Tülay German (born 1935, also known as Toulaï in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

) is a Turkish female singer, currently living in France. She is known for her modern interpretations of

Turkish folk music Turkish folk music (''Türk Halk Müziği'') is the traditional music of Turkish people living in Turkey influenced by the cultures of Anatolia and former territories in Europe and Asia. Its unique structure includes regional differences under ...

Early years

Tülay German was born in

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in 1935; she was the only child of her father, a civil servant, and her mother, a housewife. She began singing

Turkish classical music Ottoman music ( tr, Osmanlı müziği) or Turkish classical music ( tr, Türk sanat müziği) is the tradition of classical music originating in the Ottoman Empire. Developed in the palace, major Ottoman cities, and Sufi lodges, it traditionally ...

at the age of four and during her primary school years performed

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

's '' Ständchen'' (aka ''Serenade'') and '' Abends unter der Linde'' on radio. Belkıs Aran, a well-known soprano of that time, secretly took the young Tülay to a German music teacher, who declared her an exceptional vocal talent. Although she did study piano formally for five years with

Ferdi Statzer Ferdi Statzer (né Friedrich von Statzer; 1906 – 17 June 1974) was an eminent Austrian pedagogue, pianist, conductor and composer. A native Vienna, Viennese, his musical career transplanted him to Turkey, where he became an influential teach ...

, her parents did not wish to send her to conservatory; instead she attended Üsküdar American Academy in İstanbul, from which she graduated in 1956.

Career

In Turkey

When her father's professional duties brought the family to

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

for brief periods, German wanted to go sing in night clubs there. Although her father refused to allow this, German would secretly slip out while her father was sleeping and began to regularly perform English and Spanish songs at a night club. Eventually, when German was 25 years old, a friend of her father discovered her singing in the night club and told her father of it, after which he immediately sent German away to Istanbul. Eventually, in Istanbul, German obtained her father's consent to pursue a musical career, and between 1960 and 1962, she made a name for herself as a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

singer and began performing on weekly programs featuring the Salim Ağırbaş Quintet on Radio Istanbul. During this time she met her life partner Erdem Buri, a jazz performer and band leader who had achieved prominence in the 1940s, and had then become known for his radio talk shows on jazz in the 1950s. Buri encouraged German to sing folk songs in Turkish instead of foreign language songs, and she began performing on his radio program "Polyphonic Turkish Popular Music" ( tr, Çoksesli Türk Popüler Müziği), helping to build a new repertory of works by renowned folk musicians and poets such as

Ruhi Su Mehmet Ruhi Su (1912 – 20 September 1985) was a Turkish opera singer, Turkish folk singer and saz virtuoso of probable Armenian

Melih Cevdet Anday Melih Cevdet Anday (13 March 1915 – 28 November 2002) was a Turkish writer whose poetry stands outside the traditional literary movements. He also wrote in many other genres which, over six and a half decades, included eleven collections of p ...

and Yalçın Tura. Having been named "Best Singer" by the critics for her performance at the 1964 Balkan Melodies Festival held in

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, German earned an appearance on the cover of the magazine "''Arena''". At this time, she released her single '' Burçak Tarlası'', widely acknowledged to be one of the first hits of

Turkish pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...

Emigration to France

In 1966, Buri was threatened with a 15-year prison sentence, ostensibly for having made Turkish translations of Georg W.F. Hegel's ''Dialectic'' and ''Science of Logic'', works considered subversive in the Cold War climate of the time. Fleeing political repression, Buri and German emigrated to France, settling permanently in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Embarking on a new phase of her career as an expatriate artist, German adopted the French stage name "Toulaï". She recorded ten singles in French, gave numerous solo concerts, as well as appearing alongside renowned artists such as

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( , ; born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, hy, Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնավուրեան, ; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat. Aznavour was known for his dist ...

, Léo Ferré and

The Moody Blues The Moody Blues were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick. The g ...

. She also hosted radio and television programs in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

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Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

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and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Transcending traditional boundaries of genre, German's love songs and folk ballads established her reputation as an innovator of the 1960 and 1970s folk and jazz world. In 1981 her Turkish-language album (recorded in France) was awarded the

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

Académie Charles Cros The Académie Charles Cros (Charles Cros Academy) is an organization located in Chézy-sur-Marne, France, that acts as an intermediary between government cultural policy makers and professionals in music and the recording industry. The academy is ...

