Hasret Gültekin

Hasret Gültekin's picture on his tomb in his hometown

Hasret Gültekin (born May 1, 1971 in Han near İmranlı , Sivas Province , † July 2, 1993 in Sivas ) was an Alevi musician and Saz player of Kurdish descent.

Life

Hasret Gültekin was born on May 1, 1971 as the third child of the couple Süleyman and Haci Gültekin in the village of Han near İmranlı in the Sivas province of Turkey. At the age of six he became enthusiastic about the traditional string instrument saz , which is part of the inventory of Anatolian folk music, as well as the bağlama , Şelpe and cura . At the age of six he mastered the technique of the Bağlama and approached his role models Arif Sağ , Muhlis Akarsu , Yavuz Top and Musa Eroğlu .

At the age of eleven he got to know the stage. He left the Anatolian high school (Anadolu Lisesi) in Istanbul in the second grade to become a traditional musician.

As a 16-year-old Gültekin released his first debut album Gün Olaydı (If only it were day), which he produced himself. In the same year he also gave his first solo concert in Moda Sinema near Kadıköy in Istanbul.

He traveled from Anatolia to Spain in order to research his fondness for early folk music among folk artists, drawing inspiration from both the Spanish music of flamenco and the Greek music of rebetiko . One of his mentors and teachers at that time was the well-known Usta (master) Talıp Özkan .

Until 1987 Gültekin was the musical director of numerous productions. He accompanied various singers and musicians on Bağlama, Saz, Şelpe and Cura. Cura is a special kind of baglama. Elpe and Baglama are very few proficient in Usta.

In 1989 his further production Gece İle Gündüz Arasında (Between Day and Night) followed, which he recorded with the well-known arranger Oğuz Abadan and the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra.

In October 1989 he accepted the invitation of the Dutch cultural department to the “Festival Young Turks” and represented Turkey together with Birsel Acar . In 1990 he was invited again to the “Turkish Week” in the Netherlands.

In 1990 the debut album Newroz - Kürtçe Ezgiler (Newroz - Kurdish melodies) came out, his first album with exclusively Kurdish folk songs, which he only released in an instrumental version in Turkey for political reasons. Here he shows how to use the Şelpe technique on a saz with 3 strings. At that time, the Turkish government strictly forbade the Kurdish culture and language. In the same year Gültekin produced his album Jiyan (Life) in Cologne in order to be able to complete his works in his mother tongue, Kurdish.

In 1991, Hasret Gültekin arranged as the producer of the album Kirivo by the Kurdish folk singer Şivan Perwer and thus helped significantly to support the silent protest of the Kurds. Other productions were the albums Newroz 1 and Newroz 2 sung by Nilüfer Akbal and Riza Akkoç . In the same year he released Rüzgarın Kanatlarında (On the Wings of the Wind), another solo production. In this album, Gültekin composed and interpreted poems by Pir Sultan Abdal , Nâzım Hikmet , Ahmet Arif and other poets.

In 1992 Hasret Gültekin took part in numerous non-commercial concerts and cultural events in Turkey and Europe, where he focused on the representation of Turkish folk music.

In 1992 and 1993 he prepared three of his own productions: one with instrumental and authentic folk music as well as various instruments and modern interpretations, a series of albums with authentic folk music from different regions of Anatolia and a production of old, orally transmitted Alevi songs.

In April 1993 he organized under the slogan Egenin Iki Yakası (The Two Shores of the Aegean ), which stand for Greece and Turkey, in several Turkish cities, including Istanbul , Izmir and Ankara , concerts with the Greek group "Prosechos" from Frankfurt.

On July 2, 1993 Hasret Gültekin took part in the 4th Pir Sultan Abdal Festival in Sivas. In the Hotel Madimak he was victim of an arson attack by Islamic fundamentalists along with 34 other artists, writers and young Alevis . He died in this attack at the age of 22.

In April 1994, the Hasret Gültekin cultural center was founded in both Istanbul and Cologne, with the aim of continuing the legacy and worldview of the deceased musician. In Turkey, the foundation stone and foundation have been laid for a music library that is audio-didactic and also catalogs and archives the Anatolian wealth of folk music, songs, poems and biographies in writing. Two more albums were released posthumously in April 1994 by the Hasret-Gültekin-Kulturzentrum.

Discography

Own albums

• Celal Oglan ; 1985
• Gün Olaydı (If it were day); 1987
• Gece İle Gündüz arasında (Between night and day); 1989, Saltuk Plak production
• Hayat (life); 1989
• Rüzgarın Kanatlarında (On the wings of the wind); 1991, Nepa Müzik Yapım production
• Egenin Iki Yakasi (The Two Shores of the Aegean); 1994, Duygu Müzik production
• Seçmeler (Selected (Works)); 1994, Kalan Müzik production

Albums with other singers together

• Newroz - Kürtçe ezgiler (Newroz - Kurdish songs) (1990)
• Newroz 2 ; with singers like Nilüfer Akbal, Rıza Akkoç
• Newroz 3 ; 1993, with singers like Deniz Selman, Musa Anter, Fırat Başkale, Nilüfer Akbal, Metin Kahraman, Gülbahar and Gani Nar
• Turk student Yalan Söylemez (songs don't lie); with singers like Talip Şahin, Arif Sağ, Emekçi, Emre Saltik, Mehmet Koç
• Bitmeyen Türküler - Dostlar Muhabbeti ( never ending songs - conversation among friends)
• İhsan Güneş - Karayılan (1992) [Bağlama - Cura - Zurna]

Web links

• Hasret Gültekin's website (German)
• Hasret Gültekin's website (Turkish)