Dede Efendi (Besteci)

Composer, poet (Born 9 January 1778, Şehzadebaşı / Istanbul – Death 29 November 1846, Mina / Mecca). His full name is Hammâmîzade İsmail Dede Efendi. Since his father earned his living managing a hamam (Turkish bath) he is known as Hammâmîzade. Nowadays he is known as Dede Efendi. He completed his primary education in the school which is next to the Ali Pasha Mosque. He became the head of chanters in this school due to his beautiful voice and talent in music. He took his first music lessons after primary school from Anadolu Kesedarı Uncuzade Mehmed Efendi. In the same time he worked as an assistant clerk in the provincial treasury’s chief accounting secretary to where he came with his teacher’s help. He took lectures from Sheikh Ali Nutki Dede in Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge to where he regularly attended. He benefited from the knowledge of the sheikh’s brother Abdülbâki Nâsır Dede. Some sources claim that he learnt to play nay from him. In 1798 he left his assignment in accounting secretary and underwent a period of suffering in the dervish lodge. After completing this period in 1799 he became a “dede”. He composed his “buselik” (a Turkish maqam) song which started with the verse “Zülfündedir benim baht-I siyâhım” during his stay in the lodge. With this work, he started to gain reputation in musical circles. Sultan Selim III (1761-1808) who is also a composer invited İsmail Dede to his presence and showed him his openhandedness.

After completing his suffering in the lodge, Dede Efendi was granted a room in Yenikapı Lodge and he started to perform music in his room. He was appreciated many times by the Sultan thanks to his compositions. He married a lady from the palace in 1802. He received the rank of “Musâhib-i Şehriyârî” during the reign of Mahmud II. After a while he was assigned to head of the muezzins which is one of the highest duties in the palace. He became the favorite composer of the period during the reign of Mahmud II which lasted thirty one years until 1839. After the death of Mahmud II, also Abdülmecid I (1823-1861) protected İsmail Dede Efendi whom he loved and respected in the palace. İsmail Dede set off on a journey in 1846 in order to realize pilgrimage. After becoming a pilgrim he was infected with cholera and passed away.

İsmail Dede who is one of the greatest composers of the nineteenth century was known as a great exalter of the Prophet and as a unique songster in palace concerts. He created works in almost any genre –religious and non-religious– of Turkish music such as âyin, du­rak, tevşih, savt, ilâhi, peşrev, saz semâisi, kâr, kârçe, kâr-I nâtık, murabba, semâi, şarkı, türkü and köçekçe. The decisive characteristic in his compositions is that the classical style is protected. Dede who created beautiful works under protection of Selim III and Mahmud II, dedicated some of his works to them. İsmail Dede Efendi was a loved person by the sultans of every period. One day when Mahmud II was in Yenikapı for a Koran recitation, he talked to the sheikh of the lodge and İsmail Dede Efendi after the recitation, told İsmail Dede that he was fond of the Ferahfeza maqam and asked him to compose a Mevlevi ceremony in this maqam. He composed the famous Ferahfeza ceremony upon this request. He taught music to numerous students and composed more than five hundred songs. His influence to other composers lasted until the recent past. The first six of seven Mevlevi ceremonies composed by him were recited in Yenikapı and the seventh Ferahfeza in Beşiktaş Mevlevi Lodge for the first time. He wrote Turkish, Persian poems and other unsophisticated poems in syllabic meter.  His composition and musical knowledge precede his poesy. He is a good calligrapher in the same time. The autographic copy of his work titled Âyin Mecmuası is in the Archive of Baki Baykara.

MAIN WORKS :

Hüzzam, Saba, Fe­rahfeza Mevlevi ayinleri, Suzidil durak (Ayağı tozunu sürme çekelden gözüme), rastkâr-ı nev ( Gözümde daim hayal-I câ- nân), hicaz nakış beste (Eyçeşm-I âhu hicr ile tenhalara saldın beni), bayati bes­te (Bir goncafemin yaresi vardır ciğerim­de), ferahfeza beste (Eykaş-ıkemantir-I müjen canıma geçti), ferahnâk beste (Fi­gan eder yine bülbül, bahar görmüştür), mahur beste (Eygonca-dehen hâr-ıelem canıma geçti), sultaniyegâh I. beste (Misalini ve zemin ü zeman görmüştür), sul­taniyegâh II. Beste (Can ü dilimiz lutf-I keremkâr ile mamur), hicaz nakış yürüksemai (Yine neş'e-i  muhabbet dil ü canım etti şeyda), ferahfeza ağırsemai (Birdilber-I nadide, bir kamet-I müstesna), hüzzam nakış yürüksemai (Reh-i aşkında edip kaddimi kütah gönül), neva yürüksemai(Eygonca-dehen ah-I seherden hazer eyle), ferahnâk ağır semai (Dil-i biçareyi mec­ruh eden tiğ-i nigâhındır), mahu ryürük­semai (Yinezevrak-I derûnüm kırılıp kenâre düştü), acemaşiran ağır semai (Ey lebleri gonca,  yüzü gül, sevr-i bülendim), sultaniyegâh ağır semai (Nihan ettim seni sinemde ey mehpare canımsın), şevkefza yürüksemai (Ser-I zülf-I anberini yüzü­ne nikab edersin), ferahfeza yürüksemai (Bu gece ben yine bülbülleri hamuş et­tim), sultaniyegâh yürüksemai( Şâdeyledi can ü dilimiruh-irevanim), şehnaz şar­k ı(Sana ey canımın canı efendim), ferah­nâk şarkı (Beğendim seni efendim, geç­mem asla ben).

REFERENCE: İbrahim Alaeddin Gövsa / Türk Meşhurları (1946), Mahmut R. Gazimihal / Türk Askeri Muzikaları Tarihi (1955), Yılmaz Öztuna / Türk Musikisi Ansiklopedisi (1969), Sadun Aksüt / Türk Musikisinin 100 Bestekârı (s. 119-126,1993), M. Fatih Salgar / Ölümünün Yüz Ellinci Yılında Dede Efendi (1995), M. Fatih Salgar / Dede Efendi Besteleri (1996), Nuri Özcan / TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi (C. 23, s. 93-94-95, 2001), TDOE –TDE Ansiklopedisi 5 (2004), İhsan Işık / Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006, 2007) – Ünlü Sanatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 5, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).