Sezen Aksu
Encyclopedia
Sezen Aksu is a Turkish
pop music
singer, song-writer and producer who sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and Minik Serçe ("Little Sparrow").
Aksu's influence on Turkish pop
and world music
has continued since her debut in 1975, and has been reinforced by her patronage of and collaboration with many other musicians, including Sertab Erener
, Şebnem Ferah
, Aşkın Nur Yengi, Hande Yener
, and Levent Yüksel
. Her work with Tarkan resulted in continental hits like "Şımarık
" and "Şıkıdım
" and her collaboration with Goran Bregović
widened her international audience.
, Turkey
. Her family moved to İzmir
when she was 3 years old and she spent her childhood and early youth there. Aksu's parents discouraged her singing because they wanted her to have a steady profession as a doctor or engineer. She used to wait until they left the house and sing on the family's balcony. After finishing high school, she began studying at the local agricultural institute, but left college to concentrate on music.
Along with her close friend Ajda Pekkan
, Aksu is credited with laying the foundations of Turkish pop music in the 1970s. Her sound has also spread across the Balkans
and Greece
. It was this sound that changed the face of the Eurovision song contest when her protégé Sertab Erener won in 2003. Aksu has also toured in Europe and the U.S to critical appraise.
She has championed a variety of causes, including women's rights, the environment, and educational reform in Turkey. Aksu has been married and divorced four times, but kept the name from her second marriage to Ali Engin Aksu, a doctor of geology who currently resides in Canada. She has a son with Sinan Özer.
An Aksu drive finally got Turkey to apply for the Eurovision Song contest in the mid-70s. Ironically however, even though she competed in the national finals for the competition three times - "Küçük Bir Aşk Masalı" (A Little Love Tale) was a duet with Özdemir Erdoğan, "Heyamola" was performed as a trio with Coşkun Demir and Ali Kocatepe and "1945" was her solo performance - none got the chance to represent Turkey abroad. It was to be left to her pupil Erener to win the Eurovision and realise Aksu's dream to push her musical vision further into Europe
.
In the 80's, Aksu had a relationship with producer Onno Tunç
that was both romantic and professional. As a couple they put their signatures to works that broke new ground in Turkish pop music, such as Sen Ağlama (Don't Cry), Git (Go), Sezen Aksu'88 and Sezen Aksu Söylüyor (Sezen Aksu Sings). Her music matured in the 90's, when she co-produced her best selling album to-date Gülümse (Smile) with Tunç. The A-1 track from the album called Hadi Bakalım (Come On Now) was a hit in Turkey and Europe, and was published as a single in Germany
. It was to be later rediscovered in Europop by singer Loona
as Rhythm of the Night
. She also began to produce albums for her vocalists, notably producing Aşkın Nur Yengi's debut album Sevgiliye (To a Lover) again with Tunç. She was to repeat her success with artists Erener and Yüksel also.
Parting ways with Tunç, in 1995, Aksu branched out with the experimental album Işık Doğudan Yükselir (Light Rises From the East), drawing both on western classical and regional Turkish musical traditions. This album made her name outside Turkey and gave her a world music following across Europe. In 1996, she released Düş Bahçeleri (Dream Gardens) as a tribute to Tunç, who died that same year tragically when his private plane crashed. In 1997, she released Düğün ve Cenaze (The Wedding And The Funeral), this time collaborating with Goran Bregović
.
She returned to her roots with Adı Bende Saklı (Its Name Is Hidden In Me), which was released in 1998. She began to use experimental sounds and was once again pushing Turkish pop into the future. Aksu continued with this trend with her subsequent albums Deliveren (Crazymaker), Şarkı Söylemek Lazım (Gotta Sing) which also featured former Sparks
bassist Martin Gordon
as engineer/mixer (and also as bass player on her subsequent European tour), Yaz Bitmeden (Before The Summer Ends) between the years 2000 - 2003. After a two year hiatus, she returned with Bahane (Excuse) in 2005. That same year she released Kardelen (Snowdrop) where all proceeds went to charity, and before the end of 2005 released a Bahane/Remixes (Excuse/Remixes) double-CD album which contained the original Bahane album in disc one and the remixes of songs in Bahane in disc two. At the end of the year her albums Bahane, Kardelen and the re-released album Şarkı Söylemek Lazım were the three best-selling albums in the country.
In 2005 she was featured in Fatih Akin
's documentary film "Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
" with a performance of the song "Istanbul Hatirasi."
Aksu has recently been re-releasing all her old classics digitally remastered and with specially designed new sleeves. After her concert tour in summer 2006.
Sezen Aksu performed at the Royal Albert Hall
in London
, on 7 October 2007. After Zeki Muren, she was only the second Turkish artist to perform at the prestigious venue.
In 2008 Aksu released her album called Deniz Yıldızı through Starfish Records. And in 2009 she released her latest album Yürüyorum Düş Bahçelerinde which sold over 100 000 copies during the first week of its release. The album contains new original songs as well as some older songs which were composed by Sezen Aksu for other singers, most notably Çakkıdı, Kibir, Yok Ki.
sezen aksu
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...
