metafor: öykü

Living at heights grant an odd modesty to people. Coming closer to the peak, mankind purifies from his arrogance, his pride... A voluntary inclining of the head, is carried as a second identity on the collar. Searching for conventions with nature is to accept the greatness of it from the beginning, as well as enduring the defeat. As the freedom to stroll up on the clouds is about to spoil him; the strength of nature comes in between, reminding its power. Then comes the time of acknowledging fealties to the land, the mountains, the stones, the trees, the animals of all the above and the below. At the very same moment, the fire of the rebellion never giving peace flickers somewhere deep inside. This is the fire of the rebellion which feeds the humanity of the mankind, making his a bigger heart. This type of rebellion leads to productivity. This rebellion is a good one.

Into your bigger heart fit the mountains hiding their heads up in the clouds, the sounds and the glitters of the madly flowing crystal clear waters, the branches and the green leaves of the trees which you can not even encircle with your arms. The delicate rattling of the little bell on a new born fawn’s neck fits too... When you start to understand the language of the mountain, the wolf, the bird and the bug, you realize that you have learned so many languages. A multilingual, multicultural and multicoloured life becomes your guide. The polyphony reflecting to every scene of life, takes its most beautiful form in folk songs and Machahela Songs are heard from far beyond.

I want to tell about a region which is in the province of Borchka in the city of Artvin; formerly named Macahela, with its new name Djamili. I want to tell about the people living in Macahel, whose communication with the world is cut for six months of the year due to the snow and who keep on living their incredibly hard lives without showing any sign of complaint. I want to tell about the polyphonic folk songs of those beautiful people.

Macahel is a valley with eighteen vilages. When the borders were being determined officially in 1921, as the result of the referendum, six of the villages were left in Turkey, while the remainig twelve were on the other side (USSR back then). For a long time, all the problems encountered in the border regions had been encountered here too. The border, not only set apart many brothers and sister, relatives and friends, but also brought strange prohibitions which they had not seen before then. Since it was forbidden to point at somewhere beyond the borderline, they have learned to look at those places with their hearts instead, and to call out to the planes, “Tell my brother my good wishs, will you?”. The Macahelian who wanted to inform his relative working on the opposite field, found the solution in the folk songs, and began to sing as if he was just singing to the skies. The folk songs delivered to the addresses have found their correspondances by again folk songs coming from “the opposite side” naturally.

The name Macahel goes beyond being the name of a region; it resembles to a culture, a life style. The nature while being very generous indeed, has also displayed its merciless character to the peak point and have had the native people pay for its blessings. But the people living in Macahel have become very skilled in finding solutions to any difficulty. In cooperation with another, they have learned to endure the difficulties which are encountered only by the people who live in villages built on high mountains. Consequently, these people have been at peace with life, themselves and their environments. If you were living in Macahel, you could never be put out with anyone for instance... You would have to come to an agreement with everyone and everything, and reconcile in any position of disagreement No matter how complicated the difficulty you encounter would be, you would have to show your skills to overcome too. In its own way, this land would work on your character...

May be, you would find the solution in telling amazing jokes to show the most marginal and the loveliest models of living with eachother, cooperating and laughing together even in the most difficult situations; or on the winter days when your communication with the world would be cut, you would cry out loud rebelliously that you are not afraid of those whitest peaks. You would show that you hear the mountains, that you understand their language. Because you would not be one of those who prefer the easy way. You were once mesmerized by Macahel. When you realize the difficulty of this love, it would be too late already. No matter what you do, this love never comes to an end. Well, you would not want it to come to an end either. You would know that your road is rugged, tough and full of obstacles. And this would make you stronger and more enduring in life. Your resistance would be grinding. It would be sharp. Like a sword in its steathe, it would be hidden in your heart as hope, in your hands as power, it would be hidden somewhere to unreveal when required.

We have mentioned that living on such a land makes solidarity and cooperation necessary. For instance, if somebody gets sick during the winter, first, the patient is carried from the mountain paths to Georgia by fifty-sixty people on foot, then, accordig to the protocoles between the two countries (Georgia and Turkey), he is passed through the border and taken to one of the hospitals in Turkey.

In Macahel, the task of bringing electricity to the villages had been in such a way that could only be seen in movies. The villagers, in cooperation, with their songs’ accompaniment and with bare hands, had taken the transformer weighing hundreds of pounds and the poles holding the wires up to the mountain, making them fly like birds. The polyphonic Machahela songs sung in social events like this one, when working in the fields or on the wedding days traditionally, make up the powerful sound of solidarity together. And also the most peaceble way to stand erect towards the nature and to defy the mountains.

