Shisheler

Bottles

This page contains a translation into English of the lyrics to Shisheler, a well-known traditional Turkish song often used by belly dancers. It is popularly used as a drinking song. It's a great choice for dancing in front of a Turkish audience!

On Turkish Delight, Folk & Gypsy Music of Turkey, published by Monitor Records, the title of this song appears as "Lingo, Lingo, Shisheler", which it translates as "Bottles, Bottles". The sleeve provides the translation of the first two verses and the chorus that appears below. The translation for the third verse that appears below, plus corroboration of the lyrics for the first two verses and the chorus were provided by Robyn C. Friend, Ph.D., and Ergun Tamer. Per Robyn, "Shisheler" means "Bottles", and "Lingo" is a nonsense filler word similar to "tra-la".

Listen To A Clip Of This Song

From Gypsy Fire

This sample is from the CD titled Gypsy Fire, which was produced by Harold G. Hagopian. Featured musicians include Richard A. Hagopian and Omar Faruk Tekbilek. See below for more information on how you can purchase the CD.

<==Click on this icon to hear a clip of this song in RealAudio format.

Lyrics

What you wear is bright silk satin
That no needle can pierce.
My beloved cannot sleep without me.

Chorus:

Oh, bottles, bottles
I drank my raki [a local drink]
and you don’t like me.
I fell into the mud and you laughed at me.

You wear a white dress,
The nights are chilly…
Come near me for a little while.

Repeat Chorus

You wear yellow,
The nights are short…
Whose lover are you?

Repeat Chorus

Where To Get Recordings Of This Song

One excellent recording of Shisheler appears on Gypsy Fire, a CD featuring Richard A. Hagopian and Omar Faruk Tekbilek.

<==Click here to order Gypsy Fire from Amazon.com in the U.S.

<==Click here to order Gypsy Fire from Amazon.ca in Canada.

<==Click here to hear a clip in RealAudio format of what this song sounds like on Gypsy Fire.

The Brothers Of The Baladi have recorded this song on their Further Journeys CD. According to the sleeve, the song means, "Let’s be merry, dance, and have fun!" However, this appears to be an erroneous translation. This particular rendition of this song is noticeably slower than most. Includes vocals.

<==Click here to order Further Journeys from Amazon.com in the U.S., prices quoted in U.S. dollars.
<==Click here to order Further Journeys from Amazon.co.uk in the U.K, prices quoted in British pounds.
<==Click here to order Further Journeys from Amazon.ca in Canada, prices quoted in Canadian dollars.

On Turkish Delight, Folk & Gypsy Music of Turkey, published by Monitor Records, the title of this song appears as "Lingo, Lingo, Shisheler", which it translates as "Bottles, Bottles". This recording uses the more ethnic style of Turkish instruments, and features the particular melisma of the vocalists. Includes vocals.

Practice Music Volume II by Mary Ellen Donald and George Mundy is one of the slowest versions I've heard of this song. Instrumental, no vocals. It was intentionally played slowly in order to be suitable as musical accompaniment to finger cymbal practice.

Exotic Belly Dance Music, by Typical Oriental Orchestra is an instrumental version that features improvisation in the middle. No vocals. Decidedly ethnic-sounding flavor.

Sirocco, by John Bilezikjian and Var Daghdevirian, features this song twice: at the beginning of the Seven Veils dance routine on Side II, and again at the end of the routine as a finale.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks for Robyn C. Friend, Ph.D., and Ergun Tamer, for their assistance in creating this translation. Robyn, based in Southern California, sings Turkish folk, Turkish classical, and Persian classical music, and also performs Persian classical dancing. Ergun is Robyn’s source for most things Turkish. You can visit Robyn's web site at http://home.earthlink.net/~rcfriend/.