Karşıda Kavun Yerler (Over There They Are Eating Melon)
Story
The song opens with a young man’s shy affection: watching people eat melon across the way, he wonders what would be said if he joined them — and fears that people would whisper that “this one has fallen for that one.” The cries “elmasım ey” (my diamond) and “hele yandım” (oh, I am burning) accompany the lines. Later verses ask the beloved not to leave the singer at the mercy of a bad person, and household images such as a dowry chest and grape molasses (pekmez) carry playful reproaches. No traditional story behind the song was found in the sources.
About
It is a “kırık hava” (metered folk tune) from Çorum, registered as TRT Repertoire No. 991. The source singers are Niyazi Biçerel and Mehmet Ali Biçerel; it was collected and set to notation by Muzaffer Sarısözen (turkuler.com, notaarsivleri.com). On the TRT Music Department’s score sheet the piece is titled “Çorum Halayı”; the source singers are given as “Niyazi and Mehmet Ali Biçerel,” the collection date as 15 May 1951, and the score opens with a section marked “Ağırlama.” Türkü Dostları gives Mehmet Ali Biçerel as the source singer with Niyazi Biçerel as an additional source, and lists the song with the same collection date and the note “Çorum Halayı.” For the Ağırlama, İkileme and Yellendirme parts of the Çorum Halayı, see Çorum Folk Dances.
Niyazi Biçerel is also the source singer of Şu Uzun Gecenin Gecesi Olsam, another song collected by Sarısözen.
Lyrics
In short, the words describe a timid love in a small community where everyone talks, and ask the beloved for loyalty, with light-hearted teasing in the closing verses. (The Turkish opening lines are quoted on the Turkish page; line variants differ between sources.)