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...
singer, song-writer and producer who sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and Minik Serçe ("Little Sparrow").
Aksu's influence on Turkish pop
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...
and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
has continued since her debut in 1975, and has been reinforced by her patronage of and collaboration with many other musicians, including Sertab Erener
Sertab Erener
Sertab Erener is a Turkish pop music singer and also a cross-over soprano with a vocal range that extends to high F. She is one of the most successful female Turkish pop singers in her homeland, and is considered one of the divas of Turkish pop music...
, Şebnem Ferah
Sebnem Ferah
Şebnem Ferah is a Turkish singer and song-writer. She was the head vocalist of the all-female hard rock band Volvox until 1994, after which she went on to pursue an illustrious solo career...
, Aşkın Nur Yengi, Hande Yener
Hande Yener
Hande Yener is a Turkish pop singer. Over the past decade, she has introduced different styles to the ever expanding Turkish pop music scenery. Each one of her albums has generated a lot of interest as well as anticipation due to the different styles, genres and rhythms that she incorporates into...
, and Levent Yüksel
Levent Yüksel
- Biography :Like Sertab Erener and Aşkın Nur Yengi, Levent Yüksel is one of the singers introduced to Turkish music by Sezen Aksu. During his education in the now İstanbul University State Conservatory, Department of Contrabass, he played his bass in various nightclubs, along many singers...
. Her work with Tarkan resulted in continental hits like "Şımarık
Simarik
Şımarık is a 1997 song by Turkish singer Tarkan. Its lyrics were written by Sezen Aksu, with music credited as composed by Tarkan, Aksu and Ozan Çolakoğlu at the time. However, Tarkan later admitted in a 2006 interview that this had been done without Aksu's consent, who was the true copyright owner...
" and "Şıkıdım
Sikidim
"Şıkıdım" was originally from Tarkan's 1994 album lending its title to the album's name, A-Acayipsin . It is a Sezen Aksu song, reproduced by Laurent Marimbert and re-mixed by Yves Jaget for the European music market and included in Tarkan's compilation album Tarkan in 1998...
" and her collaboration with Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
widened her international audience.
Biography
Sezen Aksu was born in SarayköySarayköy
Sarayköy is a town and district of Denizli Province in Turkey, 20 km west of the city of Denizli, on a plain between mountains and watered by Büyük Menderes River...
, 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...
. Her family moved 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...
when she was 3 years old and she spent her childhood and early youth there. Aksu's parents discouraged her singing because they wanted her to have a steady profession as a doctor or engineer. She used to wait until they left the house and sing on the family's balcony. After finishing high school, she began studying at the local agricultural institute, but left college to concentrate on music.
Along with her close friend Ajda Pekkan
Ajda Pekkan
Ayşe Ajda Pekkan is a Turkish pop singer and actress. Through a career spanning five decades thus far, Pekkan has released more than 20 albums and, with Sezen Aksu, is the most commercially successful female Turkish music artist with the sales of over 30 million copies worldwide. She is nicknamed...
, Aksu is credited with laying the foundations of Turkish pop music in the 1970s. Her sound has also spread across the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. It was this sound that changed the face of the Eurovision song contest when her protégé Sertab Erener won in 2003. Aksu has also toured in Europe and the U.S to critical appraise.
She has championed a variety of causes, including women's rights, the environment, and educational reform in Turkey. Aksu has been married and divorced four times, but kept the name from her second marriage to Ali Engin Aksu, a doctor of geology who currently resides in Canada. She has a son with Sinan Özer.
Career
Sezen Aksu released her first single, Haydi Şansım/Gel Bana (Come on My Luck/Come to Me) in 1975 under the name of Sezen Seley. However, she remained undiscovered until her 1976 single Olmaz Olsun/Vurdumduymaz (Wish It Never Happened/Insensitive) reached number one in the Turkish charts. Her first album was 1978's Serçe (Sparrow), which was to give her the nickname, penned by a Turkish journalist.An Aksu drive finally got Turkey to apply for the Eurovision Song contest in the mid-70s. Ironically however, even though she competed in the national finals for the competition three times - "Küçük Bir Aşk Masalı" (A Little Love Tale) was a duet with Özdemir Erdoğan, "Heyamola" was performed as a trio with Coşkun Demir and Ali Kocatepe and "1945" was her solo performance - none got the chance to represent Turkey abroad. It was to be left to her pupil Erener to win the Eurovision and realise Aksu's dream to push her musical vision further into Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
In the 80's, Aksu had a relationship with producer Onno Tunç
Onno Tunç
Onno Tunç was a leading Turkish-Armenian musician, working mainly as a composer and an arranger. Tunç also played bass guitar and occasionally double bass, contributing to the albums of several musicians. He was the elder brother of musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan.-Early years :Onno Tunç was born in...
that was both romantic and professional. As a couple they put their signatures to works that broke new ground in Turkish pop music, such as Sen Ağlama (Don't Cry), Git (Go), Sezen Aksu'88 and Sezen Aksu Söylüyor (Sezen Aksu Sings). Her music matured in the 90's, when she co-produced her best selling album to-date Gülümse (Smile) with Tunç. The A-1 track from the album called Hadi Bakalım (Come On Now) was a hit in Turkey and Europe, and was published as a single in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It was to be later rediscovered in Europop by singer Loona
Loona
Marie-Jose van der Kolk also known by her stage names Loona and Carisma, is a Dutch singer, songwriter and dancer. She is most noted for her collaboration with DJ Sammy, and performing as a duo under the stage name of DJ Sammy feat. Carisma...
as Rhythm of the Night
Rhythm of the Night
Rhythm of the Night may refer to* Rhythm of the Night , 1985 album by DeBarge** "Rhythm of the Night" , song by DeBarge from the album of the same name* "The Rhythm of the Night" , a 1993 song performed by Corona...
