OUR UNIVERSITY'S RESEARCH PROJECT “INTERGENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: MASTER-APPRENTICE RELATIONSHIP IN MİNSTRELSY TRADITION” IS SUPPORTED BY TÜBİTAK

Supported by: TÜBITAK - European Union Commission Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, CoCirculation2

“Transmission of Knowledges: The Master-Apprentice Relationship in the Âşık Tradition”

Hande Sağlam has been honoured to be one of the 19 scientists who received support from the TÜBITK 2236 - Co-Funded Brain Circulation Scheme.

Hande Sağlam, A/V-Archive Director of the Ethnomusicology Departmets at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, will continue her research at our university for one year with the support of 2236 - International Experienced Researcher Circulation Programme: CoCirculation2.

Since August 2022, she has been carrying out her project at the University of Music and Fine Arts Ankara under the concultancy of Prof. Dr. Okan Murat ÖZTÜRK. This research project, which will last for one year, examines the âşık-tradition, which is in danger of disappearing today. The research project aims to investigate the current situation of the âşık- tradition in Sivas, one of the most important Anatolian province of this tradition. Finding sustainable, community-based solutions to continue this centuries-old tradition is the main focus of this research project.

Apart from intensive field research, qualitative interviews, their detailed analyses, conference presentations and scientific publications, the project aims to discuss the subject in detail with national and international experts within the scope of the 2023 Ȃşık Veysel Year through a symposium to be held at our university.

Project Summary

“Transmission of Knowledges: The Master-Apprentice Relationship in the Âşık Tradition”

The âşık tradition, whittled down into its present shape through centuries of experience, and characterised by its own particular rules, is performed within the framework of certain rituals and is a tradition which has been transmitted orally from generation to generation by means of folk poetry. The master-apprentice relationship, which is central to the sustainability of the âşık tradition, serves the role of a bridge between past âşıks to those living today by transmitting knowledge, customs and experience. The Anatolian/Turkish âşık tradition was designated part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2009 as a consequence of its history comprising several thousand years. However, the tradition is now in danger of dying out due to the rapid decline of the master-apprentice relationship, particularly after the second half of the 20th century. Up until now, solution-based research has not been conducted on how to transmit this oral cultural heritage to future generations by means of its traditional master-apprentice method.

This research project plans to turn the spotlight on the relationship between master and apprentice in the âşık tradition in Anatolia. The city of Sivas and its surroundings, which has bred the largest share of âşıks, will be the main location for this project. Finding sustainable solutions plays a key role in this project. The main goal of this project is to develop techniques for teaching this tradition to future generations, using age-old local and traditional customary master-apprentice methods as well as coming up with new techniques to fit the university environment, with the active participation of master âşıks.

In this project we will apply music sociology's qualitative interview methods and combine scientifically-oriented ethnomusicological research methods (especially field research and participant observation) with practically-oriented methods of music education. The methods taken from music theory and Turkish (folk) language and literature will accompany and support the project with their analytical approaches to explore the central role of lyric and music matters in this tradition. This interdisciplinary approach constitutes an optimal intersection between academic research and practice in music and literature.

The Research Centre of Âşık Tradition based in the Ankara Music and Fine Arts University, will be an ideal location for this project to be run and for the project results to be implemented and, even more importantly, to ensure sustainability once the project concludes.

Hande Sağlam plans to continue her research within the scope of Co-Funded Brain Circulation Scheme2 in Turkey, previously having spent 16 years at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (mdw) working on eight different research projects at the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology (IVE) of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Furthermore, Dr. Hande Sağlam's PhD thesis was on the âşık tradition, and she has conducted numerous field research on the âşık tradition in Sivas since 2003.

CV

Hande Saglam is the head of the audio-visual archive of the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology (IVE) at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw). She received her Bachelor Degree in composition and music theory in Turkey at the Bilkent University than obtained her master’s degree in music theory from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, and received her doctoral degree in ethnomusicology at the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology of the same university.

Her research focuses are music and minorities, the âşık tradition in Anatolia, (Turkish) immigrants in Europe, cultural memory and transmission methods of traditional musics, transculturality, bi- and multi-musicality. She has designed and worked on a range of research projects on music and minorities, on audio-visual archives and transmission of music in Austria and Turkey.

Hande Sağlam was deputy director of the Department of Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology at the mdw between 2017-2022, served as vice chair of the ICTM National Committee of Austria between 2015-2017, and as chair between 2019-2021. Since 2017 she acts as secretary of the ICTM Study Group on Music and Minorities. In 2022 she received funding from the European Commission Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Co-Fund program will therefore stay in Turkey until 2024 to teach and conduct research on the Âşık tradition and its role in the cultural memory of Anatolia.