Burcu Günes
Encyclopedia
Early years
Burcu Güneş was born on the 12 of August, 1975 in the city of İzmirIzmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
. Since her early childhood, Burcu grew up surrounded by music allowing for her early exposure into the music industry. When she composed her first piece at the age of 12, it became clear to her along with those that surrounded her that music would play a large an active role in her promising future. Starting off as a vocalist for her father, Burcu obtained her first stage experience at the age of 13 when she moved to Antalya
Antalya
Antalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...
as a result of her father’s work. This experience would also allow her to take her first step towards a professional stage performance that will play a large role with the music industry she will later devout herself to.
Working at Resorts with an Orchestra
The first genres Burcu tackled in her singinger career were pop and jazz as she sung songs belonging to those genres with the orchestra which her father created. The orchestra went around to perform at famous hotels and holiday resort villages giving Burcu a chance to make herself known to interested people from all over the world that came to TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
for holidays. Performing with the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
allowed her to attract local attention as well. This is considering that many Turks were taken by surprise by talent she exposed at singing and performing. A lot of those that had earlier saw Burcu assumed that she must have been partially American so then she was bubbed with the nickname of, “ the-black-throated girl “ since.
Invitation to Record Her first Album
When she turned 18, BurcuBurcu
Burcu is a common feminine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Burcu" means "Scent", "Fragrance", and/or "Redolence".-People:* Burcu Ayhan, a Turkish high jumper.* Burcu Bircan , a Turkish volleyball player....
went back to İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
to further enriched herself in the fields of music through the courses that dealt with singing and solfége. Burcu took these courses and lessons from Prof. Müfit Bayraşa, who had been most famous directing the İzmir 9 Eylül Conservatory. While she took on these advanced studies, Burcu was also singing at well-known hotels in İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
and Bodrum
Bodrum
Bodrum is a port city in Muğla Province, in the southwestern Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located on the southern coast of Bodrum Peninsula, at a point that checks the entry into the Gulf of Gökova. The site was called Halicarnassus of Caria in ancient times and was famous for housing the...
. She had also worked with her professor as she participated in various music festivals and contests which she had managed to win a lot of prizes in. During the same period, she also met famous Turkish pianist, Burçin Büke who was impressed by her when hearing Burcu sing her own songs and reading the lyrics she's written herself. He then managed to pull a few strings and so together, they managed to record songs that Burcu had constructed at the studio while Burçin did his part in playing the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
parts in the background. The demo of the records they have recorded was sent to Raks Universal, which was a famous music brand company in İstanbul
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...
. This was a turning point for Burcu. This is considering that she was invited to come to İstanbul
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...
to create and record her first album with the help of Galip Kayıhan and Koral Sarıtaş.
Attempt to Participate at Eurovision
In 1997, Burcu Güneş tried her luck at the Turkish Eurovision national finals with a song called, "Gece"; Burcu, however, failed to qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
“Aşk Yarası”
In November 1997, Burcu released her first album, “Aşk Yarası” with the help of other famous musicians, Garo MafyanGaro Mafyan
Garo Mafyan is a famous Turkish musician and composer of Armenian descent.-Personal life:He grew up in Erenköy, Istanbul. He is married to Gülyüz Mafyan, and has a daughter named Damla. He is related to one of the founders of the Turkish Language Association, Agop Dilaçar as well as Levon...
(who has worked on several Turkish Eurovision entries), Nino Varon, Tanju Arıkan and other members who belong to her team. The two songs from this album became instant. They included, "Alimallah", “Aşk Yarası”, "Hayallerde Gezginim" and “Yaşadık Bitmedi“. This instant success allowed her to earn the title of being the best female debut pop artist in 1997. Following the success with her first album, Burcu moved on to work with three other strong vocalist who would later help her build her career as an artist. She started working with Melik Yirmibir who lives in the US in order to prepare for her second album. Burcu wanted to feature something different and surprising so she decided to work with famous musician, composer and producer Ara Dinkjian as well. What’s interesting about this is that she played a role in singing five of the songs he's created. Ara and Burcu's work had pop music be combined with ethnic music which was all completed with the help of some well-known American musicians. They included famous drummer Horacio 'El Negro'Hernandez, keyboarder Jim Beard and percussionist Arto Tunçboyacıyan
Arto Tunçboyaciyan
Arto Tunçboyacıyan is an Armenian-Turkish musician. A famous avant-garde folk artist , he appeared on more than 200 records in Europe before arriving in the United States, where he went to work with numerous jazz legends including Chet Baker, Al Di Meola, and Joe Zawinul as well as a semi-regular...
.
“Tılsım”
During all this time, Burcu had also been composing songs of her own which she would feature in her upcoming albums. At the same time, she also renewed the contracts she had with her record company along with her team in order to continue working and releasing her upcoming albums. While working on her album, Burcu found the time to perform a famous old Turkish piece called, “Çile Bülbülüm” which allowed the song to achieve to a lot of popularity and radio air-play request. Another single she recorded is that of, "Selvi Boylum (Uzak Değilim)". Until then, she has continued to work on her second album until it was released in January 2001. "Biz Aşkı Meleklerden Çaldık", "Tılsım" and "Yansın Geceler" were all songs that became instant hits during the presentation of her second album, “Tılsım”. Following this success, Burcu took the time to travel thoroughout Turkey and Europe in order to perform at concert tour. “Tılsım” ended up becoming one of the most successful albums as it was one of the most selling and requested albums in 2001. Releasing "Tılsım" had also been a major event for Burcu due to its uniqueness and popularity it received."Ay Şahit"
Burcu, who would go on to release her third album, "Ay Şahit" on June 8, 2004 proved her talent as a composer as she composes songs that were featured in the release of the album. Wirth the help of Tufan Taş, Burcu was able to see instant hit singles released from this album which include, "Ay Şahit", "Sahilden", "Sınıfta Kal" and "Son Mektup". Throughout this time, she continued working with Erol Köse who was her executive producer. The album managed to achieve an incredible success in the week which it was released. All this success allowed the young Turkish generation to love her style of music and much more.“Ben Ateş Ben su”
It was not long after until Burcu released her 4th album in November 2006 called, “Ben Ateş Ben su”. The album was produced by herself with some aid from Tufan Taş and Mert Erken. She used such themes of love, freedom and being different to construct the songs recorded in this album. Some of the singles already released include, "Olmazsan Olmaz" along with, "Ben Yeter Miyim" and "Kaybol Benle".On The Club (2008 Album)
Sihirbaz (2009 Album)
Tamamdır (2010 Album)
External links
- Official site Fan site
- Youtube: Biz aşkı meleklerden çaldık (from her second album) Burcu Güneş news on Turkish media http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=245710 http://www.milliyet.com/2002/02/25/cumartesi/cum02.html http://arama.hurriyet.com.tr/arsivnews.aspx?id=-251815
See also
- Music of TurkeyMusic of TurkeyThe music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music and has many copies and references of Byzantine music, Greek music, Ottoman music, Persian music, Balkan music, as well as more modern European and American popular music influences...