This article was automatically translated from the original Turkish version.
Meddahlık is a storytelling art that aims to entertain the audience through imitation, impersonation, and dramatization. The practitioner of this art is called a meddah, a term derived from Arabic meaning “one who praises” or “one who extols.” Meddahlık is also defined as the improvised storytelling performance by artists known as meddahs, who entertain the public using imitation, humor, gestures, and facial expressions. The success of the art depends on the meddah’s rhetorical skill and the connection established with the audience. While performing, the meddah sits on a chair and uses accessories such as a stick (pastav) and a handkerchief (makreme). The stick may be used as a sound effect to capture the audience’s attention and enhance the narrative, and it also represents objects and characters within the story. The handkerchief is employed to alter the voice or assume different personas. Historical records indicate that these accessories carry symbolic meanings within the meddahlık tradition. The meddah begins the story by striking the stick three times on the ground and uttering the phrase “Hak dostum, hak” followed by a refrain. To avoid offending anyone by mentioning names of people or places, the meddah uses the expression: “isim isme, kisip kisbe, semt semte benzer, geçmiş zaman söylenir, yalan gerçek vakit geçer.” At times, the meddah pauses to allow the audience to comprehend and interpret the narrative, and at other times, interrupts at the most dramatic moment to collect money from the spectators. The performance concludes with the phrase: “her ne kadar sürçülisan ettikse affola.”
Meddahs can draw upon various legends, tales, historical events, and figures in their narratives, while also incorporating fictional contexts and allusions to contemporary social and political events. Through these fictional frameworks, social and political critiques may be conveyed either as implicit messages to the audience or expressed explicitly. For this reason, meddahs are often regarded as mirrors of the social, political, and economic conditions of their time. In this sense, their performances approach what is understood today as epic theater. The subjects of meddah stories are typically improvised according to the profile, interests, and the prevailing social and political agenda of the audience. Thus, although each performance follows a certain structure, it remains unique and original. A common feature of meddah stories is the staging of everyday disorder, poverty, and socioeconomic problems from multiple perspectives, encouraging humorous and reflective engagement with these issues. The meddah presents a repertoire composed of anecdotes and songs selected from popular literature and widely known topics. At the end of each story, the meddah draws a moral lesson that the audience is expected to endorse.
Meddahlık (generated by Artificial Intelligence)
The oral transmission of the meddahlık tradition through master-apprentice relationships has made it difficult for the stories to reach the present day, resulting in a limited number of published meddahlık texts. In the past, meddahs performed their art in palaces, mansions, circumcision ceremonies, and coffeehouses. Today, they perform especially during Ramadan and religious holidays, on television programs, and on various stages. These transformations, along with contemporary reinterpretations of the stories, have given rise to what is termed “modern meddahlık.”
Although the number of direct cultural activities related to meddahlık in Türkiye is limited, the tradition finds a place within festivals of theater and humor, as well as in celebrations and public day programs, under the heading of Traditional Turkish Theater. To sustain the tradition, universities’ faculties of fine arts, conservatories, and theater departments, in collaboration with municipalities and civil society organizations, offer meddahlık courses in theater workshops. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism continues research, documentation, and inventory projects concerning the meddahlık tradition. In 2003, the meddahlık tradition was inscribed among the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and in 2008, it was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Themes and Content
History and Current Status
Preservation and Recognition