Tanburi Cemil Bey
Encyclopedia
Tanburi Cemil Bey (1873, Istanbul – July 28, 1916, Istanbul) was a Turkish
tanbur
, yaylı tanbur
, kemençe
, and lavta
virtuoso and composer, who has greatly contributed to the taksim (improvisation on a makam/maqam) genre in Ottoman classical music
. His son, Mesut Cemil
Bey, is an equally renowned tanbur virtuoso.
, Ottoman Empire
, in 1873, though his birth date is uncertain. He took his first lessons in music from Kanuni Ahmet Bey and the violin player Kemani Aleksan, his first instruments thus being the violin
and the kanun. After completing middle school, he continued in a school for civil servants (Mülkiye), but then devoted himself to music and abandoned his education. He began to play the tanbur quite early in his youth and by the age of 20, his renown had already spread among the tanburis of Istanbul
. Reforming the traditional playing technique of the tanbur, he developed an energetic technique based on a rich and agile picking style, lightening to a great extent the sonority of this instrument. Later on, he set about playing the Turkish classical kemençe and attained an astonishingly high level of technique, so much so that the virtuosity level of the Ottoman kemençe
vi of Greek-Gyspy origin Vassilis (1845–1907), considered as then as "the reference", came to be thought of by certain amateurs to be outmatched... He was also the inventor of the yaylı (bowed) tanbur
.
This musician was able to play any instrument he picked up: he played lavta
, cello
, yaylı tanbur
, zurna
and several other instruments with equal virtuosity. His taksim
s and instrumental works he recorded on 78rpms with tanbur
, kemençe
, lavta
, cello
and yaylı tanbur
had considerable impact on generations of musicians following him. The peşrev
s and sazsemais he composed are pieces of great taste, requiring a developed performance technique.
If we are to lay confidence in his close friend Mahmut Demirhan's words:
He was a very sensitive and nervous person, who eventually suffered from alcoholism. Most of his compositions have
been preserved in his recordings, but some of his work were incomplete when he died.
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...
tanbur
Tanbur (Turkish)
The Tambur is a fretted string instrument of Turkey and the former lands of the Ottoman Empire. Like the ney, the armudi kemençe and the kudüm, it constitutes one of the four instruments of the basic quartet of Turkish classical music aka Sanat Musiği...
, yaylı tanbur
Yayli tanbur
The yaylı tanbur is a bowed lute from Turkey. Derived from the older plucked tanbur, it has a long, fretted neck and a round metal or wooden soundbox which is often covered on the playing end with a skin or acrylic head similar to that of a banjo....
, kemençe
Kemence
Kemence is a village in Pest county, Hungary....
, and lavta
Lavta
The lavta is a plucked string instrument from Istanbul. It has a small body made of many ribs using carvel bending technique, looking like a small ud, gut strings like an ud but only 7 strings in 4 courses and tunable: A dd gg c'c' , or sometimes A dd aa d'd'...
virtuoso and composer, who has greatly contributed to the taksim (improvisation on a makam/maqam) genre in Ottoman classical music
Ottoman classical music
Ottoman classical music developed in Istanbul and major Ottoman towns from Skopje to Cairo, from Tabriz to Morocco through the palace, mosques, and sufi lodges of the Ottoman Empire. Above all a vocal music, Ottoman music traditionally accompanies a solo singer with a small instrumental ensemble...
. His son, Mesut Cemil
Mesut Cemil
Mesut Cemil was a Turkish composer, and a notable tanbur lute and cello player. His father was Tanburi Cemil Bey.He participated in the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music.-References:Sources consulted Endnotes...
Bey, is an equally renowned tanbur virtuoso.
Biography
Tanburi Cemil Bey was born in IstanbulIstanbul
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...
, Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, in 1873, though his birth date is uncertain. He took his first lessons in music from Kanuni Ahmet Bey and the violin player Kemani Aleksan, his first instruments thus being the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and the kanun. After completing middle school, he continued in a school for civil servants (Mülkiye), but then devoted himself to music and abandoned his education. He began to play the tanbur quite early in his youth and by the age of 20, his renown had already spread among the tanburis of 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...
. Reforming the traditional playing technique of the tanbur, he developed an energetic technique based on a rich and agile picking style, lightening to a great extent the sonority of this instrument. Later on, he set about playing the Turkish classical kemençe and attained an astonishingly high level of technique, so much so that the virtuosity level of the Ottoman kemençe
Kemence
Kemence is a village in Pest county, Hungary....
vi of Greek-Gyspy origin Vassilis (1845–1907), considered as then as "the reference", came to be thought of by certain amateurs to be outmatched... He was also the inventor of the yaylı (bowed) tanbur
Yayli tanbur
The yaylı tanbur is a bowed lute from Turkey. Derived from the older plucked tanbur, it has a long, fretted neck and a round metal or wooden soundbox which is often covered on the playing end with a skin or acrylic head similar to that of a banjo....
