With him, an ordinary singer has not disappeared from our world; A phenomenon for which murder was committed is recorded from the sky of arabesque. He was one of the last examples of how a person of merit can climb to the top from a life full of pain. Despite all the betrayal, fraud and injustice, it was the one that held on to love and hope… It was the address of loyalty and friendship. He passed away at the age of 79.
He was hardly called ‘father’; The father was mostly valid for Müslüm Gürses and Erkin Koray. Ferdi Tayfur was the ‘king’. The king of arabesque… And for a certain majority, the king of humanity…
When it comes to arabesque, we should pause for a moment. Because the arabesque it represents is a bit own It was like.
Let’s keep up with him and reach out to his memories like a patchwork…
First dream: Tricycle
He was born in Taşçı village of Yüreğir district of Adana. His father, Cumali Bey, is a fan of the famous imitation master and dubbing artist of that period, Ferdi Tayfur. This is where his name comes from: Ferdi Tayfur Turanbayburt.
Destiny weaves its nets early. His father is killed while leaving the pavilion. He becomes an orphan. They drop out of school because they are poor. He learns to read and write in later years, during his business life.
His mother does not stay alone for long. He gets married. The stepfather first puts him in the tailor’s shop so that he can learn ‘art’. Then he finds a job in a candy store.
However, Ferdi Tayfur is not someone who will settle for apprenticeship. He sings at weddings. He sees an advertisement for a music contest organized by Adana Radio in a local newspaper. Participates in the competition. But it comes second. Even though his hope is broken, he does not give up.
While commuting to work during his apprenticeship, he sees a bicycle on the street; three-wheeled… It goes inside. But that’s poverty; can’t get it. Even when he is seventy years old, that bike is on his mind; never forgets.
Waiter in the cafe, singer in the nightclub
He goes to Side for a reason. He is young. While looking for a job, he meets a woman. “Wait for me in Konya,” he said. He believes. He makes his way to Konya. But he cannot find the woman.
He is hungry, he is in the open; He starts looking for a job. He starts working as a waiter in a cafe next to the brothel. He earns seven and a half liras a day, and pays two and a half liras to the hotel.
Can someone whose dream is to become a singer be happy by carrying tea? He can tolerate the work for about two weeks. However, he learns a lot from the people he meets here.
Meanwhile, he finds the opportunity to sing in a pavilion called Texas. His daily wage isn’t bad either.
Even though he had picked up the saz before, he had never done anything more than strumming it. A petty officer he met at the hotel where he stayed in Konya teaches him how to play baglama. Moreover, the binding is not his own. The petty officer waits for Ferdi Tayfur, who returns from work late at night, and makes him memorize the folk songs he knows.
Yes; He had previously appeared on stage in a coffeehouse in Siverek… There was a missing team in the tour team… He was almost pushed away; Suddenly he finds the audience in front of him… He reads ‘I’ll Cry Down to Tea’ and ‘Zalim Avcı’. He is only 11 years old. But the teachings of the petty officer, whom he sees as an older brother, are his first awareness about music… It is a different experience from Siverek.
First 45: ‘Leyla’
Even though his uncle Muhittin calls him from time to time, he is not very convinced. Because his uncles, to whom he took refuge when he ran away from his grandmother, were in the construction industry. And this job is not for him.
On the other hand, his stepfather also wants him to earn money as soon as possible. Because singing is a dream chase, it doesn’t fill your stomach.
But Ferdi Tayfur is a rebel. After Konya, he goes to Istanbul. He finds a job at an amusement park casino. Nurten joins İnnap’s team. Baglama starts playing.
Nurten İnnap is a Turkish folk music artist and film actress from TRT and radio.
The year is 1968. He realizes that he can no longer be content with dreaming. With the support of his circle, a producer (Seda Plak) is persuaded. A two-record contract is signed. He first released his first single, ‘They Don’t Ask What Is My Problem / Angels Smile’, then ‘Leyla / You Killed Me With Your Love’. He earns 500 lira from this record.
This is not a huge amount of money. The producer was also not satisfied with the sales… He inevitably returned to Adana. He takes over the work on the farm.
‘I Have No Peace Left’ – 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1977
He drove a tractor on the farm for three years. He repairs cars. He learns car repair from his brother-in-law, Mustafa Usta. He goes to the plateau. He keeps himself busy. But the love he tries to suppress never goes out.
Again, he pushes the conditions and goes to Istanbul. He sings ‘I Have No Peace Left’.
This piece has an interesting story. Not only was it not sung by Ferdi Tayfur, but Ferdi Tayfur also sang this song in different ways at different times (in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1977).
Comment 71 again did not meet expectations and a two-year period of silence ensued. In 1973, he made his breakthrough with the single titled ‘Stop Listen My Love / Wild Flowers’, which he produced for Görsev Plak.
Wild Flowers goes down in music history as a song loved even by those who don’t like Ferdi Tayfur…
He began to climb the steps of fame with his 1974 single titled ‘There is a Wound in My Heart / Tell Me the Truth’. He is on the eve of a difficult journey.
He was transferred to Elenor Plak in 1975. He breaks all the routines first with his song ‘Let’s Leave This Gurbeti’ and then with his song ‘Çeşme’.
The fame that came with ‘Çeşme’
This song, composed and performed by Ferdi Tayfur, is an example of a different expansion of the genre called arabesque. Although it carries traditional folk song forms, it is a ‘hybrid’. It belongs neither here nor there.