. German's final album was titled ''

Nazım Hikmet A nazim Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of In ...

'e Saygı'' (Respect to Nazım Hikmet). After a farewell concert in the Netherlands in 1987, Tülay German retired from performing. Since the death of her partner Erdem Buri on January 2, 1993, German has retired from public life.

Works

Discography

;Selected singles * Summertime, 1962 (

Odeon Odeon may refer to: Ancient Greek and Roman buildings * Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions * Odeon of Agrippa, Athens * Odeon of Athens * Odeon of Domitian, Rome ...

) * Burçak Tarlası/Mecnunum Leylam'ı gördüm, 1964 (Ezgi) * Yarının Şarkısı/Kızılcıklar Oldu mu?, 1965 (Ezgi) * La Chanson De L'oubli / Le Coeur D'un Ange, 1967 (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

) * O Eski Günler / Sevmem Bir Daha, 1968 (

) * C'Est Joli De S'Aimer / Kumbaya, 1968 (

) * Dere Geliyor Dere / Kara Kızın Türküsü, 1968 (

) * Aras Üste Buz Üste / Seni Alıp Kaçayım, 1968 (

) * Mara Eva, 1970 (

) * Maria Isabelle/ J'avais 10 petits frères (

) * A Perdre Haleine (for Janis Joplin)/ L'Homme Est Un Bateau, 1972 (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

) ;Albums * Tract: A composition of Agitprop Music for Electromagnetic tape (with

İlhan Mimaroğlu İlhan Kemaleddin Mimaroğlu (, March 11, 1926 – July 17, 2012) was a Turkish American musician and electronic music composer. He was born in Istanbul, Turkey, the son of the famous architect Mimar Kemaleddin Bey depicted on the Turkish lira ...

), 1975 (Folkways) * Toulaï et

François Rabbath François Rabbath (born 1931 in Aleppo, Syria) is a contemporary French double-bass virtuoso, soloist, and composer. Career He was born into a Syrian family of musicians but his only instruction came from a book written by a Parisian bassist Ed ...

, 1980 (Arion) * Günlerimiz (with

Zülfü Livaneli Ömer Zülfü Livaneli (born 20 June 1946), is a Turkish musician, author, poet, and politician. Livaneli was imprisoned several times during the 1971 Turkish coup d'état because of his political views and had to leave Turkey in 1972 and went ...

), 1980. * Hommage à Nâzım Hikmet (with

), 1982 (Arion) * La Turquie de Mehmet Koç, 1985 (Arion). ;Compilations (CD) * Le Chant Des Poètes (with

), 1998 (Arion) * Yunus'tan Nâzım'a (with

), 1999 (Kalan) * '62 - '87 Burçak Tarlası, 2001 (Kalan) * Sound of Love, 2007 (Kalan) Discography by Murat Meriç, Çağdaş Uyar, Ercan Demirel
/ref>

Bibliography

* *

Legacy

- The 2010 documentary movie, ''Tülay German: Kor ve Ateş Yılları'' (literally: ''Tülay German: Years of Fire and Cinders''), describes her life and music. - "Mecnunum Leylamı Gördüm" is a part of the soundtrack of the 2009

Pelin Esmer Pelin Esmer (born 1972, Istanbul) is a Turkish screenwriter and director. Career Pelin Esmer studied anthropology at the social sciences department of Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. She made her first short documentary, ''Koleksiyoncu'' (The ...

's movie, ''11'e 10 Kala/

10 to 11 ''10 to 11'' ( tr, 11'e 10 kala) is a 2009 Turkish drama film directed by Pelin Esmer. The film, loosely based on the story of Esmer's uncle, Mithat Esmer, who also plays the leading role, follows an elderly collector in İstanbul who lives in a ...

''.

References

External links

Years of Fire and CindersTülây German : résonances d'une icône folk et politique

(an essay and a selection of ten songs by French website La Blogothèque) {{DEFAULTSORT:German, Tulay 1935 births Singers from Istanbul Üsküdar American Academy alumni Turkish people of Circassian descent Turkish women singers Turkish jazz singers Turkish folk singers Turkish pop singers Turkish emigrants to France Grand Prix du Disque Living people French-language singers