Gülseren Yıldırım (born 1973) is a Turkish-French singer, whose output covers a wide range of genres, including pop,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

, and traditional

Turkish music The roots of traditional music in Turkey span across centuries to a time when the Seljuk Turks migrated to Anatolia and Persia in the 11th century and contains elements of both Turkic and pre-Turkic influences. Much of its modern popular music ...

. Despite having lived in France for most of her life, she was selected to represent the country of her birth in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2005 The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "Wild Dances" by Ruslana. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ( ...

, held in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, Ukraine.

Early life

She was born 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 ...

, Turkey. Having moved to Paris at the age of seven, Gülseren took a number of steps as the years progressed to remain engaged with her Turkish background. She studied at the French university

INALCO Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (; ), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French Grand Etablissement with a specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. Its coverage spans languages of Central Europ ...

, which specialises in

Eastern culture Eastern culture, also known as Eastern civilization and historically as Oriental culture, is an umbrella term for the diverse cultural heritages of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, Cultural ar ...

, and she also gave

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

lessons to Parisian children.

Musical career

Between 1997 and 1999, she forged her experience as a singer by giving nightly performances at the Parisian cabaret venue "Les Trois Mailletz", which showcases

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and world music. She also performed in venues across Europe, in particular returning to Turkey on many occasions. Gülseren tried her hand at acting when she played herself in the made-for-television Dutch film ''Roos and Rana'', which hit screens in April 2001. The film focused on the relationship between two girls, one Dutch and the other Turkish, and how it impacts upon their families. In early 2005, Gülseren threw her hat in the ring in the competition to represent 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 ...

. After tentative plans for a public televote were dropped, the selection of the country's Eurovision entry instead rested with a seventeen-strong jury, for whom Gülseren's performance of "

Rimi Rimi Ley Turkey was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Rimi Rimi Ley", composed by Erdinç Tunç, with lyrics by Göksan Arman, and performed by Gülseren. The Turkish participating broadcaster, (TRT), selected its entry thr ...

" proved to be the decisive favourite. The song was uncompromisingly faithful to Turkish musical traditions – somewhat in contrast to the country's entries in 2003 and especially 2004 – and was criticised by 2003 Eurovision winner

Sertab Erener Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990s ...

for lacking the broad international appeal necessary to achieve a good result. However, it can also be seen as a response to the result of the 2004 contest, in which identifiably 'ethnic' songs, including the

Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

entry, proved to be successful vote-grabbers. Due to the placing of Turkey's 2004 representatives

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

on home soil in Istanbul, Gülseren had the fortune of being immune from the tough battle to avoid elimination at the semi-final stage on 19 May, and instead qualified directly for the grand final on 21 May in which she finished 13th with 92 points. Turkey participated in the semi-final of the 2006 contest in Greece after finishing 13th in the 2005 contest.

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulseren 1973 births Living people Singers from Istanbul Turkish expatriates in France Turkish women pop singers Turkish pop singers Turkish-language singers of France Turkish female dancers Eurovision Song Contest entrants