With a song like this, to put it in the words of Elanor Plak’s owner, magnificent Candan, it would shake things up in Turkey.
Arif Sağ probably played a big role in the song being liked so much. Because he has his name and contribution to the arrangement.
On the other hand, the song synthesizes conflicts such as peasant and urban, settled life and slum life, rural and city.
Ferdi Tayfur, knowingly or unknowingly, finds a great vein. He rises to the position of understanding the people and expressing the desires of the people. Over time, the following opinion becomes established among the people: “If it hadn’t happened, would our Ferdi have told us?”…
European tour with Filiz Akın
The year is 1975. Osman Kavran, the owner of the amusement park casino, places an advertisement in the newspapers on the 55th day of the program and thanks Filiz Akın. This is something that happened for the first time. Because there is no announcement for six soloists.
Filiz Akın starts at Amusement Park for a 21-day program. Upon receiving the compliment, the sub-team was changed three times and the program was extended for three more rounds. After a while, this disturbs the headliner Neşe Karaböcek. Here and there he refers to Filiz Akın as “Osman Kavran’s Headliner”… Then he gets pulled into the sled.
However, Filiz Akın is not very interested in scenes. After she divorced Türker İnanoğlu, she got into this business to earn ‘a little’. In 1980, while he was preparing to say goodbye to the casinos after completing his last six contracts and having accumulated enough financial savings, he received an offer to tour Germany with Ferdi Tayfur. He declines, saying his schedule is full.
Ferdi Tayfur was previously offered Müjde Ar or Fatma Girik, but he did not want them. The era is the video era. Yeşilçam movies are scrambled abroad… That’s why he wants Filiz Akın.
Moreover, during that period, the consecutive German tours of İbrahim Tatlıses, Emel Sayın, Gönül Akkor and Bülent Ersoy were unsuccessful. Additionally, Müjde Ar and Fatma Girik had previously gone to Germany and fed the audience.
That’s why Ferdi Tayfur insists on Filiz Akın. He postpones the tour according to Filiz Akın’s casino schedule. He charges astronomical amounts for persuasion. And Filiz Akın went on a tour in Germany with Ferdi Tayfur at the end of 1980.
Ferdi Tayfur’s rightness is soon realized. The tour is successful. Fans in the cinema show great interest in Filiz Akın, whom they will see for the first time. So much so that when the tour ended in 1981, Filiz Akın did not return to Turkey. Afterwards, she does not accept any casino or musical offers, marries Leon (Bubi) Rubinstein and settles in Paris.
The golden age of arabesque
While we are talking about tours and casinos… Let’s move forward and reach the Izmir Fair.
Fair casinos are quite different from Istanbul casinos. If we exclude the Göl, which Necdet Yazır converted from a Turkish casino to a Turkish casino in 1962, and a few smaller club-sized venues, most of them are like large summer cinemas without service.
And Izmir Fair is the place where the greatest Turkish style soloists appear. Müzeyyen Senar, Safiye Ayla, Hamiyet Yüceses and Mualla Gökçay are the first great quartet of ala turka at the fair.
And of course, there is folk singer Zehra Bilir, who is treated at the same level as traditional Turkish soloists. Then, the great headliners Perihan Altındağ, Sabite Tur Gülerman, Mualla Mukadder and Saime Sinan were added to the fair headliners as the popular Turkish style soloists of the period.
The staff of fair casinos is twice as crowded as the staff of Istanbul casinos. The star folk singers and alafrrang singers of the period definitely made some color transfers from Yeşilçam. When Nuri from Bornova transferred Fatma Girik to the stage in 1968 with four times the cachet of Ajda Pekkan and Emel Sayın, she became the best performer of the fair that year, even though Girik could not sing.
Hasan Ekici, who made Yeşilçam’s Hülya Koçyiğit a headliner in 1976, also made an arabesque performer, Ferdi Tayfur, a headliner at the fair for the first time in 1979.
Of course, it is so applauded and appreciated… The golden age of arabesque begins.
“This is the secret of success…”
Undoubtedly, a lot can be said about it. But this cannot be said: He used his fame and wealth and considered himself superior to the people.
Ferdi Tayfur has never attempted to be an opinion leader. Except for the polemic he had with Hakkı Bulut, he did not quarrel with anyone. He supported many people in difficult situations but did not even tell his closest ones.
He was defrauded by his doctor while he was slowly withdrawn from the display case. The check-bill mafia annoyed him. He experienced resentments and resentments from time to time with his three wives. He quarreled with his daughter Tuğçe. He entered the construction industry. Yılmaz Erdoğan used his song without permission. Etc. etc. But he never raised his voice. He was careful not to break hearts.
Of course, this does not mean that he is egoless… Moreover, if there was someone else in his place, he would have done the same – that is different…
Is it better, let’s leave the word to him and step aside… Let ‘Lovers Understand Me’ play on the record player… Confectioner’s Apprentice Let’s read the following lines in the preface of his book:
“I always asked myself. I wonder if it would attract people’s attention if I wrote about my life in the future? saying. Then I kicked myself because it was a ridiculous thought. How many people can you count who have written and composed so many songs, shot films, broken box office records, written scripts, directed films, and given concerts to unimaginable crowds? This was an outright success. There is no other way to describe it, at best it would be fabricated lies and smear campaigns of the monopoly and trust mentalities of those who cannot stand it. If one is very curious, the secret of this success should be investigated…”
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Fikir Turu.
This article was first published on January 3, 2025.
