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Kirkpinar Concepts Part 1
Sound and Rhythm in Kırkpınar:
Drum and Horn
The drum and horn color the wrestling in Kırkpınar and they control the
wrestling near the field referee.
 Drum and Horn
The permission of the drum and horn is given to the specified groups via
open bidding. Accompanied by the drums and horns, the wrestlers are being
called to “Tutuş” and both the wrestlers and the audience are cheered up
by the wrestling songs. During the wrestling, drums and horns play without
stopping.
The beat and the rhythm is an ever changing and endless movement which
start with the heart beats from the beginning of the human life and people
feel in various shapes and tones during their lifespan. As the flow of the
life accelerates, the heartbeats also accelerate. As the flow of the life
slows down, the heartbeats slow down. When we get excited, the first thing
we feel that the heartbeats accelerate.
In every time of the lifespan, the beat and the rhythm which are the
uniform of the small pieces of the beat make themselves to be felt. In
sports, the beat flowing from spectator to the player and constantly
changing, changes itself into the rhythms which can not be described. But,
this excitement occurring in the world wrestling makes itself to be felt
all the time and the wrestling with music is the custom of Kırkpınar
greased wrestling.
During Kırkpınar Greased Wrestling, 20 drums and 20 horns continue without
stopping and the drum is the instrument which, as if, would control the
heartbeats of the wrestlers. The most remarkable feature of the wrestling
music is that the drum has a steady rhythm while the melodies which are
played by the horn are various. This shows that the songs of the wrestles
are named according to the melodies used. The other supporting idea is
that the wrestling rhythm is called “güreş havası” and “Ceng-i Harbi”, a
melody played at the end of each wrestling, is kept different from the
songs of the wrestles.
In the songs of the wrestling, the main element is the rhythm. The melody
changes into a show as proportional to the freshness of the wrestling. In
the songs of the wrestling there are two main measures: the song of the
wrestling (12/4) and ceng-I harbi (24/8).
As Osman Bider, the oldest wrestling musician in Edirne and whose master
was Osman Zurna, says, there are 3 types of the wrestling songs: Balkan,
Dağlı and Divan. The other wrestling musicians add a new melody named
“muhacir” to these. “Dağlı” and “muhacir” may be thought to be the songs
which are related to the roots of the wrestling musicians and their family
identities.
The Cengi-i Harbi way varies 10 and 12 timely apart from 16 timely.
Cengi-i Harbi is played at the end of the wrestling songs. The other time
when it is played is when the attacks of the wrestlers become dense.
Because the wrestling is slow at the beginning and one or more couple
wrestlers wrestle at the same time, the audience can sometimes miss the
other wrestling. The audience is attracted to a wrestle getting hot via
music. The sudden change in the way and getting hot make the audience feel
more excited. What makes this excitement is playing rapidly Ceng-i harbi.
We can not think Turkish Greased Wrestling without horn and drum. In fact
it is often witnessed that the wrestlers stop the wrestling when the music
is stopped.
The Ultimate Aim of the Wrestlers: Gold Belt
The greatest reward of Kırkpınar greased wrestling is The Gold Belt
which is the ultimate aim of the wrestlers.
The gold belt is 22 tuning gold and 1 kg 400 gr weighted. Because the
delicate workmanship is required, the workmanship costs as the gold
itself.
The beginning from Turkish Republic, the wrestling champion who has been
champion 3 times one after another gets the “GOLD BELT” as a reward.
Hüseyin Alkaya from Tekirdağ is the first winner of the Gold Belt in the
period of Republic. The other champions with the Gold Belt are: Mustafa
Bük from Ordu (1966-1968), Aydın Demir from Karamürsel (1976-1978),
Hüseyin Çolak from Denizli (1982-1984), Ahmet Taşçı from Karamürsel
(1990-1992 and 1995-1997).
The Call to Kırkpınar: The Red Candle
The red candle is sent to the wrestlers and the guests invited by the
agha before the wrestling contest. It is sine qua non of Kırkpınar.
 The Red Candle
The people charged as the agha of Kırkpınar announces when the wrestling
will be done and when the fair will open by sending the red candles to the
villages, the towns, the cities from the beginning of March.
The red candles are hanged on the higher places of the traditional cafés
in the villages and towns so that everyone knows they are invited to
Kırkpınar. Before the custom of the red candle, the heralds called
“Okuyucu” would send to every towns, villages and cities and those
unlettered heralds would read the texts which they learned by heart to the
people.
In this communication age, there is of course no need for the heralds’
announcing the invitation of agha by traveling between villages, towns and
cities. But in order to make this custom survive, “red candle” custom
should last and the agha should send these candles to his invitees.
The red candle is the common white candle which is painted red at the
bottom of the candle.
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