Page 24 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 24
glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti
genuinely moving at the end, when the Imam gave a final benediction in
the mother tongue, long banned from the mosques of Turkey. At this point,
among the older generation, tissues began to make discreet appearances.
In considering the Circassian narrative it is hard not to be struck by
the parallel with Armenians in diaspora, albeit with oppressors (Turkey
and Russia) and faiths (Christian and Muslim) standing in something like
an inverse relation. There are similar stories to tell about the nation-defin-
ing role of the genocides, especially in light of non-recognition by respec-
tive perpetrators, about the ambivalence that attaches itself to concepts of
home(s) and of return (more recently, the Internet has transformed this lat-
ter concept), about the key roles of language and music in validating the di-
asporic nation, about the ‘second generation’ effect beloved of exile studies
more generally, and about an internal east-west division – with associat-
ed dialects – within the respective national communities. Even the outsid-
er characterization of femininity constitutes a shared narrative. Natural-
ly there are differences. Despite their best efforts, Circassians in diaspora
arguably lost the battle for language, and partly for this reason music and
dance have assumed primary significance in defining their culture, albeit
in a homogenized form that can rather easily fall prey to exoticist readings
by host communities. In comparison, as Sylvia Angelique Alajaji makes
clear, the Armenians, and especially the Lebanese Armenians, secured the
language and quickly harnessed it to the national cause.9 Another crucial
difference is that the entire world knows about the Armenian genocide,
while the Circassian story struggles to be heard, as does, incidentally, the
story of the Crimean Tatars, to cite another viable comparator. There is an
asymmetry of visibility, and we may well ask why.
The significance of Kayseri for the Circassians is that it is placed strate-
gically on one of two rather distinct lines of migration across Anatolia fol-
lowed by the original Circassian settlers. The western line, taken by those
who landed at the port of Kefken, near Düzce, crosses to Bursa, and pro-
ceeds from there down through Karıncalı and Manisa to Izmir on the Ae-
gean coast (there are Circassian writings on the walls of a large cave near
Kefken where many of the refugees initially sheltered). The eastern line be-
gins at the ports of either Trabzon or Samsun (in some cases also Sinope)
and takes in Sivas and Kayseri before making its way down through Kahra-
manmaraş and Hatay to Israel, Jordan and Syria. Circassian communities
9 Sylvia Angelique Alajaji, Music and the Armenian Diaspora: Searching for Home in
Exile (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015).
22
genuinely moving at the end, when the Imam gave a final benediction in
the mother tongue, long banned from the mosques of Turkey. At this point,
among the older generation, tissues began to make discreet appearances.
In considering the Circassian narrative it is hard not to be struck by
the parallel with Armenians in diaspora, albeit with oppressors (Turkey
and Russia) and faiths (Christian and Muslim) standing in something like
an inverse relation. There are similar stories to tell about the nation-defin-
ing role of the genocides, especially in light of non-recognition by respec-
tive perpetrators, about the ambivalence that attaches itself to concepts of
home(s) and of return (more recently, the Internet has transformed this lat-
ter concept), about the key roles of language and music in validating the di-
asporic nation, about the ‘second generation’ effect beloved of exile studies
more generally, and about an internal east-west division – with associat-
ed dialects – within the respective national communities. Even the outsid-
er characterization of femininity constitutes a shared narrative. Natural-
ly there are differences. Despite their best efforts, Circassians in diaspora
arguably lost the battle for language, and partly for this reason music and
dance have assumed primary significance in defining their culture, albeit
in a homogenized form that can rather easily fall prey to exoticist readings
by host communities. In comparison, as Sylvia Angelique Alajaji makes
clear, the Armenians, and especially the Lebanese Armenians, secured the
language and quickly harnessed it to the national cause.9 Another crucial
difference is that the entire world knows about the Armenian genocide,
while the Circassian story struggles to be heard, as does, incidentally, the
story of the Crimean Tatars, to cite another viable comparator. There is an
asymmetry of visibility, and we may well ask why.
The significance of Kayseri for the Circassians is that it is placed strate-
gically on one of two rather distinct lines of migration across Anatolia fol-
lowed by the original Circassian settlers. The western line, taken by those
who landed at the port of Kefken, near Düzce, crosses to Bursa, and pro-
ceeds from there down through Karıncalı and Manisa to Izmir on the Ae-
gean coast (there are Circassian writings on the walls of a large cave near
Kefken where many of the refugees initially sheltered). The eastern line be-
gins at the ports of either Trabzon or Samsun (in some cases also Sinope)
and takes in Sivas and Kayseri before making its way down through Kahra-
manmaraş and Hatay to Israel, Jordan and Syria. Circassian communities
9 Sylvia Angelique Alajaji, Music and the Armenian Diaspora: Searching for Home in
Exile (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015).
22
