BARTOK IN TURKEY

Abstract

ONE day in May of 1936 I talked with my friend, the Turkish musicologist Mahmud R. Gazimihlil, about the means of setting forth the true character of the folk music of Anatolia, hitherto unknown to folklorists. Our train of thought had been started by a monograph, in Hungarian, containing a map of folklore areas in which the Anatolian peninsula had been indicated as belonging to the Arabo-Persian region. We decided to publish, each of us individually, a booklet, with the end in view of correcting the error and showing the ties that bound Anatolia on the one hand with Asia and on the other with Hungary, Ireland, etc. We did so without delay, and did not neglect to send copies to the author of the monograph mentioned. After but a few weeks, we received a letter from our addressee informing us of Bela Bart6k's interest in the subject. Some bits of music were included, written out by the composer, who wished to know whether in Anatolia one could find songs exhibiting this turn of phrase. Thus Bart6k became interested in the folk music of Turkey and expressed a desire to undertake a trip through Anatolia. His only request was for a second-class round-trip ticket. Towards the end of October he arrived in Istanbul, and from the day after his arrival we went to work in the archives of the Conservatory hearing one after another the folk pieces there recorded on disks. On one occasion, he jumped utip and-clearly moved-asked me to play the song over again. It was a dance tune, in 9/4 aksak (irregular meter), divided thus: J J . But no: he drew my attention to certain irregular arid almost im erceptible prolongations whihh modified this rhythm, thus: , or