ICTM STUDY GROUP ON MUSIC AND DANCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: 2012 SYMPOSIUMBEROVO, MACEDONIA

Blent Kurtiolu; Belma Kurtiolu

Turkey

HIDDEN LATIN IN THRACE: NOTYALILAR

The Balkan immigrant population living in Turkey moved there at different historical periods extending from the mid nineteenth century to the most recent arrivals coming as refugees from the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Among them, the people migrated from the village Notia of the Karacaova region mostly after the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 call themselves Notyal and speak Notyaca which is the Megleno-Romanian language. Encountering new cultures, the needs to be similar, to differentiate and to emphasize the cultural identity forms the identity of the immigrants. Notyallar maintained this differentiation and emphasizing the identity by the language. Similarity and emphasizing was ensured by the dances performed in all social settings while the similarity was accomplished by the music instruments they used. Keywords: Notyal; Megleno-Romanian language; Fetili dance; identity building

The Balkan immigrant population living in Turkey moved there at different historical periods extending from the mid nineteenth century to the most recent arrivals coming as refugees from the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. The reasons for migration differ as well as the reasons for deciding the destination country, however the predominant ones are the religion, in this case Islam, and the common historical past, in this instance the Ottoman legacy. They settled in various cities, mostly in the Thracian region of European Turkey, the city of Istanbul and western Anatolia. The blurred perception that all Muslims are Turks and the title of their citizenship of Turkey as Turkish, which does not designate a specific ethnic origin, then all of them can also be considered Turkish. However, they call themselves Turk, Albanian, Pomak, Macedonian, Patriot, Roman, Dal (literally, the Mountaineer), Bosniak and others in addition the people entitled after the names of the places of origin. On the other hand, the newcomers were not always welcomed by the already settled people and might be considered as the 'other' or even non-Muslims. They can be called just as gmen (emigrant), as a general nomenclature, instead of using the names indicating their ethnicity or the place of origin. In Turkish, there are different words standing for emigrant. These are gmen (Turkish, immigrant), muhacir (Arabic, immigrant), mbadil (Arabic, exchanged), soyda (Turkish, cognate, from the same ancestry). They are usually used interchangeably in everyday language. However, the word gmen having the Turkish root points out people immigrated more recently since it is included in the Turkish vocabulary more recently while the word muhacir having the Arabic root designates the immigrants who migrated in earlier times, in other words before 1960s. The word mbadil indicates the migrants from Greece who were exchanged with the people living in Turkey after the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. The religion, Muslims and Christian Orthodox, was the single criterion for this exchange rather than the ethnicity. The word soyda refers to the migrants who moved to Turkey from Bulgaria after 1989 because of the symbols of Turkishness and Muslim identity elements were threatened. To welcome the immigrants and to tell them that you are not the other and we are from the same ancestry, they were called as soyda. In this paper, the migrants from several regions of Greece so called mbadil will be discussed. Giving a name to a group is to categorize so that to differentiate it from other groups as well as to collect dispersed people under a group. Whereas this mbadil group is considered as a mass, there are various groups with different languages such as Macedonian, Bulgarian by Pomak, Greek by Patriots, Turkish, Latin based Romanian by Vlach (Ulah) and with different cultural performances. Among them, the Vlahs were located around the Karacaova (Edesa) region. They, Karacaova people, in large moved to the settlements of the Thracian part and Aegean region of Turkey. The people from Notia1, a village from Karacaova region (see Figure 1), were settled especially around the city Tekirda; some of the villages are Glsz, Kalam, Hoky, Mrefte. These people call

ICTM STUDY GROUP ON MUSIC AND DANCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: 2012 SYMPOSIUMBEROVO, MACEDONIA

themselves as Notyal (literally means people from Notia) and speaking Notyaca, which is supposed to be the Megleno-Romanian language.2 This nomenclature is unfamiliar for them.