. She also began to produce albums for her vocalists, notably producing Aşkın Nur Yengi's debut album Sevgiliye (To a Lover) again with Tunç. She was to repeat her success with artists Erener and Yüksel also.
Parting ways with Tunç, in 1995, Aksu branched out with the experimental album Işık Doğudan Yükselir (Light Rises From the East), drawing both on western classical and regional Turkish musical traditions. This album made her name outside Turkey and gave her a world music following across Europe. In 1996, she released Düş Bahçeleri (Dream Gardens) as a tribute to Tunç, who died that same year tragically when his private plane crashed. In 1997, she released Düğün ve Cenaze (The Wedding And The Funeral), this time collaborating with Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
.
She returned to her roots with Adı Bende Saklı (Its Name Is Hidden In Me), which was released in 1998. She began to use experimental sounds and was once again pushing Turkish pop into the future. Aksu continued with this trend with her subsequent albums Deliveren (Crazymaker), Şarkı Söylemek Lazım (Gotta Sing) which also featured former Sparks
Sparks (band)
Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...
bassist Martin Gordon
Martin Gordon
Martin Gordon is an English musician, who plays bass guitar and piano.-Biography:Martin Gordon was born in Ipswich, and grew up Hitchin, Hertfordshire...
as engineer/mixer (and also as bass player on her subsequent European tour), Yaz Bitmeden (Before The Summer Ends) between the years 2000 - 2003. After a two year hiatus, she returned with Bahane (Excuse) in 2005. That same year she released Kardelen (Snowdrop) where all proceeds went to charity, and before the end of 2005 released a Bahane/Remixes (Excuse/Remixes) double-CD album which contained the original Bahane album in disc one and the remixes of songs in Bahane in disc two. At the end of the year her albums Bahane, Kardelen and the re-released album Şarkı Söylemek Lazım were the three best-selling albums in the country.
In 2005 she was featured in Fatih Akin
Fatih Akin
Fatih Akın is a German film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish descent.- Personal life :Akın was born in 1973 in Hamburg to parents of Turkish ethnicity...
's documentary film "Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul is a 2005 film/documentary directed by Fatih Akın. The film is a journey through the music scene in modern Istanbul, Turkey as well as portraying its cultural life. It was screened out of competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.It features German...
" with a performance of the song "Istanbul Hatirasi."
Aksu has recently been re-releasing all her old classics digitally remastered and with specially designed new sleeves. After her concert tour in summer 2006.
Sezen Aksu performed at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, on 7 October 2007. After Zeki Muren, she was only the second Turkish artist to perform at the prestigious venue.
In 2008 Aksu released her album called Deniz Yıldızı through Starfish Records. And in 2009 she released her latest album Yürüyorum Düş Bahçelerinde which sold over 100 000 copies during the first week of its release. The album contains new original songs as well as some older songs which were composed by Sezen Aksu for other singers, most notably Çakkıdı, Kibir, Yok Ki.
Music Albums
- 1977: Allahaısmarladık
- 1978: Serçe
- 1980: Sevgilerimle
- 1981: Ağlamak GüzeldirAğlamak GüzeldirAğlamak Güzeldir is Sezen Aksu's fourth Turkish release and her most commercially successful album in Turkey.-Track listing:#Düşünce#Ağlamak Güzeldir#Yak Bir Sigara#Köprü#Yalnız Kullar #En Uzun Gece#Biliyorsun#Ben Her Bahar Aşık Olurum...
- 1982: Firuze
- 1984: Sen Ağlama
- 1986: Git
- 1988: Sezen Aksu'88
- 1989: Sezen Aksu Söylüyor
- 1991: Gülümse
- 1993: Deli Kızın Türküsü
- 1995: Işık Doğudan Yükselir
- 1996: Düş Bahçeleri
- 1997: Düğün ve Cenaze
- 1998: Adı Bende Saklı
- 2000: Deliveren
- 2002: Şarkı Söylemek Lazım
- 2003: Yaz Bitmeden
- 2005: Bahane
- 2005: Bahane Remixes
- 2005: Kardelen
- 2008: Deniz Yıldızı
- 2009: Yürüyorum Düş Bahçeleri'nde...
- 2011: Öptüm
Acting/Musicals
- Sezen Aksu Aile Gazinosu - (Sezen Aksu Family Music Hall) (1982)
- Bin Yıl Önce Bin Yıl Sonra - (1000 Years Before, 1000 Years Later) (1986)
sezen aksu