The Macahel region having the six villages Djamili (Hertvisi), Duzenli (Zedvake), Kaialar (Kvabistavi), Epheler (Eprati), Ughur (Akria) and Maral (Mindieti), when described using stereotypes such as “a hidden paradise, a wonder of nature, a beautiful valley in all seasons”, so many facts remain uncovered although the definitions are valid. Macahel is a region which has created its own culture and has preserved it for many years. And the folk songs... A tradition that has been carried through three hundred years; the polyphonic Machahel Folk Songs. Or Machahela Songs... Samples of the Traditional Georgian Polyphonic Folk Music, which are even forgotten in Georgia. Until a few years ago, the too were among the hidden beauties of the region.

And today The Machahela Band, having members of ages between 48-65, is proud to carry the tradition of Georgian Polyphonic Folk Songs which in May 2001 were annonced as “the masterpiece of the oral and moral inheritance of humanitiy” by UNESCO, from the past to the future. The group consists of eight members: Ahmet Kos (84), Nevzat Mevlut Erturk (77), Kazim Balci (72), Ismail Erturk (66), Hamdi Erturk (56), Muhammet Balci (58), Cemal Karadeniz (56) and Muhittin Gokdemir (45). The Georgian polyphonic song which have been sung by Macahelian people on the wedding days, in the fields, in the gardens and on occasions of social events are now recognized in the country and abroad. Although there are actually more people who keep singing these songs, on the vicinity of the disadvantages of the land and some other constraints, only this group could be formed.

After gathering the people who know the songs, determining the songs, putting them on scores and making the album; Machahela Songs will be carried to the future as a cultural inheritance...

One gets excited thinking that there are still many beauties waiting to be discovered on this land we live. One thinks, the colours that fit to Anatolia, the land which has brought up many civilizations through history, are marbled anyhow. I invite everyone to listen to the Machahela Songs on this marbled background, remembering the words of the French writer Antoine de Saint Exupery: “Have to rain on people just like a Georgian song”.

Do not open your umbrellas! Sometimes getting wet is better.

(Translated into English by Ceren YALÇIN-Revised and edited by Aysu ERDEN)


