Saturday, March 29, 2008

Baris Manco (Baris Mancho)

Baris Manco (Baris Mancho)
Barış Manço (also spelt Baris Mancho in some European album releases) (January 2, 1943 - February 1, 1999) was a Turkish singer, composer, television producer and celebrity. He composed about 200 songs, some of which were translated into a variety of languages including English, Japanese, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Persian and Arabic. He was, and still is, one of the most popular public figures of Turkey.

Early life and career of Baris Manco
Manço was born in Istanbul, Turkey on January 2, 1943. His mother Rikkat Uyanık was a famous singer in early 1940s. His older brother, who was born during World War II, was named Savaş ("war" in Turkish) while he was named Barış ("peace" in Turkish) by his parents to celebrate the end of the war. Allegedly he was the very first person to have this first name, which is now fairly popular in Turkey.

During his primary school days, his head was shaven to prevent head lice, a serious threat back then. He mentioned that it was one of the reasons of his later signature long hair.

During his highschool days in Galatasaray Lisesi (and later in Şişli Terakki High School) he formed his first band Kafadarlar ("The Buddies"), allegedly upon seeing Erkin Koray and his band performing which were all students of a nearby highschool. Asaf Savaş Akad, a famous economist in Turkey was the saxophone player of the band and Ender Enön the guitarist of the band made their own guitar, because it was difficult to find a real one on the market in those years .

In 1962 and 1963, with his next band Harmoniler ("The Harmonies"), he recorded cover versions of some of the then popular American twist songs, but also rearrangements of Turkish folk songs in rock and roll form, marking the beginning of Anatolian rock movement, a synthesis of Turkish folk music and rock. In this period, his key visual and musical influence was Elvis Presley.

After graduating from high school in 1963, he moved to Europe, travelling around Paris and Liège, where he formed bands with local musicians and recorded some singles mainly in English and in French but also in Turkish. He toured with his band Les Mistigris (not related with Mistigris) in Germany, Belgium, France and Turkey until 1967.

In 1967, he suffered from a serious car accident after which he started to grow his signature mustache to disguise his scar.

Frustrated by the difficulties of working with musicians from different nationalities, he formed Kaygısızlar (The Carefrees) featuring Mazhar Alanson and Fuat Güner, future members of the very popular Turkish band MFÖ. He recorded several singles and toured with the band, both in Turkey and abroad, until the band members revealed that they did not want to live abroad.

In 1970, he formed Barış Manço Ve ... ("Barış Manço and ...") again with foreign musicians, to record his first hit single, both in Turkey and in Belgium, "Dağlar Dağlar", selling over 700,000 copies. Today, the song remains one of his most popular works.

Baris Manco in 1970s

After the success of "Dağlar Dağlar", Manço recorded a couple of singles with Moğollar (The Mongols), another influential Turkish Anatolian rock band. He then decided to return to Turkey where he recorded with the reformed Kaygısızlar for a short period. In 1971, his early works were compiled under his first full length album Dünden Bugüne, today commonly referred as Dağlar Dağlar.

In 1972, he formed Kurtalan Ekspres, a legend by itself, the band that would accompany him until his death. In 1975 until when he continued to release singles, he released his first non-compilation LP 2023, a concept album that includes many instrumental songs.

As a last attempt to reach international success, he released the LP titled Baris Mancho (1976), a strange transcription of his name, mostly with George Hayes Orchestra under CBS Records label, in Europe and South Africa. Although the album did not bring the fame he was expecting, it did reach the top of the charts in Romania and Morocco. Next year, the album was released in Turkey under the title Nick the Chopper.

From 1977 to 1980, he released three more albums in Turkey, partly consisting of compilations of older singles, namely Sakla Samanı Gelir Zamanı (1977), Yeni Bir Gün (1979) and 20. Sanat Yılı Disko Manço (1980), all following a similar sound with 2023. All these albums are now rarity items, but most of the material from the era are available in later compilations Ben Bilirim and Sarı Çizmeli Mehmet Ağa.

Baris Manco in 1980s

In 1981, Manço released Sözüm Meclisten Dışarı with Kurtalan Ekspres, containing many hit songs including "Alla Beni Pulla Beni", "Arkadaşım Eşşek", "Gülpembe", "Halhal" and "Dönence" among others. The album remains as one of their most popular works and launched a boost of popularity for Barış Manço during 1980s.

