An ashiq, ashik, or ashough (Armenian: աշուղ ašuġ, Azerbaijani: aşıq, Georgian: აშუღი ašuġi, Greek: ασίκης, Persian: عاشیق, Turkish: aşık) is a mystic bard, balladeer, or troubadour who accompanied his song—be it a hikaye (Persian: dastan, a traditional epic or a romantic tale) or a shorter original composition—with a long necked lute (saz). The modern Azerbaijani ashiq is a professional musician who usually serves an apprenticeship, masters playing saz, and builds up a varied but individual repertoire of Turkic folk songs. The word ashiq derives from the Arabic word ʿāšiq (عاشق: "in love, lovelorn"). See ʿāšiq for further origin and sense development. The Turkish term that ashik superseded was ozan. In the early armies of the Turks, as far back as that of Attila, the ruler was invariably accompanied by an ozan. The heroic poems, which they recited to the accompaniment of the kopuz, flattered the sensibilities of an entire people.
The ashik tradition in Turkic cultures of Anatolia, Azerbaijan and Iran has its origin in the Shamanistic beliefs of ancient Turkic peoples. The ancient ashiks were called by various names such as bakhshi (Baxşı), dede (dədə), and uzan or ozan. Among their various roles, they played a major part in perpetuation of oral tradition, promotion of communal value system and traditional culture of their people. These wandering bards or troubadours are part of current rural and folk culture of Azerbaijan, and Iranian Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Turkmen Sahra (Iran) and Turkmenistan, where they are called bakshy. Thus, ashik, in traditional sense, may be defined as travelling bards who sang and played saz, an eight or ten string plucking instrument in the form of a long necked lute. .