	machahela songs on a marbled background : kevser ruhi : 01012008
	Living at heights grant an odd modesty to people. Coming closer to the peak, mankind purifies from his arrogance, his pride... A voluntary inclining of the head, is carried as a second identity on the collar. Searching for conventions with nature is to accept the greatness of it from the beginning, as well as enduring the defeat. As the freedom to stroll up on the clouds is about to spoil him; the strength of nature comes in between, reminding its power. Then comes the time of acknowledging fealties to the land, the mountains, the stones, the trees, the animals of all the above and the below. At the very same moment, the fire of the rebellion never giving peace flickers somewhere deep inside. This is the fire of the rebellion which feeds the humanity of the mankind, making his a bigger heart. This type of rebellion leads to productivity. This rebellion is a good one. Into your bigger heart fit the mountains hiding their heads up in the clouds, the sounds and the glitters of the madly flowing crystal clear waters, the branches and the green leaves of the trees which you can not even encircle with your arms. The delicate rattling of the little bell on a new born fawn’s neck fits too... When you start to understand the language of the mountain, the wolf, the bird and the bug, you realize that you have learned so many languages. A multilingual, multicultural and multicoloured life becomes your guide. The polyphony reflecting to every scene of life, takes its most beautiful form in folk songs and Machahela Songs are heard from far beyond. I want to tell about a region which is in the province of Borchka in the city of Artvin; formerly named Macahela, with its new name Djamili. I want to tell about the people living in Macahel, whose communication with the world is cut for six months of the year due to the snow and who keep on living their incredibly hard lives without showing any sign of complaint. I want to tell about the polyphonic folk songs of those beautiful people. Macahel is a valley with eighteen vilages. When the borders were being determined officially in 1921, as the result of the referendum, six of the villages were left in Turkey, while the remainig twelve were on the other side (USSR back then). For a long time, all the problems encountered in the border regions had been encountered here too. The border, not only set apart many brothers and sister, relatives and friends, but also brought strange prohibitions which they had not seen before then. Since it was forbidden to point at somewhere beyond the borderline, they have learned to look at those places with their hearts instead, and to call out to the planes, “Tell my brother my good wishs, will you?”. The Macahelian who wanted to inform his relative working on the opposite field, found the solution in the folk songs, and began to sing as if he was just singing to the skies. The folk songs delivered to the addresses have found their correspondances by again folk songs coming from “the opposite side” naturally. The name Macahel goes beyond being the name of a region; it resembles to a culture, a life style. The nature while being very generous indeed, has also displayed its merciless character to the peak point and have had the native people pay for its blessings. But the people living in Macahel have become very skilled in finding solutions to any difficulty. In cooperation with another, they have learned to endure the difficulties which are encountered only by the people who live in villages built on high mountains. Consequently, these people have been at peace with life, themselves and their environments. If you were living in Macahel, you could never be put out with anyone for instance... You would have to come to an agreement with everyone and everything, and reconcile in any position of disagreement No matter how complicated the difficulty you encounter would be, you would have to show your skills to overcome too. In its own way, this land would work on your character... May be, you would find the solution in telling amazing jokes to show the most marginal and the loveliest models of living with eachother, cooperating and laughing together even in the most difficult situations; or on the winter days when your communication with the world would be cut, you would cry out loud rebelliously that you are not afraid of those whitest peaks. You would show that you hear the mountains, that you understand their language. Because you would not be one of those who prefer the easy way. You were once mesmerized by Macahel. When you realize the difficulty of this love, it would be too late already. No matter what you do, this love never comes to an end. Well, you would not want it to come to an end either. You would know that your road is rugged, tough and full of obstacles. And this would make you stronger and more enduring in life. Your resistance would be grinding. It would be sharp. Like a sword in its steathe, it would be hidden in your heart as hope, in your hands as power, it would be hidden somewhere to unreveal when required. We have mentioned that living on such a land makes solidarity and cooperation necessary. For instance, if somebody gets sick during the winter, first, the patient is carried from the mountain paths to Georgia by fifty-sixty people on foot, then, accordig to the protocoles between the two countries (Georgia and Turkey), he is passed through the border and taken to one of the hospitals in Turkey. In Macahel, the task of bringing electricity to the villages had been in such a way that could only be seen in movies. The villagers, in cooperation, with their songs’ accompaniment and with bare hands, had taken the transformer weighing hundreds of pounds and the poles holding the wires up to the mountain, making them fly like birds. The polyphonic Machahela songs sung in social events like this one, when working in the fields or on the wedding days traditionally, make up the powerful sound of solidarity together. And also the most peaceble way to stand erect towards the nature and to defy the mountains. The Macahel region having the six villages Djamili (Hertvisi), Duzenli (Zedvake), Kaialar (Kvabistavi), Epheler (Eprati), Ughur (Akria) and Maral (Mindieti), when described using stereotypes such as “a hidden paradise, a wonder of nature, a beautiful valley in all seasons”, so many facts remain uncovered although the definitions are valid. Macahel is a region which has created its own culture and has preserved it for many years. And the folk songs... A tradition that has been carried through three hundred years; the polyphonic Machahel Folk Songs. Or Machahela Songs... Samples of the Traditional Georgian Polyphonic Folk Music, which are even forgotten in Georgia. Until a few years ago, the too were among the hidden beauties of the region. And today The Machahela Band, having members of ages between 48-65, is proud to carry the tradition of Georgian Polyphonic Folk Songs which in May 2001 were annonced as “the masterpiece of the oral and moral inheritance of humanitiy” by UNESCO, from the past to the future. The group consists of eight members: Ahmet Kos (84), Nevzat Mevlut Erturk (77), Kazim Balci (72), Ismail Erturk (66), Hamdi Erturk (56), Muhammet Balci (58), Cemal Karadeniz (56) and Muhittin Gokdemir (45). The Georgian polyphonic song which have been sung by Macahelian people on the wedding days, in the fields, in the gardens and on occasions of social events are now recognized in the country and abroad. Although there are actually more people who keep singing these songs, on the vicinity of the disadvantages of the land and some other constraints, only this group could be formed. After gathering the people who know the songs, determining the songs, putting them on scores and making the album; Machahela Songs will be carried to the future as a cultural inheritance... One gets excited thinking that there are still many beauties waiting to be discovered on this land we live. One thinks, the colours that fit to Anatolia, the land which has brought up many civilizations through history, are marbled anyhow. I invite everyone to listen to the Machahela Songs on this marbled background, remembering the words of the French writer Antoine de Saint Exupery: “Have to rain on people just like a Georgian song”. Do not open your umbrellas! Sometimes getting wet is better. (Translated into English by Ceren YALÇIN-Revised and edited by Aysu ERDEN)