"Arkadaşım Eşşek" ("My Friend Donkey"), quickly grew very popular among children (the song is about rural nostalgia and was not initially intended as a children's song)[citation needed]. Throughout his career, he went on to write many other songs primarily for children to achieve an iconic acceptance among Turkish children of 1980s and 1990s.

On the other hand "Gülpembe", composed by Kurtalan Ekspres bassist Ahmet Güvenç, a requiem for Manço's grandmother, caught older audiences and probably is the artist's most popular song, competing perhaps only with "Dağlar Dağlar".

In 1983, Estağfurullah, Ne Haddimize was released. It contained hit songs "Halil İbrahim Sofrası" and "Kol Düğmeleri", a new version of the artist's very first song. "Halil İbrahim Sofrası" exemplified Manço's signature moral themed lyrics, a rare feature in Turkish popular music.

In 1985, 24 Ayar Manço which included "Gibi Gibi" and a long conceptual song "Lahburger" was released. It also marked the beginning of the shift in Manço's sound characterized with the heavy use of synthesizers and drum machine in contrast with his older works consisting of a group oriented rock based sound. In subsequent years, Manço released Değmesin Yağlı Boya (1986), Sahibinden İhtiyaçtan (1988) and Darısı Başınıza (1989), all containing a couple of hit songs and demonstrating his new sound.

7'den 77'ye and 1990s

In 1988, 7'den 77'ye (From 7 to 77), a TV show directed and presented by Manço began to run on TRT 1, the national TV channel of Turkey. It was a combined music, talk show and documentary program which was a major hit during the 8 years it stayed on air. Manço travelled almost 150 countries for the show. "Adam Olacak Çocuk", a part of the show, strengthened Manço's acceptance among children.

The main production crew of his TV shows when the shows were on paramount: Yavuz Zafer, senior cameraman; Erkan Umut, cameraman (later senior cameraman); Kenan Eryılmaz (lighting); Binnur Kayak, assistant director; Nilüfer Ülkügüner, assistant director; Dr. Üstün Aydıngöz, projects coordinator; Tamer Şahin, coordinator general (also manager); Umut Germeyan, production manager; Berna Korkut, production manager (former editor and director for TRT shows); Belma Korkut, production attendant (former assistant editor and director for TRT shows); Melih Erdem, production attendant (also concert attendant); Can Şahin, production attendant (also driver).

Although his popularity continued mostly due to the TV show, his musical works in 1990s were not well received. The albums Mega Manço (1992) and Müsadenizle Çocuklar (1995) were considered as the weakest efforts of his career, despite the limited success of 1992 children hit "Ayı" (The Bear). On the other hand, in 1995 he toured in Japan with Kurtalan Ekspres, leading to Live In Japan (1996), his first and only live album. He released two albums in that country with some recognition as "the man who writes songs about vegetables", referring to "Domates, Biber, Patlıcan" ("Tomato, Pepper, Aubergine") and "Nane, Limon Kabuğu" (Mint, Lemon Rint), two of his hit songs from 1980s.

On February 1, 1999, Barış Manço died of a sudden heart attack before the release of his just finished last work Mançoloji (Mançology or Manchology) (1999), a double album containing the new recordings of his hit songs along with an unfinished instrumental song "40. Yıl" ("The 40th Anniversary"), celebrating his 40th year in music. His sudden death caused an almost unanimous shock in Turkey with millions of people mourning and tens of thousands of people attending his funeral.

Baris Manco Legacy

Barış Manço was one of the most influential Turkish musicians of all times. In his early career he and his bands contributed to the Turkish Rock movement by combining traditional Turkish music with rock influences, which is still one of the main trends of Turkish popular music.

His visual image characterised by his long hair, mustache and big rings softened the reaction of otherwise conservative Turkish public opinion regarding the marginal visual appearances.

His experimentation with electronic instruments in the late 1980s contributed to the 1990s sound of Turkish popular music.

His lyrics with diverse themes, mostly following a somewhat modernized version of the "aşık" (wandering folk poets) tradition were heavily marginal in the popular music scene of 1980s which was mostly dominated by the love themed lyrics.

In 2002, a tribute album was released under the name Yüreğimdeki Barış Şarkıları ("Barış's Songs In My Heart", also "Peace Songs In My Heart") featuring 15 extremely popular Turkish artists of such diverse genres as arabesque, pop and rock (both Anatolian and western style) demonstrating his wide range of influence.

