicology and the power dynamics inherent in the collection, inscription and classification of the musical practices, from the Eastern Mediterranean to West of the Atlantic, by populations rendered fugitive.
Performed on June16th, 2018, at 7:00 am, Balkan Deresi Valley, Ortahisar, Cappadocia, TK.
Commissioned by Cappadox 18/Sessizlik
Translation of lyrics***
I-Potato Storage:
- [Overture:] It's early in the mornin' baby when I rise. Well, rocks and gravel make a solid road. Well it takes rocks and gravel to make a solid road, sugar.
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Solo 1:] How oppressive is the air between these walls.
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Solo 2:] There were green peppers in baskets, Charcoal in bags, onions and garlic in sachets
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Solo 3:] The air is hot
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Coda:] The night never ends in here, the morning never comes.
II-Pigeon Cove:
-[Overture:] It's early in the mornin' baby when I rise. Well, rocks and gravel make a solid road. Well it takes rocks and gravel to make a solid road, sugar.
-[Refrain:] Strange, strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water
-[Solo 1:] I threw my skin to these walls, Lost all of my friends and companions, No one comes or goes, Sleep all day
-[Refrain:] Strange, strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water
-[Solo 2:] Lying on the wet mud beneath us, as I recover from my nightmare, Let my mother receive my message, From the bird flying in the sky
-[Refrain:] Strange, strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water
-[Solo 3:] Flowers don’t bloom in here, Birds do not glide and fly, The stars don’t sparkle. Days don’t go by, don’t go by
-[Refrain:] Strange strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water.
-[Coda:] The night never ends in here, the morning never comes.
III-The Mountain:
-[Overture:] It's early in the mornin' baby when I rise. Well, rocks and gravel make a solid road. Well it takes rocks and gravel to make a solid road, sugar.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Solo 1:] The mountains across invited us, Bandits cannot rule the world.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Solo 2:] Lay back, look at the skies, My day of release is close. Lover do not forget me, In the prison of exile.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Solo 3:] O Mountain, O Mountain Bend down, bend down and look.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Finale:] The night never ends in here, the morning never comes.
***
Chorists:
Murad Içlinalça, Yoel Vahram Kesap and Vahram Çalgiciyan
Translated to English by: Elif Temizkan and Ilgin Deniz Akseloglu
I-Potato Storage:
- [Overture:] It's early in the mornin' baby when I rise. Well, rocks and gravel make a solid road. Well it takes rocks and gravel to make a solid road, sugar.
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Solo 1:] How oppressive is the air between these walls.
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Solo 2:] There were green peppers in baskets, Charcoal in bags, onions and garlic in sachets
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Solo 3:] The air is hot
-[Refrain:] Should I make a hole in the wall? Should I come to you?
-[Coda:] The night never ends in here, the morning never comes.
II-Pigeon Cove:
-[Overture:] It's early in the mornin' baby when I rise. Well, rocks and gravel make a solid road. Well it takes rocks and gravel to make a solid road, sugar.
-[Refrain:] Strange, strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water
-[Solo 1:] I threw my skin to these walls, Lost all of my friends and companions, No one comes or goes, Sleep all day
-[Refrain:] Strange, strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water
-[Solo 2:] Lying on the wet mud beneath us, as I recover from my nightmare, Let my mother receive my message, From the bird flying in the sky
-[Refrain:] Strange, strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water
-[Solo 3:] Flowers don’t bloom in here, Birds do not glide and fly, The stars don’t sparkle. Days don’t go by, don’t go by
-[Refrain:] Strange strange are the songs of the birds, who sleep and dream under water.
-[Coda:] The night never ends in here, the morning never comes.
III-The Mountain:
-[Overture:] It's early in the mornin' baby when I rise. Well, rocks and gravel make a solid road. Well it takes rocks and gravel to make a solid road, sugar.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Solo 1:] The mountains across invited us, Bandits cannot rule the world.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Solo 2:] Lay back, look at the skies, My day of release is close. Lover do not forget me, In the prison of exile.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Solo 3:] O Mountain, O Mountain Bend down, bend down and look.
-[Refrain:] Our fault was to be human, O Mountain, to be human.
-[Finale:] The night never ends in here, the morning never comes.
***
Chorists:
Murad Içlinalça, Yoel Vahram Kesap and Vahram Çalgiciyan
Translated to English by: Elif Temizkan and Ilgin Deniz Akseloglu
List of reference songs: Potato Storage: Early in the Mornin’-Collected by Alan Lomax (translated to Turkish by Elif Temizkan) / Mapushane Çeşmesi-Tolga Andar / Ne Zalimdir Mahpushane-Fahri Kayahan / Mapushane Kapisi-Yeni Türkü / Hapishanelere Güneş Doğmuyor-Neşet Ertaş.
Pigeon Coves: Early in the Mornin’-Collected by Alan Lomax (Translated to Turkish by Elif Temizkan) / Hapusanelere Attim Postumu-Neset Ertaş / 15'lere Ağıt/Ruhi Su / Altımızda Yarım Hasır-Ahmet Şükrü Esen (Composed by Yoel Vahram Keşap) / Geçmiyor Günler/Ahmet Kaya / Hapishanelere Güneş Doğmuyor/Neşet Ertaş.
The Mountain:Early in the Mornin’-Collected by Alan Lomax (Translated to Turkish by Elif Temizkan) / Eşkiya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz-Zülfü Livaneli / Hasan Dağı-Ruhi Su / Gurbet Hapishanesi-Sinem Inci / Hapishanelere Güneş Doğmuyor-Neşet Ertaş.
Meryem Ana Church, Nevsehir