A Phenomenological Approach to the Relationship Between Alawism and Music (Tunceli Example)

The aim of this study is to understand what kind of features traditional Alawi music has in the context of its forms of performance and structural features, based on Alan Merriam’s view “Music is a stereotype of activities, thoughts and objects in stereotyped sounds”. For this purpose, those who have been both zakir and dede in cems since childhood and experienced construction of the relationship between symbol and meaning in the tradition; Zeynel (Batar) Dede (70), one of the dedes of Celāl Ali Abbas Ocağı, who lives in Koyungölü village of Ovacık district of Tunceli, was the main data source of the study and in-depth interviews with Alawism and music were held with him in December 2019. The interviews were described thematically and the semantic dimension of this music was tried to be illuminated within the scope of the themes that appeared. For the part of the study based on music analysis, the example of the Zaza verbal Shah Hatayi phrase compiled from Zeynel Dede was set out and the semantic relationship of the Alawi-specific symbols with the structural elements of the music was analysed through this phrase. In conclusion, based on the example of Zeynel Dede and in the context of the perception of the relationships established by the symbols, such as Haq-Muhammad-Ali, Yol, Hızır, Ahl al-bayt, Pir, Murshid and Karbalā with music, it has been observed that a common sense of history has gained importance as the demonstrators built through music. It has been understood that the symbols emerging in this context have turned into a form of stereotypical expressions in terms of their relationship with music and that such a reflection has brought ontological dimension to the cultural balance transmitted from past to present in the triangle of symbol-perception-semantic world.