Hıdır Gürel (1920 – 5 November 1976), better known by his pen name Âşık İbretî, was a Turkish

ashik An ashik ( az, aşıq, ; tr, âşık; fa, عاشیق) or ashugh ( hy, աշուղ; ka, აშუღი) is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as '' hika ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

and

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...

. His pen name means "the Exemplary Ashik". His poems were written in the tradition of Turkish Alevi folk poetry. Âşık İbretî composed poetry about politics, Islam, Sufism and love. Âşık Mahzuni Şerif mentioned him as "a progressive and revolutionary ministrel".

Biography

Hıdır Gürel was born in Kırkısrak village of

Sarız Sarız, formerly known as Sáros (Greek: Σάρος), is a town and district of Kayseri Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The mayor is Baki Bayrak ( MHP). History The history of the district goes back to ancient times, to 700 BC ...

, Kayseri in 1920 to Ali and Sultan. His ancestry had emigrated from Akçadağ village of

Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city ...

. His mother died when he was 3 years old and his father was married to another woman. He started working with a shoemaker. He was married to his aunt's daughter, his cousin Sultan when he was 18 years old. After military service, he went to

Afşin Afşin is a town and district of Kahramanmaraş Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Afşin-Elbistan power stations Two coal fired power stations are operational and are said to be damaging health via air pollution. See also * ...

Kahramanmaraş Marash (Armenian: Մարաշ), officially Kahramanmaraş () and historically Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean Region of Turkey and the administrative center of Kahramanmaraş Province. Before 1973, Kahra ...

and learned tailoring in a short time. He returned to his hometown Sarız as a tailor. Because of this he is also known as Terzi Hıdır ("Hıdır the Tailor"). In this period, he began playing

bağlama The ''bağlama'' or ''saz'' is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Kurdish music, Armenian music and in parts of Syria, ...

and writing

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

. Other than shoemaking and tailoring, he dealt with many jobs like mining, musical instrument making and amateur dentistry. He went to

Elbistan Elbistan ( 1ca, Ablasta, Ablastayn, Ablastin, Ablistan;Aksüt, Ali"''On the Alevism of Elbistan, Nurhak, Ekinozu and Afsin - Elbistan Nurhak Ekinözü Afşin Aleviliği Üzerine - Zum Alevitentum in Elbistan, Nurhak, Ekinözü und Afşin''"- Alevi ...

, Kahramanmaraş and started working as a photographer but he couldn't adapt to the city and returned to his hometown. He became famous with his poetry and went to Istanbul. He died on 5 November 1976 in Istanbul. He had two daughters (Sultan, Gülbeyaz) and four sons (Haydar, Hüseyin, Hıdır, and Kemal). Hıdır died at the age of 34 in 1992. His wife Sultan died in February 2000, his eldest son Haydar on November 2001, his oldest daughter Sultan in December 2006 and his son Kemal on March 24, 2014. His son Hüseyin lives in Balikesir, Turkey, while his daughter Gülbeyaz is living in London, England.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibreti, Asik 1920 births 1976 deaths People from Kayseri Turkish folk poets Turkish Alevis Alevi folk poets 20th-century Turkish male singers Date of birth unknown 20th-century poets Alevi singers