- published: 24 Sep 2007
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Aladağ, formerly Karsantı, is a small city and a district in Adana Province, Turkey about 100 km north of the city of Adana, up in the mountains. This is an undeveloped area, the people live from agriculture and forestry. People from the Çukurova retreat up here in the summer to escape the heat on the plain, although it's too high up for a day trip.
The Aladağlar mountains are an eastern extension of the Taurus Mountains. These high mountains are a popular area for climbing, usually accessed from the north through the town of Niğde. The town of Aladağ sits on their southern side, accessed by road up from Adana. There is no pass through the mountains.
Mehmet Ruhi Su (1912 – 20 September 1985) was a Turkish opera singer, Turkish folk singer and saz virtuoso of Armenian origin.
Mehmet Ruhi Su was born 1912 in Van, Turkey to an Armenian family. He later expressed his situation: "He is one of the children desolated by the World War I." After he lost his parents at a very early age, he was taken from Van to Adana given to a poor family without child.
He graduated from the Kuleli Military High School in 1931.
He started playing violin at the age of ten. In 1936 he graduated from the Teacher's School of Music and in 1942 from the Opera Department of State Conservatory in Ankara. The following ten years, he performed at the State Opera in Ankara as a celebrated bass baritone, appearing in operas such as Madame Butterfly, Fidelio, Tosca and Rigoletto. During his contemporary music education, he also studied Turkish folk music and consequently made regular radio programs, playing saz and singing folk songs, while he worked at the opera.
A politically motivated arrest in 1952 and imprisonment for five years ended his career in the opera. After serving his "sentence for thought," he dedicated himself to folk music in his unique way.
Stripped of my wings
Falling
Water the brain
Under the skin
Broken
Empty vein
Fix me
Empty my vein
Withdraw
Flushing the brain
Lower than low
Refill
Empty vein
Catch me
Someone catch me now
Before I hit the ground
I cannot fly today
Someone took my wings away
Draining the vein
Withdraw
Under the skin