Meddah

Meddah

profession, occupation

Subclass of	storyteller
Country	Turkey
Country of origin	Turkey
Intangible cultural heritage status	Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
Described at URL	https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/00037, https://ich.unesco.org/fr/RL/00037, https://ich.unesco.org/es/RL/00037

Meddah be name wey dem dey take give sam traditional Turkish story teller, wey play sam small group of viewers dema front, such as sam coffeehouse audience. Na dis form of performance especially be popular for de Ottoman Empire insyd from de 16th century onwards. Na de play be generally about sam single topic, de meddah wey dey play different characters, wey na dem usually dey introduce am by say dem go draw attention give de moral wey dey de story insyd. De meddah go use props such as sam umbrella, sam handkerchief, anaa different headwear, wey ego signal sam change of character, wey na eget skill say edey manipulate ein voice den imitate different dialects. Na no tym limitation dey de shows top; na sam good meddah get skill say ego adjust de story wey edey depend on de interaction plus de audience.

Overview

Na Meddahs generally be traveling artists wey dema route take dem from one large city go anoda, such along de towns of de spice road; de tradition supposedly dey go back to Homer ein tym. Na de methods of meddahs be de same as de methods of de itinerant storytellers wey na dey relate Greek epics such as de Iliad den Odyssey, even though na de main stories now be Ferhat ile Şirin anaa Layla den Majnun. De repertoires of de meddahs sana dey include true stories, dem modify depending on de audience, artist den political situation.

Na de Istanbul meddahs be known say edey integrate musical instruments go dema stories insyd: na dis be main difference between dem den de East Anatolian Dengbêjin.

For 2008 insyd, dem relist de art of de meddahs for Representative List of de Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity insyd.

History

De meddah originally start as de narrators of religious den heroic tales, wey na eget ein roots for de tradition of Turkish oral literature insyd. While estrongly dey base for Turkish nomadic den shamanist traditions top wey dem bring from Central Asia rather than external influences, na Arabic den Persian traditions influence Turkish story-telling for 11th-13th centuries insyd so say ego cam turn sam form of one-man theatre. Na dese narrators of mainly epic tales be known as kıssahan, plus dema stories wey dey contain strong Islamic elements wey ereinforce de faith of de Muslims give de audience wey edey attempt say ego convert de non-Muslims. Na such kıssahan dey exist for Seljuq period tym insyd wey dem usually talk Arabic den Persian epics, stories of Ali den Hamza, as well as tales from One Thousand den One Nights. Dese stories expand ova tym wey na edey include stories such as Battal Gazi.