Best Turkish Musicians

Editor's Pick from Turkey: Hande Yener



TOP MUSICIANS FROM TURKEY

1. Itri (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

2. Dede Efendi (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

3. Tamburi Cemil Bey (Kemençe and Tanbur Virtuoso)

4. Haci Arif Bey (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

Editor's Pick from Turkey: Tarkan

5. Munir Nurettin Selcuk (Turkish Classical Music Composer, Singer)

Born in Istanbul in 1900, Selçuk was dubbed “the man

who put Turkish music in Western dress”. He established

the idea of the star vocalist in Turkish popular music in a

concert given in Istanbul’s French Theatre in 1930 but was

famous primarily for his recordings, which ranged from

light classical to tango.

6. Sadettin Kaynak (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

7. Asik Veysel (Minstrel)

Aşık Veyshel was born in 1894 in Sivrialan, Sivas province, and died there in 1973. He lost his sight at the age of seven in a smallpox epidemic which killed his two brothers. Contrary to prevalent aşık tradition, he did not have a mystic dream but was taught by local master saz players. In the 1920s and 30s, aşık lost their nomadic status and took on a more institutionalized role: telling the people in the villages about the new Republic, which embodied the social change they had traditionally requested. Veysel was “discovered” at the Aşık festival organized in 1931 in Sivas by the Society for the Preservation of Folk Poetry. He became a national institution, and his songs – mystical contemplations on the human condition – are still sung all over Turkey.

8. Şerif Muhiddin Targan (Oud Virtuoso, Composer)

9. Niyazi Sayın (Ney Virtuoso)

  10. Mesut Cemil (Tambur Virtuoso, Son of Tamburi Cemil Bey)

11. Sukru Tunar (Clarinet Virtuoso)

 12. Yorgo Bacanos (Oud Virtuoso, Brain of Oud)

13. Muharrem Ertas (Turkish Folk Music Singer)

14. Idil Biret (Concert Pianist)

15. Erkan Ogur (Folk, Jazz Musician, Guitar Virtuoso)

Vocalist, guitarist and saz player Oğur grew up in eastern Turkey, where he listened to the local aşık as well as Jimi Hendrix on the radio. He studied ud before building himself a fretless guitar and working in the rock and folk scene. He often works in a duo with divan saz player Ismail Demircioğlu.

16. Cem Karaca (Anatolian Rock Singer)

Karaca has been a leading figure in Turkish and “Anatolian” rock through his work with bands such as Apaşlar, Kardaşlar, Moğollar and Dervidan. His work became progressively more radical throughout the 1970s and he left Turkey in 1979, shortly before the military coup. But he returned in 1987, after a big public display of reconciliation with the liberal-rightist regime of Turgut Özal. Whilst (some would argue) his politics have lost their way, his music has lost none of its jagged intensity and literary intelligence.

17. Zeki Muren (Modern Turkish Classical Music Singer, Sun of Art)

Born in Bursa, Zeki Müren (1931–96) first came to public

attention as an interpreter of the contemporary sanat

through his radio concerts in the early 1950s. His repertoire,

however, also included Turkish versions of tango,

chanson and the songs of Arab singers such as Umm

Kalthum and Farid el-Atrache. His fame was established by

some eighteen musical films and by his live performances

in Istanbul’s gazino clubs, characterized by their elaborate

decor and Müren’s increasingly camp costumery.

18. Mustafa Kandirali (Clarinet Virtuoso)

Gypsy clarinet player toured the USSR

and USA as a band leader in the 1960s, and there had his

formative encounter with jazz. His later improvisations

could be compared to Benny Goodman for virtuosity and

to Charlie Parker for audacity. Kandıralı’s performances

have a quiet radicalism to their melodic invention.

19. Erkin Koray (Innovator Rock Musician)

20. Neset Ertas (Turkish Folk Musician, Son of Muharrem Ertas)

21. Necdet Yasar (Tambur Virtuoso)

22. Bulent Ortacgil (Singer-Songwriter)

23. Fikret Kizilok (Singer-Songwriter) 

24. Neyzen Tevfik (Ney Virtuoso) 

25. Muzeyyen Senar (Turkish Classical Music Singer)

26. Selahattin Pinar (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

27. Sezen Aksu (Turkish Pop Music Composer, Singer)

28. Kani Karaca (Turkish Classical Music Singer)

29. Orhan Gencebay (World Music, Arabesque-Turkish Folk Fusion)

30. Asik Mahsuni Serif (Folk)

31. Safiye Ayla (Turkish Classical Music Singer) 

32. Leyla Gencer (Operatic Soprano, La Diva Turca)

33. Ali Ekber Cicek (Folk Singer, Baglama Virtuoso)

34. Ahmed Adnan Saygun (Classical Music Composer)  

35. Hafiz Burhan (Turkish Classical Music Singer)

36. Mogollar (Anatolian Pop-Rock Band)

37. Baris Manco (Pop-Rock Singer)

38. Ayla Erduran (Violin Virtuoso)

39. Ulvi Cemal Erkin (Classical Music Composer)

40. Cemal Reşit Rey (Classical Music Composer)

41. Udi Nevres Bey (Turkish Classical Composer, Oud Virtuoso)

42. Talip Ozkan (Baglama Virtuoso, Folk Music)

43. Ercüment Batanay (Tambur Virtuoso)

44. Çekiç Ali (Folk Music)

45. Zekai Dede Efendi (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

46. Reşat Aysu (Turkish Classical Music Composer, Oud Virtuoso)

47. Ismail Hakkı Bey (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

48. Cüneyd Orhon (Kamancha Virtuoso)

49. Hüseyin Sadeddin Arel (Turkish Classical Music Composer)

50. Halil Dikmen (Ney Virtuoso)

Editor's Pick from Turkey: Babazula

TURKISH MUSIC STATS

All-Time Greatest Turkish Films

Artist biographies by The Rough Guide to World Music - Volume 1 - BUY