Melihat Gurses

Melihat Gülses (born in 1958 at Konya, Turkey) is a Turkish classical music singer and concert soloist. She took lessons from the most famous masters of Turkish Classical Music such as Bekir S. Sezgin, Alaeddin Yavasca, Tulun Korman, Guher Guney, and Nurten Ipek. In the year 1981, she began her occupation in Istanbul State Radio by passing the examination of TRT (Turkish Radio & Television). Since 1997, she has been singing tangos, with The Tango Orchestra of TRT Radio of Istanbul. In Istanbul Music Festival 1996, Melihat Gülses sang Turkish – Greek songs in the concert called “The Songs of Istanbul & Rembetiko”.
Mavi Boncuk |

Beni âteşlere salan o kapkara siyâh gözler
Beni çılgın gibi yakan o tatlı sözler, güler yüzler
Hayâtımda sana kanmak nasîb olmaz ise eğer
Kapansın, perde çekilsin cihân sensiz hiçe değer...

Makâm [1]: Şehnâz
Usûl : Curcuna
Music : Zeki Ârif Ataergin
Lyrics : Necâti Tokyay








[1] In Turkish classical music, Mevlevi music, and some Mosque music, a system of melody types called makam provides a complex set of rules for composing. Each makam specifies a unique intervalic structure (cinsler) and melodic development (seyir). Whether a fixed composition (beste, şarkı, peşrev, âyin, etc.) or a spontaneous composition (gazel, taksim, Kuran-ı Kerim, Mevlit, etc.), all attempt to follow the melody type. The rhythmic counterpart of makam in Turkish music is usul.


Turkish makam's closest relatives include maqam in Arab music and echoes in Byzantine music. The Turkish makams, the Arab maqams and the Byzantine similarities, were originally derived from Persian dastgahs still in use today. More distant modal relatives include those of Central Asian Turkic musics such as Uyghur music, muqam and Uzbek music, shashmakom. The raga of Hindustani (North Indian) classical music employs similar modal principles. Some scholars find echoes of Turkish makam in former Ottoman provinces of the Balkans.[2] All of these concepts roughly correspond to mode in Western music, although their compositional rules vary.