Tülay German (born 1935, also known as Toulaï in
France) 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 unde ...
.
Early years
Tülay German was born in
Istanbul 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 wor ...
'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,
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, mak ...
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 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 and
Yalçın Tura.
Having been named "Best Singer" by the critics for her performance at the 1964 Balkan Melodies Festival held in
Yugoslavia, 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 describe ...
.
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.
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
Léo Ferré (24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a French-born Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released s ...
and
The Moody Blues. She also hosted radio and television programs in
France,
Germany,
Poland,
Tunisia,
Morocco,
Netherlands and
Brazil.
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 of
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 i ...
. German's final album was titled ''
Nazım Hikmet'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)
* 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)
* O Eski Günler / Sevmem Bir Daha, 1968 (
Philips)
* C'Est Joli De S'Aimer / Kumbaya, 1968 (
Philips)
* Dere Geliyor Dere / Kara Kızın Türküsü, 1968 (
Philips)
* Aras Üste Buz Üste / Seni Alıp Kaçayım, 1968 (
Philips)
* Mara Eva, 1970 (
Philips)
* Maria Isabelle/ J'avais 10 petits frères (
Philips)
* 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 Entertainme ...
)
;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 Edo ...
, 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
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 Edo ...
), 1982 (Arion)
* La Turquie de Mehmet Koç, 1985 (Arion).
;Compilations (CD)
* Le Chant Des Poètes (with
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 Edo ...
), 1998 (Arion)
* Yunus'tan Nâzım'a (with
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 Edo ...
), 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 Cinders
Tülây 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