Figure 1. The village Notia Encountering new cultures, the needs to be similar, to differentiate and to emphasize the cultural identity forms the identity of the immigrants. Now we will look how similar, how different the Notyallar and how do they emphasize their cultural identity. The differentiation and emphasizing: the language Mustafa Karayel (born in arky/Tekirda in 1945, second generation mbadil from Notia) talks about the language and calls it Notyaca: "My father knew Bulgarian, Macedonian, Notyaca; all of them. However, at home they spoke Notyaca and rarely Turkish. I used to know and speak very well. Since my grandmothers died, we could not speak anymore. I asked my father what kind of a language is this. He described it as kapma (literally it means caught) language. I dont know what it means." And he associates Notyaca with Italian not with Romanian.3 The language lives in some melodies that are also accompanying the dances, which are the identity markers of the Notyal. For example, the song mentioning about the exchanging flower for the future marriage promise is still not forgotten whereas the tradition is no more implemented. Remziye Meri (born in arky in 1946 second generation mbadil from Notia) sings the song. Donyu fetu donyu mari se kitka dinkap Ne kitka vay bre kopil Ne tini ti voy Yo kaseslev mari fetu Ruba din kutiya Ne ruba vay bre kopil Ni tini ti voy Donyu fetu Yo koseslev mari fetu ovli din kutiya Ne ovli voy bre kopil Ni tini ti voy Give me girl, give me woman The flower on your head Neither I give the flower Nor I want you I will marry you, girl! The dress is in the box Neither I want to have the dress Nor I want you Give me girl I will marry you, girl! The shoes are in the box Neither I want to have the shoes Nor I want you

ICTM STUDY GROUP ON MUSIC AND DANCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: 2012 SYMPOSIUMBEROVO, MACEDONIA

She also mentions about the former tradition related with this song. "If the girl is in love with a boy, then the girl gives flower to him in any case. For example, when the boy goes to the military service, the girl sends a flower along with a piece of her own hair. Therefore, the flower on her head is required in this song as well. For 40-50 years, this tradition is not applied anymore." (Meri, 2012) The most common known and also performed by non-Vlach dance tune is the fetili. The lyrics are translated roughly by Mustafa Karayel (2011) "Oy, how beautiful are the girls. As if they are goats in the spring, they run to the green. Oy, how beautiful are the elderlies4. Oy oy the elderlies are hunching like a pitcher. Oy esa buni fetili Oy Oy fetili Kaprima vera kaprili Oy Oy fetili Kaprima vera kaprili Oy esa buni ficuri Oy oy ficuri Kamilori vezili Oy oy ficuri Kamiloribli vezili Oy esa buni moili Oy oy moili Kustona gurgu lusili" Similarity and emphasizing: dances Fetili is also the name of the line dance which is again the identity marker for the Notyallar among other dances performed by all the male inhabitants of this region regardless of the different cultural groups migrated from Thessaloniki, Drama, Kavala and Serres. The other dances performed by these people are debrelihasan, karayusuf, istefalka, galamata, patrona, Bulgar gaydas, boymisa, tikve, Cevriye, Yuvan kaptan. Although some of them are performed more locally, for example fetili only in Tekirda, they have similar step patterns, with slight style and figure differences. For example, fetili, debrelihasan (performed in this region as well as in other parts of Balkan countries) and ahmetbey (performed mostly in Krklareli) share the common structural characteristics of the figures and forms. The line moves from left to the right in a slightly closed semicircle. The hands are grasped upright at the chest level by bending the elbows. The walking step and lifting one foot up to the other knee are the common characteristics both in the slower and faster parts. However, the difference of the rhythmic pattern of the dance is very remarkable. The rhythmic pattern of fetili tune with lyrics is 5/8 (2+3) and when the tunes accompanies the dance, it becomes 7/8 (3+2+2) like the rhythmic pattern of the dance whereas the rhythmic pattern of ahmetbey is 2/4. Debrelihasan, performed exactly the same in Tekirda, Krklareli and Edirne, has diverse rhythmic patterns; in other words in Edirne and Krklareli 5/8 (2+3), in Tekirda 7/8 (3+2+2). Another dance that has not been performed on the stage before is the dance called Fatea muska performed by the women, arm in arm, without any musical instruments but only by vocal music, with the 4/4 rhythmic pattern. Mustafa Karayel (2011) explains the story of the song first. "Fatea muska gave birth in the darkness without any help. They looked and recognized the baby. They asked 'what will be his name, mother?' She answers 'we call him Ramadan, mother. Hop hop hop'." Then, he continues to sing while dancing. ftrineta muska fioriz fesi Oy oy fioriz fesi Faraisfi tella faraisfi tella Oy oy faraisfi tella ella pumnim mayku Ramadana mayku Oy oy ramadana mayku Hop hop hop
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ICTM STUDY GROUP ON MUSIC AND DANCE IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: 2012 SYMPOSIUMBEROVO, MACEDONIA

