Cry of My Rebellion (Folk Song)

Feryad-ı İsyanım is a contemporary folk song with lyrics by Ozan Emekçi and music by Mazlum Çimen, shaped around themes of individual and collective suffering, the pursuit of justice, and testimony. The song first emerged as a poem and later gained widespread popularity within the oral music tradition after being set to music.

Origin and History of the Song

Feryad-ı İsyanım is derived from the epic poem of the same name, a long-term literary work by Ozan Emekçi. The poem was written based on the poet’s personal life experiences, eyewitness accounts, and observations of political and social events.^【1】 The text has a structure that speaks from an individual narrative to collective memory. The language employed in the poem unites elements of lament, rebellion, and call to action; in this regard, it is regarded as a modern continuation of oral folk literature's.

The transformation of the poem into a musical form was achieved through Mazlum Çimen’s composition. The melody was designed to preserve the poem’s lengthy and narrative-driven structure; during performance, the narrative is maintained prominently alongside the melody. This approach has led the work to be perceived not merely as a musical piece but also as an oral narrative.

Lyrics of the Song

What haven’t the flames consumed for the sake of love?

Didn’t Ferhat carve through the mountain for Shirin’s dream?

The fault is in remembering you every second, everywhere

Didn’t Majnun swear enough for your sake Leyla's?

Every place your eyes touch is my homeland

Grant me rest, let my exile and servitude not grow longer

Ahmet Arif chains have worn out from longing

If your chained longing can wear me down this way

I burned again for you, Nesimi, last night

Let me be absorbed in your gaze, let me be lost in your presence

The gods in their divine court have decreed thus

Either I was sent for you, or Muhammad holds the mace

I am the anvil upon every beautiful face in the world

Your gaze has become the hammer within me

The storms within my soul have tired the sun

Tell Noah to prepare, let the flood come

Who is Mazlum Çimen?

Mazlum Çimen was born on 18 June 1958 in the village of Sevdilli, Elbistan. He grew up in an environment rich with writer and artists. He received extensive violin training and completed his studies in ballet, serving as a ballet artist at the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet. He is currently a composer, performer, and musician active in Contemporary Turkish folk music and original music. Throughout his artistic career, he has produced works rooted in the folk music tradition while renewing it through contemporary interpretations.

Alevi-Bektashi culture, deyiş poems, and socially charged texts hold a central place in Çimen’s musical repertoire. He is known for setting poems by various poets to music, establishing a narrative-driven relationship between text and melody. In Feryad-ı İsyanım, as a composer, he has paid particular attention to preserving the integrity and dramatic structure of the poem.^【2】

Who is Ozan Emekçi?

Ozan Emekçi, whose real name is Ali Haydar Levendiz, is a poet, writer, and musician trained within the tradition of Turkish folk minstrelsy. His poems prominently address themes of social justice, labor, exile, oppression, and testimony. Emekçi has composed music for a significant portion of his poems, though some of his works have also been set to music by other musicians, reaching broader audiences.^【3】

The poetry collection titled Feryad-ı İsyan is among Emekçi’s most well-known works and serves as the textual source for the song Feryad-ı İsyanım. The poet himself describes this work as one in which he “spent all he had and all he was.”^【4】

Place in the Turkish Folk Music Repertoire

Feryad-ı İsyanım occupies a prominent position within the contemporary Turkish folk music repertoire as a narrative-driven composition. Its extended poetic structure, direct mode of expression, and dramatic storytelling distinguish it from the classical folk song form, while incorporating elements of epic, lament, and protest narrative.