Müzeyyen Senar

Türk Sanat Müziği Sanatçısı

Doğum
16 Temmuz, 1918
Ölüm
08 Şubat, 2015
Burç

Turkish classical music performer (B. July 16th, 1918, Keles, Bursa – D. April 9th, 2011, Izmir). His father Mehmet Bey, nicknamed “Surgeon”, had a coffeehouse. His mother was Zehra Hanım, who had a very beautiful voice and she would read the Koran, performe ghazal (a poetic form) and play the tambourine. His family moved to Istanbul due to financial difficulties. Müzeyyen Senar was able to sing songs impeccably at the age of six and she performed at weddings and family gatherings. She suffered from stammering for a while but she recovered.

Müzeyyen left his father at the age of twelve and moved to his mother’s home in Üsküdar. She attended the 19th Mekteb-i Fakir. Her teacher there took notice of her voice.

In 1931 she joined the Üsküdar Music Society. She took tempo, note and mode lessons from Emin Ongan and Necati Tokyay. One year later, she took lessons from Hayriye Örs and Kemal Niyazi Bey at Şark Music Society. Meanwhile, she met some composers like Selahattin Pınar, Yesari Asım Arsoy, Osman Nihat Akın, Lem’i Atlı. In 1932 she entered the Istanbul Radio. Senar, who performed with Kemal Niyazi Bey at Istanbul Radio, began to make a name herself there with a program aired on Thursdays.

İbrahim Dervişzâde, the owner of the 10th Year Belvü Music Hall, one of the most important music halls of Istanbul, was one of those who listened to Senar on the radio and in 1933 he offered Senar to work at his music hall in star program for the summer season. She accepted that offer with a condition; she wouldn’t attend in fasıls (a musical act) and she would perform alone, as a soloist singer. Thus, she was the first soloist of the history of Turkish music halls. Her first performance at the music hall was followed by the first gramophone record. The first song she performed was “Ümitlerim hep kırıldı, yârim artık gelmeyecek” by Yesari Asım Arsoy. Senar, who left the radio in 1941, took to the stage at many music halls in Istanbul.

In 1934 Müzeyyen Senar got engaged to Dr. Mahir Kürklü, who taught her songs, but they didn’t get married. She married Ali Senar who gave her his surname “Senar” in 1935.  She married Ercüment Işıl in 1943, Tevfik Hamze in 1953. She had one child from her first marriage and two children from her second marriage. She didn’t have a happy life with his first two marriages but she was happy with her third husband Tevfik Hamza Bey, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia

Müzeyyen Senar, the most successful singer of the 1950s, began her art life on the stages. She sang songs with Münir Nurettin Selçuk for dubbings of Arabic movies. She performed Sadettin Kaynak’s songs and recorded them. She played in movies like “Kerem ile Aslı”, “Kahveci Güzeli.” Instead of the songs performed by Ümmü Gülsüm, the Egyptian singer in the original versions of the movies, new pieces were composed for Müzeyyen Senar. She continued to sing movie songs in the following years. She appeared in movies like “Binbir Gece”, “Balıkçı Osman Bağdat’ta.”.

            She breathed a new life into Turkish music with the songs she performed. Later in her career, she left the radio and began to perform on the stages only. In 1938 she attended the first broadcasts of Ankara Radio and continued to meet her audience via radio till 1941. She gave a new spirit into Turkish Classical Music with her successful performances on the stages of the famous music halls of Turkey and with her recordings. Müzeyyen Senar left the radio upon the offer from Kristal Music Hall and “the fame wind of Müzeyyen Senar” began in Istanbul. She appeared at Maksim Music Hall, Istanbul Music Hall, Tokatlıyan Hotel, Çakır’s Music Hall and at Tepebaşı Music Hall and became more and more famous.

She was the first singer who gave a concert abroad in 1947 in Paris. That concert held in Lido de Paris hit the headlines in Turkish press and she was welcomed enthusiastically. She took to the stage lastly at Istanbul Bebek Music Hall in 1983. From then on, she rarely took the stage and appeared only in special meetings. Her album “Bir Ömre Bedel” in which she featured with Sezen Aksu, Tarkan, Nükhet Duru, Ajda Pekkan, Şebnem Ferah, Kubat, Levent Yüksel and her daughter Feraye was well-liked by the public. The most important songs of Senar include “Ormancı”, “Ceviz Oynamaya Geldim Odana”, “Feraye”, “Gezdiğim Dikenli Aşk Yollarında”, “Benzemez Kimse Sana”.

Müzeyyen Senar had 500 recordings and albums. The giant voice of Turlish Classical Music, the State Artist Müzeyyen Senar spent her life in music on concerts, recordings and albums. She had gramophone records and 45-rpm disc and then Long Plays and cassettes and CDs. She had around a thousand gramophone records for Odeon Music Company. She was given the title of State Artist in 1998.

Senar fell sick on September 26th, 2006 in Izmir and was got under treatment. In 2007 she was taken to Istanbul Darüşşafaka Rehabilitation Center and began to receive physiotherapy. When doctors said there was nothing to do, her daughter took her to Bodrum. Senar who began to live with her son and daughter in Bodrum passed away on April 9th, 2011.

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