The Art of the Meddah: Exploring Turkish Forms of Storytelling

Culture is the conglomeration of the beliefs and art forms of societiesm across places, along a long-time frame. And quite evidently, the Republic of Turkey has an extremely long history and a resultantly rich diversity in its culture. Throughout its history, the Turkish land was a barrier and a bridge between two continents, because of its unique geographic position by sharing land partially in Asia and Europe. What resulted was a unique blend of ancient Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, leading to what we know as the Turkish culture to date.

It is one of the largest countries in the region in terms of territory and population. The land is surrounded on two sides by one, the Black Sea and the other, the Mediterranean Sea. This resulted in not just a beautiful culture, but also a vibrant landscape and other unique geographical features. Turkey can be considered as a mountains country, which lies within the young folded- mountain zone of Eurasia. The existence of mountains that run parallel to the coast provides a significant difference in climatic conditions from one region to the other region along with notable variations in temperatures within a diverse landscape. The land is also rich with rivers and lakes. There are about eight main rivers in Turkey, of which two cross the country’s frontiers and six within the Turkish territory. Most of these rivers open to the Black Sea. There are also about 50 lakes with areas larger than 4 square miles and more than 200 smaller ones. One can say that the presence of seas to the north and south, and the mountains to the west are major contributing factors to the climate of Turkey. Contrasts between the interior mountains and the sea coasts produce six main climatic regions.

The term ‘Turk’ is a political term which includes all the citizens of the Republic of Turkey without any difference in their race or religion. Also, majority of the people consider the ‘Turkish’ language as their mother tongue. But in reality, most of them speak Kurdish and a small minority even speak Arabic as their first language. In Turkey’s Islamic tradition, the two important cornerstones of their belief are their ideologies and their rituals. About 98 per cent of Turkey citizens are nominally Muslims, of whom about 80 to 85 per cent are Sunnis of the Hanafi school and 15 to 20 per cent are members of Shiite sects (mostly Alevi). Turkish Muslims recognize the standard Islamic creed andduties, but only the most religious fast or make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Turkey has operated as a mixed economy in which the state and private enterprise contribute equally for the economic development. Considering its natural resources, Turkey is the only middle eastern country with significant coaldeposits apart from Iran. Turkey also has a great variety of natural resources, with few even being on a large scale.

It was during the 20 th century along with the traditional cultural expressions, that Western art forms, including music and literature assumed a predominant role in their culture. Turkey is also known for the multitude of significant art forms produced by earlier cultures, including those in Ancient Greek, Byzantine and Hittites. In short, we can tell that Turkish culture is heavily derived from the Ottoman heritage, which in turn was a combined fusion of Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Turkic and Persian cultures.

The traditional Turkish art is regularly highlighted in their metal, glass, wood and leather artwork as well as in colourful lamps, stone carvings and handwritten books. It is also famous for its beautiful textile, marbling and calligraphy. All these traditional art and crafts have bought a rich mosaic which reflects the cultural heritage of different civilizations originating out of thousands of years of Turkish household stories.

Folk plays always hold an important role in Turkish art forms. Compared to other performing arts such as traditional theatre, shadow theatre and modern theatre, folk plays more indicative of their daily life and by extension, their culture. Meddah was one of the most popular among them. The art of Meddah was popular in the Ottoman Empire from the 16 th century onwards. The word Meddah originated from a storyteller with the same name, who played in front of small establishments, such as in coffeehouses and markets, and sometimes even in palaces.

The Meaning and Modern Form of the Art of the Meddah

The meaning of Maddah is ‘one who praises’. The word is derived from an Arabic term, ‘methedian’. While performing, the performer sits on a chair in front of the audience and does various impersonations and actions using accessories such as a staff (pastav) and a handkerchief (makreme). The staff is not only used to make sounds but also to capture the attention of the audience and strengthen the impression using the five senses. The handkerchief, on the other hand, is also used to represent characters especially, females. The historical pieces of evidence also show that objects used during the performance also have symbolic meanings attached to them. All Meddah tales begins by striking the staff on the floor and saying, ‘Truth, my friend, truth’. In between the story, the storyteller pauses in the narration to help the audience understand and interpret the story. At the time, these storytellers were considered as a mirror of the social and political and economic landscape at the time, the reasons being, the plays heavily employed social and political criticisms. These were either done openly, or subtly by alluding to commonly phrased scenarios.  Historically, Meddahs were expected to educate, entertain and illuminate. Through performances, these storytellers transmitted values and ideas, even to the illiterate masses at the time. The quality of the performance was decided by the atmosphere created between the storytellers and the audience. They selected songs and comic tales in accordance with specific venue and audience. They had the uncanny ability to integrate imitations through jokes which highlighted the issues and problems existing in their community.

In these times, the art of Meddah is one of the surviving traditional Turkish theater art forms. Today they perform only during special locations such as religious holidays and during Ramadan, on television programs and various stage programs. The changes in time, location, contemporary situation and context of the stories along with the change in cultural diversities has now resulted in the emergence of a modern twist to the traditional Meddah. In the present times, we can find a few artistic works, events and activities that have heavy associations with Meddah storytelling in Turkey. It also finds a home in the traditional Turkish theatre category at comedy festivals, celebrations and also during matinee programs. Moreover, Meddah courses are taught in Turkey’s Fine Arts department, theatre departments and theatre programs organised in association with governments and other society organisations to keep this traditional art form alive. It even finds a place on the ‘List of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ and the ‘International Symposium’. In order to transmit this unique heritage to future generations, the Ministry of culture and tourism actively supports the research, identification and inventory wok on Meddah.

It is inherent in human nature to tell stories and inform others about everything around us. But all things considered, the means we use to communicate with other people has definitely changed over time. At the beginning, it was storytelling along with visual stories, and then it changed to other traditions in which stories were passed over from generation to generation by word of mouth. Thus, storytelling is truly a lethal instrument that offers a window to another culture, however foreign it may be. Modern advancements in technology has opened up newer, more efficient ways of communication. The presence of photograph, motion videos, telephones, digital media, television, and most importantly the internet have now given people avenues to experience facts and fantasies in more varied ways. Thus, technology plays an important role in the shaping of society to what it is now. The way of experiencing this technology truly reflects the change in society and also opens doors to how it may evolve further in the near future. Instead of viewing mere screens, we have now reached a point where interacting with three dimensional screens are no longer a pipe dream. The advancement of technology paves the way to experience as many senses as possible, such as via vision, touch, hearing, and even smell. Virtual reality (VR) is another major leap in the technological era. It is arguably the best way technology can be applied people who wish to experience other world(s). The idea that we put forward through this task is to bring Turkish cultural elements right here in Australia, and make people experience it through the most advanced technological implements, for a peek at their rich, traditional art forms.

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