Müzeyyen Senar

Müzeyyen Senar — Biography

Müzeyyen Senar (born Müzeyyen Dombayoğlu; 16 July 1918 in Gököz, Keles, Bursa – 8 February 2015 in İzmir) was a Turkish singer and film actress, regarded as one of the most powerful voices of Turkish art music. Born in a village near Bursa during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, she became one of the emblematic performers of the Republican era and was celebrated throughout her life as the “Diva of the Republic”.

She received her first musical training at the Anatolian Music Society, where she studied under the oud and violin teacher Kemal Niyazi Seyhun and the singer Hayriye Hanım. Prominent composers of the period, among them Hafız Sadettin Kaynak, Selahattin Pınar, Lem'i Atlı and Mustafa Nafiz Irmak, gave her lessons and supported her in performing their own compositions. Her strong, beautiful voice earned her a reputation while she was still very young, and in the 1930s, while only a teenager, she began appearing on the stages of Istanbul's music halls and nightclubs.

Over a stage and recording career that lasted close to seventy years, she recorded numerous albums. The five-album series 40. Sanat Yılında Veda, released in 1973 and 1974, marked the fortieth anniversary of her artistic life. Releases such as Bir Bahar Akşamı (1977), Çilingir Sofrası (1978) and Müzeyyen Senar'la Fasl-ı Muhabbet (1989) reached a broad audience. Repertoire selections like Atatürk'ün Sevdiği Şarkılar (2007) were also published, and after her death her recordings returned to circulation through new compilations. Her definitive farewell to the stage did not come until the 2000s.

Her relationship with the cinema continued both as an actress and through her singing. Having stepped onto the screen with Kerem ile Aslı (1942) and Nasreddin Hoca Düğün'de (1943), she went on to appear in films such as İstanbul Geceleri (1950), Sihirli Define (1950), Ne Sihirdir Ne Keramet (1951), Sevgili Hocam (1972) and Analar Ölmez (1976), while her voice was heard in a great many Yeşilçam productions. In 1989 she featured in the television series Taş Plaktan Bugüne. Fatih Akın's documentary about the musical culture of Istanbul, İstanbul Hatırası: Köprüyü Geçmek (2005), brought her together with younger generations of listeners.

Honoured with the title of State Artist in 1998, Senar was also a recipient of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Grand Award for Culture and Art. In her private life she was married to Ercüment Işıl. She passed away on 8 February 2015 in İzmir, at the age of 96.