Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Life, Art, Works and Creativity of Living Human Treasure Ashik Maksut Koca (Feryadi)
Project no. 29608 · Status: Kapanmış · 2023
Summary
<p>One of the elements of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) registered by Turkey on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2009 is the minstrelsy tradition. In Turkey, there are many Ashiks who belong to this tradition. While some continue the tradition locally, others have gained both national and international fame. One of them is Ashik Maksut Koca (Feryadi), who was honoured as a Living Human Treasure (LHT) representative of the Ashik Tradition in 2017 and received his award at a ceremony held at the Beştepe National Congress and Culture Center with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.</p><p>The project primarily investigates the current situation of the Ashik tradition and the conditions under which it can be effectively transmitted to the future, based on the ICH Convention and specifically focusing on Maksut Feryadi. It addresses the life, art, works, and significance of M. Feryadi within the context of contemporary Ashik tradition.</p><p>Initially, within the project, the training of contemporary Ashiks within the framework of ICH, their current social and economic situation, and the impact of these conditions on their creativity were evaluated. Additionally, the current problems of this tradition were assessed, including the challenges of sustaining the tradition, utilizing new performance venues, and leveraging electronic media, with recommendations provided in these regards.</p><p>Examining the life, art, and creations of Ashik Maksut Feryadi and the conditions of the Turkish Ashik tradition yielded significant results as a sample within the project. M. Feryadi, who is one of Turkey's renowned composers and lyricists, has 161 registered works with MESAM (Copyright Collective Society of Turkish Music). However, it is certain that there are many more poems not registered there. Out of these poems, 226 have been included in the study. The poems from 24 "verbalduels" with other Ashiks are not included in this count but are provided separately. Furthermore, M. Feryadi, who knows many more minstrel stories that were compesed by former master minstrels, also has a minstrel story titled “Akıllı Mehmet ve Gülfidan Hanım” (The Story of Clever Mehmet and Lady Gülfidan) which he composed. He has also released 31 albums from 1977 until today, most of which consist of his own lyrics and/or music.</p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH), Living Human Treasure (LHT), Ashık Maksut Koca (Feryadi), Minstrelsy.</p>