Şerafettin Taşliova (10 April 1938 – 20 September 2014) was a Turkish storyteller in the
asik bardic
In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's an ...
tradition.
Taşliova won many prizes at bardic contests for improvised poetry and storytelling; many at international level. He had also been awarded by UNESCO. He started writing poetry around the age of ten and was widely recognised for his ability to tell epic tales, being one of the most prominent figures in the northeastern Anatolian tradition of minstrelsy,
He was a prolific published author of poetry, and has also recorded many albums of his poetry and bardic stories.
Taşliova also had a long career in broadcasting. He made appearances on a number of Turkish television stations, and had been making a regular radio broadcast since 1966. He also appeared in the
Michael Wood BBC documentaries ''
In Search of the Trojan War'' (1985) and ''
In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great'' (1997), in which he demonstrates the oral traditions of the storyteller.
Early life
He was born in the village of
Pekşeren (
Gülyüzü), in the district of
Çıldır
Çıldır (, Husenian; meaning "North"; ka, ჩრდილი, Chrdili; meaning "Shadow") is a town in Ardahan Province of Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a r ...
in the
Ardahan Province
Ardahan Province (; ka, არტაანის რეგიონი, tr; is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the north-east of Turkey, bordering Georgia (country), Georgia and Armenia. Its area is 4,934 km2, and its population is 92,481 ...
, on April 10, 1938. His name translates as "honor". On September 13, 2014, he was carried to the Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital. Seven days after he was operated, he died on September 20, 2014.
Wider recognition
In 1986, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism established a database of living folk poets, 557 âşıks were registered in the database including Şeref Taşlıova. On the 4 July 2008 and using this database, Taşlıova was identified and nominated for UNESCO living human treasure.
These were the words of Şeref Taşlıova:
Albums
*Wonderful, 1967
*TürküOla, 1976
*Wonderful, 1986
Books
*
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasliova, Seref
1938 births
2014 deaths
People from Çıldır
Turkish storytellers
Turkish people of Azerbaijani descent