.
This musician was able to play any instrument he picked up: he played lavta
Lavta
The lavta is a plucked string instrument from Istanbul. It has a small body made of many ribs using carvel bending technique, looking like a small ud, gut strings like an ud but only 7 strings in 4 courses and tunable: A dd gg c'c' , or sometimes A dd aa d'd'...
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, yaylı tanbur
Yayli tanbur
The yaylı tanbur is a bowed lute from Turkey. Derived from the older plucked tanbur, it has a long, fretted neck and a round metal or wooden soundbox which is often covered on the playing end with a skin or acrylic head similar to that of a banjo....
, zurna
Zurna
The zurna , is a multinational outdoor wind instrument, usually accompanied by a davul in Anatolian folk music. The name is from Turkish zurna, itself derived from Persian سرنای surnāy, composed of sūr “banquet, feast” and nāy “reed, pipe”...
and several other instruments with equal virtuosity. His taksim
Taksim
Taksim was the objective of Turkish Cypriots who supported a partition of the island of Cyprus into Turkish and Greek portions, a concept declared as early as 1957 by Dr. Fazil Küçük...
s and instrumental works he recorded on 78rpms with tanbur
Tanbur
The term tanbūr can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation. Nowadays the term tanbur is applied to a variety of distinct and related...
, kemençe
Kemence
Kemence is a village in Pest county, Hungary....
, lavta
Lavta
The lavta is a plucked string instrument from Istanbul. It has a small body made of many ribs using carvel bending technique, looking like a small ud, gut strings like an ud but only 7 strings in 4 courses and tunable: A dd gg c'c' , or sometimes A dd aa d'd'...
, cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and yaylı tanbur
Yayli tanbur
The yaylı tanbur is a bowed lute from Turkey. Derived from the older plucked tanbur, it has a long, fretted neck and a round metal or wooden soundbox which is often covered on the playing end with a skin or acrylic head similar to that of a banjo....
had considerable impact on generations of musicians following him. The peşrev
Pesrev
Peşrev , Pişrev , peshrev, or pishrev; called bashraf بشرف in Arabic; is an instrumental form in Turkish classical music. It is the name of the first piece of music played during a group performance called a fasıl...
s and sazsemais he composed are pieces of great taste, requiring a developed performance technique.
If we are to lay confidence in his close friend Mahmut Demirhan's words:
He was a very sensitive and nervous person, who eventually suffered from alcoholism. Most of his compositions have
been preserved in his recordings, but some of his work were incomplete when he died.
Compositions
- Bestenigâr Saz Semâî (Aksak semâî)
- Ferahfezâ Saz Semâî (Aksak semâî)
- Ferahfezâ Peşrev (Muhammes)
- Hicâzkâr Peşrev (Muhammes)
- Hicâzkâr Saz Semâî (Aksak semâî)
- Isfahân Saz Semâî (Aksak semâî)
- Isfahân Peşrev (Devr-i kebîr)
- Kürdîlihicâzkâr Peşrev (Muhammes)
- Mâhûr Peşrev (Muhammes)
- Mâhûr Peşrev (Muhammes)
- Muhayyer Saz Semâî (Aksak semâî)
- Muhayyer Peşrev (Devr-i kebîr)
- Nevâ Peşrev (Devr-i kebîr)
- Şedarabân Saz Semâî (Aksak semâî)
- Şedarabân Peşrev (Fahte)
- Sûz-i Dilarâ Saz Semâî (Aksak semâî)
- Hüseynî Oyun Havası - Çeçen Kızı (Nîm sofyân)
- Nikrîz Zeybek (Aksak)
- Nikrîz Longa (Nîm sofyân)
- Kürdîlihicâzkâr Şarkı (Aksak) - Def-i Nalis Eylerim Hep Seyri Ruhsarınla Ben
- Hüseynî Şarkı (Devr-i hindî) - Gormek Ister Gozlerim
- Şehnâz Şarkı (Sengîn semâî) - Feryad Ki Feryadım
- Nihâvend Şarkı (Yürük semâîYürük semaiA yürük semai is a musical form in Ottoman classical music. It was a movement of a fasıl...
) - Sevdim Seni Ey İşvebaz - Mâhûr Şarkı (Ağır Aksak semâî) - Var İken Zâtında Böyle Hüsn-ü An