Erdoğan ALTINKAYNAK
Mutual conversation and Minstrel tradition are common among Turkish communities. Mutual conversations between Turkish and Iranian Turks and the Minstrel tradition are scrutinized in this article.
The article was started with an introduction to the Minstrel confrontations and studies of Minstrel confrontations. In the sections implemented for the Minstrel confrontations, the examples of call-and-response duets and squabbling of minstrels belonging to other peoples, who learned the tradition of minstrelsy with the influence of Turkish culture, with the peoples of Turkish descent living both in various regions of Turkey and in Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine, are given.
There is also a variety of ways in which parties can excel at each other in a minstrel confrontation or call-and-response duet. Amicable conversation, having a good time, pleasing the audience are among them. Although making art with lyricism is not the main purpose, fine words and striking expressions, as well as analogy elements, show the mastery of the speaker.
It has been noted that confrontations or call-and-response duets are not just a type belonging to minstrels, but that mutual conversations should be included.
It is not only limited to Minstrel confrontations that two or more forces confronting via poetic narratives excel at each other. There are also mutual discourse competitions created by professionals or performed outside of those who do this work by profession. We should collect all such poetic narratives under one title and consider them as separate titles in themselves.
Squabbling due to conflict between bride and mother-in-law is very common in Anatolian geography (Yardımcı, 1993, 234 - 236). In Anatolian-related geographies, e.g. in the Balkans (Hafiz, 1990,185), and in cultures adjacent to Anatolian geography for example in Georgians, bride and mother-in-law conflict is used in a tragicomic way for the purpose of having a good time. As we will provide extensive information on the topic of mutual conversation in the Georgians, we are not showing examples for not recurring here. It is also common among Turkish peoples of different religions (Altınkaynak, 2008, 69-70), and is used as humor for listeners to enjoy and entertain:
The most important motifs that come to our attention in the mutual squabbling between bride and mother-in-law are the deformities of bride's teeth and legs and the throwing of the mother-in-law into the cauldron and the likening of the mother-in-law to the tailed rat. These motifs are found both in Anatolia and in geographies associated culturally with Anatolia.
Having a good time, mutual squabbling for presentations of social norms or events are not limited to mutual squabbling between bride and mother-in-law. There are also those related to young girls, and the majority of them are based on giving in marriage/being married off.
The texts in the article are products compiled or obtained from written sources from countries traveled as part of the project "The Visible Faces of Manas; Kayçı - Invasions - Poets- Minstrels." These texts are abbreviated when presenting and specified by typing (et al.) at the end of the text.
There is confusion between definitions in minstrel confrontations. The reasons for this confusion are given in items. These can be sorted as: "The testing of two minstrels; Two enemies teasing each other with pre-attack phrases or wanting each other to surrender; Man-to-man chatting; Conversations between a man and a woman; Conversations with inanimate beings, plants, and animals. "
Keywords: Minstrel, Tradition, Turkey, Iran, Squabbling, Poetry Talk.
