Sayachi words in southern Azerbaijan folklore

Abstract

Sayachi words (these poems are songs related to sheep farming) is one of the important texts of Azerbaijan folklore. Although it is widespread both on this side of Araz and on the other side, it has been less collected and less studied compared to other examples of folklore. At the beginning of the 20th century, some research was conducted with these folklore texts, especially the meaning of the sayachi words, but in later times, these examples were neglected. It should also be noted that sayachi words have been little studied and little collected. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why this field is left out of research. For a detailed study of any folklore genre, folklore texts are first needed to provide material for analysis. Sayachi words are folklore texts related to the nomadic life. The failure of the nomadic life over time these texts to go out of circulation. Unfortunately, because it was not well recorded in time, we do not have enough material now. It is gratifying that in recent times, we also find examples of sayachi words in folklore collections collected and published from Southern Azerbaijan. Sayachi poems have not been forgotten, as the nomadic life has not yet completely disappeared in South Azerbaijan. The inclusion of new examples in Azerbaijan folklore is highly commendable, and this creates the need to study those texts. We think that this article will help to fill the gap that has arisen regarding sayachi examples. Sayachi ceremonies, like our other ceremonies, are one of the ceremonies in which the bayati poetic mold is activated. Therefore, when we look at the form of sayachi words, we see that some of them are in the bayati form. An in-depth study of this ceremony will help to explore the context and function of bayati. The study of the sayachi ceremony and the sayachi words also creates the need to clarify the form of the songs sung in this ceremony.

Keywords

• sayachi words
• south azerbaijan
• bayati
• folklore
• nomadic