Minstrel. There is not enough
information about his life. It is understood from the historical events that he
mentioned in his poems that he lived in the 17th Century. It is assumed that he
got the nickname “Kayıkçı” (boatman) from his time in Algeria during his youth.
Kul Mustafa, one of the Janissary poets, was interested in the historical
events of his period and sang poems and epics about historical events such as
the murder of Osman II and the Baghdad campaign of Murat IV. As one of famous
minstrels of his century, Kul Mustafa whose name was mentioned with praise in
Evliya Çelebi’s anthology of army poets was especially renowned for his epic
about the death of Young Prince Osman during the siege of Baghdad.
REFERENCE: M. Fuat Köprülü / Kayıkçı Kul Mustafa ve Genç Osman
Hikâyesi (1930), Hasan Eren / Türk Saz Şairleri Hakkında Araştırmaları (1952),
Cahit Öztelli / Uyan Padişahım (1976), Şükrü Elçin / Türk Halk Edebiyatı
Araştırmaları (1977), Hikmet Dizdaroğlu / Genç Osman Destanı Üzerine Bir
Açıklama (Türk Folklor Araştırmaları, sayı: 360, Temmuz 1979), Nurettin
Albayrak / TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 25, 2002), TDOE –TDE Ansiklopedisi 5
(2004), İhsan Işık / Yazarlar
Sözlüğü (1990, 1998) - Türkiye Yazarlar Ansiklopedisi (2001, 2004) – Encyclopedia
of Turkish Authors (2005) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve
Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, gen. 2. bas. 2007) – Ünlü Edebiyatçılar
(Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 4, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous
People (2013).
