Özel Türkbaş (September 1, 1938 – July 22, 2012) was a Turkish-born actress, model, singer and belly dancer, who helped popularize belly dancing in the US and recorded traditional music aimed at a western audience, including the successful 1969 album ''Bellydance with Özel Türkbaş: How to Make Your Husband a Sultan''.

Life and career

She was born in

Manisa Manisa () is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province, lying approximately 40 km northeast of the major city of İzmir. The city forms the urban part of the districts Şehzadeler and Yunusemre, with ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and moved to

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

as a child; her mother was a professional dancer. She was a member of the State Children's Theatre in Ankara, before starting a singing career with her sister in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. During the 1950s, she worked as a model, and also starred in 14 films in Turkey including ''Gunah Koprusu'' in 1955, where she met Ayhan Türkbaş who became her husband. She also represented Turkey at international film festivals. ''TADF Başsağlığı Mesajı - Özel Türkbaş'', 24 July 2012
Retrieved 20 February 2014 Jezibell Anat, "Özel Türkbas - Turkish Bellydance Trailblazer", GildedSerpent.com, 31 July 2012
Retrieved 20 February 2014 In 1959 she was invited to the US by a promoter, and began performing dance in clubs.

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (; 12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019) was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II e ...

then recruited her to play the role of La Orientale in his production of the

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Thais Thais can be the plural of ''Thai'' and refer to: * The Thai people, the main ethnic group of Thailand * The Thai peoples or Tai peoples, the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia In the singular, Thais may refer to: People Ancien ...

'', in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, with the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

. After the show closed, she continued to tour the country, often performing three 45-minute shows each night and helping to spark a nationwide craze for the style.

She would make her entrance wearing an elaborate cape. Because her agents had told her it was important to establish that she was Turkish or people wouldn't watch her, she began by singing in Turkish. Then she removed the cape. With her veil draped around her torso, she started her dance. She played finger cymbals throughout her set, including floor-work and drum solos. Sometimes she would invite a male audience member up for some humorous volunteer participation. As her English improved, she developed a monologue and told jokes as well. Usually her jokes involved sultans, harems and other aspects of Turkish culture, just as comics mine their own lives for their material.

She settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with her husband, and regularly appeared in clubs on Eighth Avenue and in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

. Türkbaş regularly worked with leading musicians, and in 1969 released the album ''How to Make Your Husband a Sultan'', on which she was accompanied by the leading Turkish

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

player Mustafa Kandıralı, together with violinist Cevdet Çağla, Ahmet Yatman ( kanun), Tarik Bulut (piano), Gerhard Rudolph (bass guitar), and Leszlo Kubinyi (drum). The record contained a complete 17-minute dance routine, together with other traditional songs, and sold an estimated 150,000 copies in the US, and reportedly one million in Turkey. ''How To Make Your Husband A Sultan'' at TraditionalCrossroads.com
Retrieved 20 February 2014 ''How To Make Your Husband A Sultan'' was included in the book ''1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die''. ''How To Make Your Husband A Sultan'' in ''1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die''
Retrieved 20 February 2014 She followed it up with several further albums including ''How to Belly Dance for Your Sultan'', ''Dance into Your Sultan's Heart'', ''Alla Turca'', and ''Kismet''. She also wrote two books, ''The Turkish Cookbook by Ozel'' and ''The BellyDancer in You''. After she retired from performing, she and her husband owned restaurants and invested in real estate, owning properties in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. She died in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 2012 at the age of 73.

References

External links

''How To Make Your Husband A Sultan'' at Allmusic.com

Interview with Özel Türkbas and others
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turkbas, Ozel 1938 births 2012 deaths People from Manisa Turkish emigrants to the United States Turkish belly dancers American belly dancers 20th-century dancers