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Tanburi Cemil Bey (Tambouri Djemil Bey), (1871, Istanbul – 1916, Istanbul) was a Turkish Tanbur, yaylı tanbur, kemençe, and lavta virtuoso and composer, who has greatly contributed to the Taksim (improvisation on a makam/maqam) genre in Ottoman classical music. His son, Mesut Cemil Bey, is an equally renowned tanbur virtuoso.
Overview
Tanburi Cemil Bey was born in Istanbul in 1871, his birth date is
uncertain. He took his first lessons in music from Kanuni Ahmet Bey and
the violin player Kemani Aleksan, his first instruments thus being the
violin and the kanun. After completing middle school, he continued in a
school for civil servants (Mülkiye), but then devoted himself to music
and abandoned his education. He began to play the tanbur quite early in
his youth and by the age of 20, his renown had already spread among the
tanburis of Istanbul. Reforming the traditional playing technique of
the tanbur, he developed an energetic technique based on a rich and
agile picking style, lightening to a great extent the sonority of this
instrument. Later on, he set about playing the Turkish classical
kemençe and attained an astonishingly high level of technique, so much
so that the virtuosity level of the Ottoman kemençevi of Greek-Gyspy
origin Vassilis (1845-1907), considered as then as "the reference",
came to be thought of by certain amateurs to be outmatched... He was
also the inventor of the yaylı (bowed) tanbur.
This musician was able to play any instrument he picked up: he played
lavta, cello, yaylı tanbur, Zurna and several other instruments with
equal virtuosity. His taksims and instrumental works he recorded on
78rpms with tanbur, kemençe, lavta, cello and yaylı tanbur had
considerable impact on generations of musicians following him. The
peşrevs and sazsemais he composed are pieces of great taste, requiring
a developed performance technique.
And finally, if we are to lay confidence in his close friend Mahmut Demirhan's words:
He bowed his way [on the kemençe] with unheard-of confidence, ease
and serenity; from the very dense and close-together notes of high
gerdaniye, high muhayyer, and even high çargah, playing melodies
clearly and crisply, without falling the least out of tune nor making a
faux-pas in fingering; and all of this without the slightest sign of
discomfort on his face.
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