Attila Özdemiroğlu (5 January 1943 – 20 April 2016) was a Turkish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

and

music producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

. He was best known for his award winning

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s in the 1970s and 1980s.

Career

Born on 5 January 1943 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 ( ...

, Özdemiroğlu got interested in playing music already in his early years. At his age of eight, he took private lessons on

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. Learning to play many music instruments such as

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

and

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

, he participated at music events during his high school and university years. In 1966, he moved to

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 ...

and joined the music band "Durul Gence 5". Later, Özdemiroğlu played in several other music groups and also for Turkish

pop star A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in popular culture is regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The usage of the term is largely subjective since there are no definitively object ...

s like

Ajda Pekkan Ayşe Ajda Pekkan (; born 12 February 1946) is a Turkish singer. She is known by the title "superstar" in the Turkish media. Pekkan became a prominent figure of Turkish pop music with her songs, in which she tried to create a strong female figure. ...

, Nilüfer,

Kayahan Kayahan Açar (29 March 1949 – 3 April 2015) was a Turkish pop music singer-songwriter. He was an accomplished composer, consistently ranking among the best-selling Turkish musicians of all time. Kayahan composed all of his own material and ...

and

Sezen Aksu Sezen Aksu (; born Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; 13 July 1954) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and producer. She is one of the most successful Turkish people, Turkish singers, having sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Q ...

. One of his compositions, ''Pet'r Oil'', was selected for Turkey's entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1980 The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NOS), which agreed to stage the eve ...

, where he conducted the orchestra himself. Özdemiroğlu was awarded five times for his film scores at the

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most important film festival in Turkey. Since 2009, t ...

and twice at the Adana Golden Boll Film Festival. Outside of his career as a musician, Attila was one of the co-founders of Anadolu.net the first Internet Service Provider in Turkey together with Riza Nur Pacalioglu and Tony Yustein.

Personal life

Attila Özdemiroğlu married four times. He made his first marriage with Ayla at his age of 19. From this marriage that lasted eleven years, he has a daughter, Yaprak Özdemiroğlu, who became a film actress, and a son, Sarp Özdemiroğlu, who is also a composer and arranger. His marriage with Füsun Önal, a renowned pop singer, ended after only 1.5 years. He married then

ballerina A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancer ...

Lale Mansur, now film actress. After six years with her, he became an item with Müjde Ar, a famous film actress, which lasted 15 years. From 1995 until his death, he was married to Hepgül Hepbir. Attila Özdemiroğlu and his wife, who was 31 years his junior, had twin daughters, Lara and Lidya. Özdemiroğlu died at age 73 on 20 April 2016 in Istanbul. He was suffering from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

, and was hospitalized due to an injury resulting from a fall at home. He was interred in the

Zincirlikuyu Cemetery The Zincirlikuyu Cemetery () is a modern burial ground in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. It is administered by the Metropolitan Municipality. Many prominent figures from the world of politics, business, sports and arts rest here. The ce ...

following the religious service at Levent Mosque.

Incidental music works

Özdemiroğlu created the following

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

works: ;Musical theatre * ''Yedi Kocalı Hürmüz'' * ''Beyoğlu, Beyoğlu'' (1984) * ''Fosforlu Cevriye'' (2008) ;Film * ''Adı Vasfiye'' (1985) * '' Züğürt Ağa'' (1985) * ''Afife Jale'' (1987) * ''Muhsin Bey'' (1987) * '' Gece Yolculuğu'' (1988) * ''Kaçamak'' (1988) * ''Arabesk'' (1989) * ''Aşk Filmlerinin Unutulmaz Yönetmeni'' (1990) * ''Robert's Movie'' (1991) * '' Akrebin Yolculuğu'' (1997) * ''Ağır Roman'' (1997) * ''Gönderilmemiş Mektuplar'' (2003) * ''Kalbin Zamanı'' (2004) * ''Kilit'' (2007)

Turkey's selection for Eurovision Song Contest

His following songs were selected to contest for Turkey at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

: * 1975 ''Delisin'' by Cici Kızlar (third place in the selections) * 1975 ''Minik Kuş'' by Füsun Önal (with

Çiğdem Talu Çiğdem Talu (October 31, 1939 – May 28, 1983) was a Turkish poet and lyricist. The writer Ercüment Ekrem Talu was her grandfather. Çiğdem wrote her first song "''Ağlıyorum Yine''", which was sung by Nilüfer and released on her sin ...

) * 1975 ''Çiçekler'' by Zerrin Yaşar (with Zerrin Yaşar) * 1978 ''İnsanız Biz'' by Grup Sekstet (second place in the selections - with Şanar Yurdatapan) * 1980 '' Pet'r Oil'' by

(Turkey's entry - with Şanar Yurdatapan) * 1983 ''Atlantis'' by Beş Yıl Önce, On Yıl Sonra (with

Aysel Gürel Gönül Aysel Gürel (7 February 1929 – 17 February 2008) was a Turkish lyricist and actress. Besides her lyrics, which were performed by singers throughout Turkey, she was known for her outlandish clothing, make up and wigs. Biography Ayse ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozdemiroglu, Attila 1943 births Musicians from Ankara Turkish composers Turkish film score composers Best Music Score Golden Orange Award winners Best Music Score Golden Boll Award winners Turkish music arrangers 2016 deaths Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery