Zehra Bilir

Zehra Bilir (March 26, 1913 in Arapgir, Ottoman Empire – June 28, 2007 in Istanbul, Turkey) was a renowned Turkish folk singer of Armenian descent.[1] She was known as the Edith Piaf of Turkey.[2]

Life

Zehra Bilir was born Eliz Surhantakyan in Arapgir.[3] Armenian newspaper Agos published in Turkey suggests that Zehra Bilir's real Armenian name was Eliza Olchuyan (or Eliza Ölçüyan in Turkish transliteration).[4][5] Her father Harutyun, went to fight for the Ottoman Empire during the First World War but has never returned.[6][7] Eliz had two sisters and a brother who her mother couldn't look after on her own. Therefore, her mother married a Turkish man and Eliz always believed that the Turkish man was in fact her real father.[3] Her Turkish father gave her the name Zehra which she believed was her real name during her adolescence.[3] But in an interview on Sabah (newspaper) she says that she changed her name when she was 22 while she married her second husband.[8] This eventually became the name she is known by. After receiving her primary school education at the local elementary school, she and her family moves to Istanbul in 1927. After working alongside a hatter, she then begins to take musical notation and solfeggio lessons from famed Armenian musician Artaki Candan-Terzian.

She became one of the pioneers of the Gazino (night club) style. Westerners described her as the Edith Piaf of Turkey. She was one of the most famous singers of folk songs from Anatolia, often appearing in traditional garb and dancing with a handkerchief. One of the most popular entertainers, she appeared frequently on the Radio in Istanbul and Izmir.

Zehra Bilir died on June 28, 2007 at the age 94 years in a nursing home. She is buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.

gollark: Of course. I was just being very lazy.
gollark: ++remind 3h deploy osmarkscalculator™ prototype or something
gollark: So something can be x^2 and* x*x.
gollark: That sounds optimal and flawless.
gollark: Hmm. Alternative idea which would probably be 28292993939 to implement: an expression can be stored as being equal to multiple equivalent expressions!

References
  1. "Zehra Bilir". youzeek. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  2. "Zehra Bilir". Portland Show-guide. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  3. "ZEHRA BİLİR (Eliza Surhantakyan)" (in Turkish). Bedri Ozdemir. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  4. http://www.agos.com.tr/tr/yazi/14867/yanlis-bilinen-bir-dogru
  5. http://armenianweekly.com/2017/03/30/from-eliza-to-zehra/
  6. "Zehra Bilir". Kulis (779). 1 June 1979.
  7. Bercuhi Berberyan (31 March 2016). "Yanlış bilinen bir doğru". Agos. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  8. http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2002/03/12/z02.html - "Müftü taktı. 22 yaşındaydım. Evlenecektim. Sibel ismiyle müracaat ettim. Ama müftü, "Kızım bu Türk ismini andırmıyor" dedi. Ben de, "Öyleyse siz bulun bir isim" dedim. "Zehra olsun" dedi. Bilir de, ilk eşimin soyadıydı. Ben o soyadla ünlendim. Sonra da değiştirmek istemedim..."
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.