Folklor Akademi Dergisi

Abstract

Coffeehouses are the most important performance venues of the minstrel tradition. The minstrels play saz, sing folk songs and tell stories in these places. From the 16th century until today, coffeehouses have maintained their functions. Although the traditional minstrel coffeehouses have continued their existence from the 16th century to the present, these coffeehouses are in danger of disappearing today. This situation, which occurs in coffee houses, also negatively affects the tradition of minstrelsy. As the minstrels could not perform their performances in the coffeehouse environment, they could not find another place to perform. Some events, commemoration programs, etc. They rarely perform in narrow performance areas such as With the development of the media environment and the minstrels' recognition of this environment, a new era has begun for the minstrels, if the phrase is correct. In this respect, the media environment has become a context where minstrels can exhibit their performances and introduce themselves. Especially the internet environment and its product, social media, have been effective in the aforementioned situation. In this context, the minstrels started to perform their performances in the media environment and aimed to keep the minstrel tradition alive and transfer it to the next generations by creating unity in this environment. In addition to being one of the digital environments, the group/page called “Âşıklar Kahvesi”, which was founded on February 23, 2011 and owned by Âşık Cemal Divanî and Hacer Alioğlu Yakuti, on Facebook, a widely used social media platform in the world, keeps the tradition of the minstrel coffee house alive. serves its purpose. This group is trying to keep the traditional minstrel coffeehouses that are on the verge of disappearing alive on the internet, which is the new research area of folklore and the new performance context of the minstrel tradition. “Âşıklar Kahvesi”, which can be evaluated in the context of updating the tradition or transferring it to a new environment, brings many advantages together. In this way, the minstrels perform their performances, organize themselves, communicate with each other and the public, and gain advantages such as conveying their performances to more people free of charge and promoting themselves. In addition, they serve to live and keep the tradition alive through live broadcasts in the mentioned environment. In this context, in the study, the data obtained about “Âşıklar Kahvesi” has been interpreted and information has been tried to be given, and similar and different aspects of traditional minstrel coffeehouses and "Aşıklar Kahvesi" have been discussed. Based on all these, some suggestions are given in the context of the subject discussed.