Baris Manco Discography

Baris Manco Albums

* Dünden Bugüne (1971) (Sayan)
* 2023 (1975) (Yavuz Plak)
* Sakla Samanı Gelir Zamanı (1976) (Yavuz)
* Baris Mancho, released as Nick The Chopper in Turkey (1976) (CBS Disques/Grammofoonplaten S.A.B.V., CBS 81784, Yavuz LP)
* Yeni Bir Gün (1979) (Yavuz ve Burç Plakçılık)
* 20 Sanat Yılı Disco Manço (1980) (Türküola)
* Sözüm Meclisten Dışarı (1981) (Türküola)
* Estağfurullah... Ne Haddimize! (1983) (Türküola)
* 24 Ayar Manço (1985)
* Değmesin Yağlı Boya (1986) (Emre Plakçılık)
* 30 Sanat Yılı Fulaksesuar Manço - Sahibinden İhtiyaçtan (1988) (Emre Plakçılık)
* Darısı Başınıza (1989) (Yavuz ve Burç Plakçılık)
* Mega Manço (1992) (Emre Plak)
* Müsaadenizle Çocuklar (1995) (Emre Plak)
* Barış Manço Live In Japan (1996) (Emre Plak)
* Mançoloji (1999) (Emre Plak)

Baris Manco Singles

With Harmoniler

* Twistin USA / The Jet (1962) (Grafson MGG 515)
* Do The Twist / Let's Twist again (1962) (Grafson MGG 516)
* Cit Cit Twist / Dream Girl (1963) (Grafson MGG 566)

Baris Manco With Jacques Denjean Orchestra

* Baby Sitter / Quelle Peste / Jenny Jenny / Un Autre Amour Que Toi (1964) (Rigolo 18.726)

Baris Manco With Les Mistigris

* Il Arrivera / Une Fille (1966) (Sahibinin Sesi 45-AX 3092)
* Bien Fait Pour Toi / Aman Avcı Vurma Beni (1966) (Sahibinin Sesi 45-AX 3093)
* Bizim Gibi / Big Boss Man / Seher Vakti / Good Golly Miss Molly (1967) (Sayan)

Baris Manco With Kaygısızlar

* Kol Düğmeleri / Big Boss Man / Seher Vakti / Good Golly Miss Molly (1967) (Sayan FS-144)
* Kızılcıklar / I'll Go Crazy (1968) (Sayan FS-171)
* Bebek / Keep Lookin' (1968) (Sayan FS-179)
* Karanlıklar İçinde / Trip - To a Fair (1968) (Sayan FS-180)
* Bogaziçi / Flower of Love (1968) (Sayan FS-194)
* Runaway / Unutamıyorum (1969) (Sayan FS-199)
* Aglama Değmez Hayat / Kirpiklerin Ok Ok Eyle (1969) (Sayan FS 204)
* Kağızman / Anadolu (1969) (Sayan FS 213)

With Barış Manço Ve

* Derule / Küçük Bir Gece Müziği (1970) (Sayan FS-223)
* Dağlar Dağlar 1 / Dağlar Dağlar 2 (1970) (Sayan 229)

Baris Manco With Moğollar

* İşte Hendek İşte Deve / Katip Arzuhalim Yaz Yare Boyle (1971) (Sayan FS-266)

Baris Manco With Moğollar / Kaygısızlar

* Bin Boğanın Kızı / Ay Osman (1971) (Sayan FS-271)

Baris Manco With Kaygısızlar / Les Mistigris

* Fil ile Kurbağa / Je te Retrouverais (1972) (Sayan FS 279)

Baris Manco With Kurtalan Ekspres

* Ölüm Allah'ın Emri / Gamzedeyim Deva Bulmam (1972) (Yavuz YA 1544)
* Lambaya Püf De / Kalk Gidelim Küheylan (1973) (Yavuz YA 1548)
* Gönül Dağı / Hey Koca Topcu Genç Osman (1973) (Yavuz YA 1554)
* Nazar Eyle Nazar Eyle / Gülme Ha Gülme (1974) (Yavuz YA 1562)
* Bir Bahar Akşamı / Estergon Kalesi (1974) (Yavuz YA 1569)
* Ben Bilirim /2023 (1975) (Yavuz Plak YA 1573)
* Çay Elinden Öteye Rezil Dede / Vur Ha Vur (1976) (Yavuz Plak YA 1580)

Baris Manco With George Hayes Orchestra / Kurtalan Ekspres

* Nick the Chopper / Lonely Man (1977) (Yavuz YA 1584)

Baris Manco With Kurtalan Ekspres

* Hal Hal / Eğri Eğri Doğru Doğru Eğri Büğrü Ama Yine De Doğru (1981) (Türküola 239)

Cukurova State Orchestra Concert

Cukurova State Orchestra Concert
Turkish Religious Song in Cukurova State Orchestra Concert.
Uyan Ey Gozlerim with a different arrangement by Cukurova State Orchestra is given below.


Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra

Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra
Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra’s (ISSO) roots goes back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1827, Ottoman Sultan Mahmut II invited the famous Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti’s brother, Guiseppe Donizetti, and awarded him “Pasha” title. Donizetti Pasha founded Mizika-i Humayun (Imperial Ottoman Orchestra), which is the predecessor of the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, and remained as its musical director for over twenty five years until his death in 1856. Then many Italian conductors; such as Angelo Mariani, Pisani and Callisto Guatelli followed the path which Donizetti Pasha opened. After having its first Turkish musical director Saffet Atabinen, the orchestra made his first European tour to Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Budapest and Sofia in 1917, which included Beethoven’s Eroica, Wagner’s Parsifal Prelude and Weber’s Oberon Overture.

Foundation of The Turkish Republic and Cemal Reşit Rey Period

After the foundation of the Turkish Republic by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923, Mizika-i Humayun (Imperial Ottoman Orchestra) has moved to Ankara, newly founded Republic’s capital. At that time, in Istanbul, some members of the famous “Turkish Five Composers” namely; pianist/composer/conductor Cemal Reşit Rey, Hasan Ferit Alnar and Ahmet Adnan Saygun were organizing concerts with the remaining members of the orchestra. In the mid-thirties top-notch artists such as Alfred Cortot, Zino Francescatti and Jascha Heifetz visited Istanbul and gave numerous concerts with the orchestra. In 1945, the orchestra started to be subsidized by the municipality, changed its name to “Istanbul Municipality Symphony Orchestra” and gave its first concert under the baton of Cemal Reşit Rey. For over twenty years, the orchestra established a high reputation for its versatility and artistic excellence. Giving weekly concerts, making radio recordings, accompanying stars like Kempff, Thibaud, Iturbi, Cassado, Prihoda and Cortot, who were regular visitors of the city at that time.

Foundation of ISSO

Cemal Reşit Rey’s serious illness in 1968 forced him to retire and another important musical figure, Demirhan Altuğ became the musical director and the permanent conductor of the orchestra. The orchestra continued its efforts to raise the standard of the polyphonic music in the country. As a result, after a couple of years time the government started to give its support to the orchestra. The orchestra was re-organised under Mükerrem Berk’s management and it was re-named as “Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra” (ISSO). Prof. Lessing was appointed as the artistic director of the orchestra and the first concert of ISSO took place at the Istanbul Technical University, G.E.Lessing as conductor and cellist Reşit Erzin as the soloist in 1972.

Last Three Decades

Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra has played a central role at the heart of Turkish musical life for over 60 years, performed at venues around Turkey and has made numerous tours to Italy, Spain, former Yugoslavia, Austria, Greece, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, USA and Japan. The orchestra has appeared under the baton of Aaron Copland, Anatole Fistoulari, Mircea Basarab, Tadeusz Strugala, Erich Bergel, Vladimir Fedoseev, Jansug Kakhidze, Alexander Rahbari, Michel Tabachnik, Alexander Schwinck, I.Ionescu Galati, Cemal Reşit Rey and played with world class soloists such as Andre Navarra, Leonid Kogan, Yehudi Menuhin, Heinrich Schiff, Luciano Pavarotti, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Gidon Kremer, Lazar Berman, Vaclav Hudacek, Natalia Gutman, Sabine Meyer, D.Müller-Schott, İdil Biret, Suna Kan, Ayşegül Sarıca, Ayla Erduran, Verda Erman, Leyla Gencer, Gülsin Onay, Ruşen Güneş, Hüseyin Sermet, Güher-Süher Pekinel, Fazıl Say, Antje Weithaas, Cihat Aşkın, Daniel Shafran, David Geringas, Truls Mork, Gustav Rivinius, Pierre Amoyal, Alexander Rudin, Alexander Melnikov, Milan Turkovic, Efe Baltacıgil, Luis Bacalov, Alexander Markov, Jose Carreras, Ida Kavafian, Tedi Papavrami.

