Abstract :
It is a known fact that bodily defects and deficiencies caused by these defects constitute difficulties in one’s life. Such deficiencies, in term of blindness, undertake a triggering function for the emergence of one’s competency of art in some cases and at various times. This study dwells upon the ‘’yaşnâme‛ of Ashik Mevlüt İhsanî and Ashik Mustafa Ruhanî, today’s master minstrels within Turkish custom of minstrelsy. Ashik Mevlüt İhsanî and Ashik Mustafa Ruhanî have led similar lives in terms of the neighborhood that they have lived and childhood that they have had. This similarity is perceptibly seen in the ‚yaşnâme.‛ The focal point in the similarity of these two minstrel artists have experinced is that there is a tragic event which resulted in both ministrels’ blindness. This tragic event, also told in the ‚yaşnâme‛, is a crucial phase in the artistic journey of two minstrels. The two ‚yaşnâme‛ of both minstrels/artists, which resemble each other as if they are written by a single minstrel, are compared. The parallelism between these two important artists is beyond predictions when the experienced tragic event, the ‚yaşnâme‛ which display synchronic quality though written diachronically, and coincidences in their art life are taken into account.
