İbrahim Özgür (1910 – 11 February 1959) was a Turkish

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

composer and singer.

Early life

Özgür was born into a musical family in Ayazpasa,

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 ...

. Özgür learned

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 ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

at the Military Academy in

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 ( ...

when he was 16.

Career

After graduation Özgür returned to Istanbul and formed his own orchestra. In 1931 Özgür embarked on a concert tour for seven years and performed in many East Asia countries such as

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Afterwards, Özgür went back to Turkey and opened a nightclub called “Ates Boceklen”, which means “Glow-worm” in English. Later in 1938, Özgür made his first recording. He wrote many famous tangos full of nostalgia. His best-known tango, “Mavi Kelebek”, was inspired by an Indian princess whom he met.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozgur, Ibrahim 1910 births 1959 deaths Turkish male dancers Turkish dancers 20th-century Turkish male singers Tango singers