ISSO has premiered many compositions by Turkish composers and took part in various radio and television programmes. Recent tours of the orchestra includes Spain (1990 and 1993), USA(1993, as a part of “The Splendours of Ottoman Sultans” exhibiton), Greece (2000, Athens Festival), Bulgaria (2002) and Japan (2003, Asian Orchestras Week)

Directors for Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra given below (March 2008)
Director
Murat Kirmanoğlu

Vice Director
Alp Altıner


Board of Directors
Gülten Çapan
Alp Altıner
Türkmen Güner
Kenan Aydın
Murat Kirmanoğlu
Accounting/Personnel
İrfan Şenel
Stage Staff
Çetin Altınışık
Nazif Okçuoğlu

Notist
Neşe Muştu
Secratary
Seher Gülaçtı


Cukurova State Symphony Orchestra

Cukurova State Symphony Orchestra
Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra (Turkish: Çukurova Devlet Senfoni Orkestrası) is a symphony orchestra located in Adana, Turkey. It was founded in 1988.

The Orchestra's one beautiful concert had a Turkish Religious Song with a different arrangement then original. You can compare the original song Uyan Ey Gozlerim with the one performed in Cukurova State Orchestra Concert below.


The site for Cukurova State Symphony Orchestra may be accessed from here.

Turkish Mystic Song: Awake O my eyes (Uyan Ey Gozlerim)

Turkish Mystic Song: Uyan Ey Gozlerim
The lyrics of the following Turkish Mystic song belong to Ottoman Sultan Murad IV. According to story, Sultan Murad cannot get awake for the morning prayer and writes the following due to sorrow. The song composition was done by Ali Ulvi Bey. You can watch the different performance provided by
Çukurova State Symphony Orchestra in Cukurova State Orchestra Concert.



Awake O my eyes from Blindness
uyan ey gözlerim gafletten uyan
uyan uykusu çok gözlerim uyan
azrailin kastı canadır inan
uyan ey gözlerim gafletten uyan
uyan uykusu çok gözlerim uyan
*
seherde uyanırlar cümle kuşlar
dill-u dillerince tesbihe başlar
tevhid eyler dağlar, aşlar, ağaçlar
uyan ey gözlerim gafletten uyan
uyan uykusu çok gözlerim uyan
*
bu dünya fanidir, sakın aldanma
mağrur olup tac-u tahta dayanma
yedi iklim benim deyu güvenme
uyan ey gözlerim gafletten uyan
uyan uykusu çok gözlerim uyan
*
benim murad kulun, suçumu affet
suçum bağışlayıp günahım ref et
rasulun sancağı dibinde haşret
uyan ey gözlerim gafletten uyan
uyan uykusu çok gözlerim uyan

Ali Ufki Bey (Wojciech Bobowski)

Ali Ufki Bey (Wojciech Bobowski)
Wojciech Bobowski or Ali Ufki Bey (also Albertus Bobovius, Ali Bey, Santurî Ali Ufki; 1610–1675) was a Polish musician and dragoman in the Ottoman Empire. He translated the Bible into Ottoman Turkish, composed an Ottoman Psalter, based on the Genevan metrical psalter, and wrote a grammar of the Ottoman Turkish language. His musical works are considered among the most important in 17th-century Ottoman music.

Life of Ali Ufki Bey (Wojciech Bobowski)
Bobowski was born as a Pole in Lwów (Ruthenian Voivodeship), then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Lviv in the Ukraine). He was raised in a Protestant family and started a career as a church musician. At some point, he was taken prisoner (esir in Turkish) by Crimean Tatars during one of their common raids across the border.

Because he had enjoyed musical training and was capable of reading and notating music, he was sold to the court of sultan Murad IV (and later Ibrahim I and Mehmed IV), where he converted to Islam and became known as علي افقي ‘Alī Ufqī Bey. At the court he served as an interpreter, treasurer and musician in the sultan's seraglio. He was also known to master sixteen languages, next to Polish and Turkish also Arabic, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, and Latin.

Around 1657, approximately 19–20 years after he was captured, when on a voyage to Egypt, he regained his liberty, after which he lived in Egypt for some time. It is also likely he travelled on a pilgrimage to Mecca. After he gained his freedom he became one of the most important dragomans in the Ottoman Empire.

Taken from wikipedia

Monday, January 21, 2008

Kayahan (Big Heads Version)

Kayahan (Big Heads Version)