By performing and associating the dances fetili and fatea muska with Notyal identity, they emphasize it; while they make themselves similar to others performing the common dances of the region. Similarity: musical instruments It is said that the musical instruments, the Notyallar used to perform, are gayda (bagpipe with two pipes), tambura (long neck lute with three strings), kaval, zurna which was performed by the Roma people. Women play the kapsa (a kind of one-sided framedrum), daire (a kind of onesided framedrum), def with cymbals, and dmbelek (made of clay, one sided goblet shaped drum). In this region now, they play the davul, rarely zurna but the clarinet, kaval, daire, def, darbuka. In addition, the other instruments used by non-Notyal people are kanun (the zither), the violin, the ud, the cmb (long neck lute with metal body) in their cultural performances. By looking at the musical instruments, the similarity to form the immigrant identity is seen very clearly. As a result, Turkish Notyal people emphasize the cultural identity with two dances and the lyrics of the accompanying music, as much as we can find, and differentiates his/her ethnic identity with the name of the village in origin. They would be called as Greek Vlach, if they didn't migrate. And if the Roman Empire wouldn't send some people to the Karacaova region centuries ago, the Notyal would be called an Italian today. The ethnic identities are imaginary as Bayart (1999) calls it. References cited Bayart, Jean-Franois. 1999. "Kimlik yanlsamas" [Illusion of identity]. stanbul: Metis Yaynlar. Friedman, Victor A. 2009. "The diffusion of Macedonian inflections into Megleno-Romanian: A consideration of evidence." Linguist's linguist: Studies in South Slavic linguistics in honor of E. Wayles Browne: 223-233. Steven Franks (editor), Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica Publication. Kahl, Thede. 2006. "The Islamisation of the Meglen Vlachs (Megleno-Romanians): The Village of Nnti (Ntia) and the 'Nntinets' in present-day Turkey". Nationalities Papers 34(1):71-90. United Kingdom: Routledge. Meri, Remziye. 2012. Interviewed and shot by Blent Kurtiolu in arky,Tekirda, Turkey; 12 May. stanbul: private collection of Blent Kurtiolu. (Digital video.) Karayel, Mustafa. 2011. Interviewed and shot by Blent Kurtiolu in arky,Tekirda, Turkey; 02 December. stanbul: private collection of Blent Kurtiolu. (Digital video.)
1

" the village of Nnti (Vlach language: Nnti or Nnta, Greek: or , Macedonian: or ', Bulgarian: u, Turkish: Nutya [Notya] or Yediky), whose population converted to Islam in the eighteenth century." (Kahl 2006: 72) 2 "The predominantly Megleno-Romanian village of Nnti was the largest Megleno-Romanian village (3500 inhabitants according to Kancov 1900:152) and the only one whose inhabitants were Muslims rather than Christians. According to Kancov, there were also 160 Roms in Nnti, and Capidan (1925) mentions both Roms and Pomaks (in this context Macedonian-speaking Muslims) in the village." (Friedman 2009: 225) 3 " For example, un, doy, drey, patru, ius, asi, apti, optu, no, zeti, suzprs, drtzi... in our language, Notyaca, you can see it is very similar to Italian." (Karayel 2011) 4 He translated ficuri as elderlies but boys would be more proper.