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StillnessFolk music biography

Neşet Ertaş (1938–2012) was one of Turkey's best-loved folk musicians. From his father, Muharrem Ertaş, he learned the bozlak, a long, high-pitched and often mournful song of Central Anatolia, and he renewed it with songs of his own.

Neşet Ertaş

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The story behind the card

Ertaş was born in 1938 in a village in Kırşehir, into an Abdal family. The Abdals are a Central Anatolian community in which music has long been a hereditary trade, played at weddings and gatherings. As a child he travelled from village to village with his father, playing the bağlama, a long-necked lute. In 1976 a stroke left him unable to play; he went to Germany for treatment in 1979, stayed for 24 years and gave concerts for Turkish migrants across Europe. In 2002 he declined the title of State Artist, saying that all artists already served the state and a separate title felt like discrimination. He received an honorary doctorate from Istanbul Technical University in 2011 and died in İzmir in 2012.

Türkçe oku
Neşet Ertaş (1938–2012), Türkiye'nin en sevilen halk müzisyenlerinden biriydi. Orta Anadolu'nun yüksek perdeden, uzun soluklu okunan yanık havası bozlağı babası Muharrem Ertaş'tan öğrendi ve kendi yazdığı türkülerle yeniledi.

Ertaş, 1938'de Kırşehir'in bir köyünde, Abdal bir ailede doğdu. Abdallar, Orta Anadolu'da çalgıcılığı kuşaktan kuşağa meslek olarak sürdüren, düğünlerde ve toplantılarda çalıp söyleyen bir topluluktur. Neşet daha çocukken bağlamasıyla babasının yanında köy köy dolaştı. 1976'da geçirdiği felç yüzünden çalamaz hâle geldi; 1979'da tedavi için gittiği Almanya'da 24 yıl kaldı ve Avrupa'nın dört bir yanında gurbetçilere konserler verdi. 2002'de kendisine önerilen Devlet Sanatçısı unvanını, hepimizin zaten bu devletin sanatçısı olduğunu, ayrı bir unvanın ayrımcılık gibi geldiğini söyleyerek geri çevirdi. 2011'de İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi'nden fahri doktora aldı; 2012'de İzmir'de hayatını kaybetti.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Neşet Ertaş
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