Mazhar Alanson
Encyclopedia
Mahmut Mazhar Alanson (February 13, 1950) is a Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, member of the popular Turkish pop music
Turkish pop music
Turkish pop music had its humble beginnings in the late 1950s with Turkish cover versions of a wide range of imported popular styles, including rock and roll, tango, and jazz...
band MFÖ
Mazhar-Fuat-Özkan
Mazhar-Fuat-Özkan is a Turkish band. The names of the band's singers are Mazhar Alanson, Fuat Güner and Özkan Uğur....
and an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
Early life
He was born on February 13, 1950 to a family of musicians in AnkaraAnkara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, where his father was the head trumpeter in the State Philharmonic Orchestra. He continued his high school education in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
following his father's death. After the high school, he attended the State Conservatory in Ankara and graduated in performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
, in particular (theater).
Career
He started playing the guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
during his high school years. In 1966, Mazhar formed the band Kaygısızlar ("The Carefree") along with Fuat Güner
Fuat Güner
Aziz Fuat Güner , better known as Fuat Güner, is a Turkish pop musician, member of the renowned band MFÖ and an actor.-Early life:...
. They played the music of the Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young)
Crosby, Stills & Nash is a folk rock supergroup made up of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, also known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young when joined by occasional fourth member Neil Young...
and the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
and collaborated with the renowned Turkish pop singer Barış Manço
Baris Manço
Barış Manço was a Turkish rock singer, composer, and television producer. He composed about 200 songs, some of which were translated into a variety of languages including English, Japanese, Greek, Italian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Persian, Urdu and Arabic...
. Later on, Özkan Uğur
Özkan Ugur
Raif Özkan Uğur is a Turkish pop musician, member of the renowned band MFÖ and an actor.He started his musician career in the Şerif Yüzbaşıoğlu Orchestra as a bass guitarist. In 1971, Özkan joined Mazhar Alanson and Fuat Güner in the duo "Kaygısızlar" The band was dissolved in 1972...
joined the band, and in 1972 the trio
Trio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...
was renamed MFÖ, after the initials of the members. While Özkan was serving his military duty, Mazhar and Fuat released their first album Türküz Türkü Çığırırız ("We are Turkish, we will sing Türkü
Türkü
Türkü, literally "of the Turk", is a name given to Turkish folk songs as opposed to şarkı. In contemporary usage, the meanings of the words türkü and şarkı have shifted: Türkü refers to folk songs originated from music traditions within Turkey whereas şarkı refers to all other songs, including...
"). The album song Güllerin İçinden ("From in-between the roses") brought the group to a broader audience. In 1974, Galip Boransu and Ayhan Sicimoğlu joined the band, and the quintet
Quintet
A quintet is a group containing five members.It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
took the name
İpucu Beşlisi ("Clue Quintet"). However, the band dissolved after a short time, and the group MFÖ continued to play as a trio again.
Between 1972 and 1982, Mazhar Alanson played as an actor at the Ankara State Theatre, performing a number of leading roles in major plays.
MFÖ represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
Turkey participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1975, represented by Semiha Yankı performing "Seninle Bir Dakika", but did not achieve any considerable success until the late 1990s...
twice, in 1985
Eurovision Song Contest 1985
The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the 30th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 4 May 1985 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The presenter was Lill Lindfors, and Norwegian duo Bobbysocks! was the winner of this Eurovision with the song "La det swinge"....
with Didai Didai Dai (placed 14) and in 1988
Eurovision Song Contest 1988
The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 30 April 1988 in Dublin. The presenters were Pat Kenny and Michelle Rocca...
with Sufi (placed 15), both written and performed by themselves.
Aside from the band, he released two solo albums: Herşey Çok Güzel Olacak (1999) and Türk Lokumuyla Tatlı Rüyalar (2002).
Mazhar Alanson was awarded the "Best Songwriter of the Year" in 1984 for his album Ele Güne Karşı Yapayalnız.
As an actor
He played in several TV commercialsTelevision advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
and some films. In the film Arkadaşım Şeytan (Demon, My Friend) directed by Atıf Yılmaz
Atif Yilmaz
Atıf Yılmaz Batıbeki was a renowned Turkish Kurdish film director, screenwriter and film producer. He was almost a legend in the film industry of Turkey with 119 movies directed. He also wrote 53 screenplays and produced 28 movies since 1951. He was active in almost every period of the Turkish...
, he successfully played the role of Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles is a demon featured in German folklore...
. He wrote also the film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
. In his second film Her Şey Çok Güzel Olacak ("Everything's Gonna Be Alright") directed by Ömer Vargı, Mazhar Alanson shared the leading roles with Cem Yılmaz
Cem Yilmaz
Cem Yılmaz is a Turkish stand-up comedian, actor and filmmaker, best known for his films G.O.R.A. , A.R.O.G and Yahşi Batı , who has won two Sadri Alışık awards for his roles in Organize İşler and The Magician .-Biography:While studying at the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management of...
and Ceyda Düvenci. The film, he wrote also the film music for, became the highest-grossing movie in 1998. He shared in 2002 the leading role again with Cem Yılmaz in the film Yıldızlı Pekiyi ("A+" (letter grade in school)). The same year, he played in the TV series Çekirdek Aile ("Nuclear family
Nuclear family
Nuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
") produced for Kanal D
Kanal D
Kanal D is a nation-wide television channel in Turkey and part of Doğan Holding which is owned by the Turkish media tycoon Aydın Doğan.Kanal D also runs an international channel, Euro D which is available online....
. In 2006 he appeared in the Cem Yılmaz movie Hokkabaz ("The Magician").