Folk poet Aşık Maksut Feryadi, who goes by the name of Maksut Koca, was born in Kars and was unable to continue his education. Feryadi, who crossed the country’s borders with his Turks, attempted to explain the tradition of the minstrel by traveling from country to country. Here is the life of Aşık Maksut Feryadi…
WHO IS ASHIK MAKSUT FERYADI?
Maksut Koca was born in 1961 in Arpacay, Kars. He completed his primary education in his village, but was unable to continue his education due to impossibilities.
From an early age he was interested in music and folk poetry. He took his first Baglama lessons from his father. After that he developed himself. His real master was Hicrani from Sosgert. Feryadi, who formerly sang anonymous folk songs, began to be heard with his own folk songs over time.
At the age of 16 he came to Istanbul with the help of a relative and released his first cassette in a month. He took part in various events and competitions. The poem he wrote for the 70th anniversary of the Republic won second prize among 270 poems in the competition organized by the Ministry of Culture. This poem has been included in Turkish primary school textbooks. A clip with contributions from Istanbul University was shot by TRT for the poem. The poem he wrote for the 75th anniversary of the republic was also awarded second place by the Ministry of Culture.
He was invited to the United States by Harvard University to give talks and lectures on the tradition of the minstrel and folk poetry. He continued his work within the Folk Poets Culture House, which he founded in Bagcilar in 1996. Feryadi, who has prepared 15 albums, released his book of poetry titled Water Burned in 2007, which consisted of poems he had written. He received the Living Human Treasure award from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey in February 2020 for his efforts to transmit the minstrel tradition to future generations through the master-disciple relationship and the education of young minstrels.
