A late March snow descends on a modest farmhouse in central Anatolia. An oil stove hisses away inside, as afternoon gives way to twilight. A heavyset man with a thick black mustache adjusts his cap, takes a deep breath and fills the room with a piercing, impassioned cry. The small audience settles back for an evening of traditional dengbej singing. For centuries, dengbej songs served as a combination news bulletin, history lesson and evening's entertainment. Master singers built up large repertoires of songs — and could recite the historical events they describe. Mistefa Bedevi, and his son, Sakir, are both dengbej singers. Mistefa says he began when he was just 5 years old, more than a half-century ago. "When a singer came, I'd do anything to listen," he says. "If they kicked me out, I'd scramble up to listen at the chimney." Researcher Argun Cakir with the University of Bristol says it's not an exact comparison, but think of the ancient troubadours, traveling European composers and
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