A tanburi, composer, teacher and author from the last great generation of Turkish music's radio and nightclub era, Sadun Aksüt was born on 26 October 1932 in Merzifon, in the province of Amasya. He stayed in Merzifon little more than a year; the rest of his life unfolded in Istanbul, in the streets of Kadıköy, in radio studios, on nightclub stages and in a conservatory classroom. Aksüt sat beside Münir Nurettin Selçuk at his solo concerts for years and taught tanbur at the Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Turkish Music State Conservatory for nearly half a century. His tie to Amasya is a tie of birth, but it deserves a place in the city's musical memory.

Birth and Family in Merzifon

His full name was Yusuf Sadun Aksüt. Almost all the sources say he was born in Merzifon on 26 October 1932; only one encyclopedia entry gives "Amasya" in its infobox, with the district named in the text. His mother was Ulviye Hanım. His father was Ali Kemali Aksüt (1884 Yanya - 6 February 1963), who served as a governor in the early Republic and wrote many books on history and literature. A graduate of the Mekteb-i Mülkiye (Imperial School of Civil Service), Ali Kemali Bey worked as district governor in Filat, Mecidiye, Mucur, Haymana and Kalecik, as director of legal affairs in the Ankara Province and as an inspector at the Ministry of the Interior; he served as governor of Ordu, Erzincan, Doğubeyazıt and Bilecik. His last state post was director of the Maritime Lines Pension Fund. After retirement he taught literature and history at Robert College in Istanbul. His book Erzincan, written during his governorship there and published in 1932, is regarded as a comprehensive study documenting the city before the 1939 earthquake.

The sources disagree about how the family left Merzifon. One source says that after the father was appointed governor of Bilecik in 1934, the family moved first to Bilecik and soon afterwards to Istanbul. A Hürriyet article from 2003 says the father was then governor of Van, and that the child was taken to Istanbul before he turned one. Another source says only "when he was a little over a year old." According to Erzincan Haber, Ali Kemali Aksüt became governor of Erzincan on 24 July 1930 and held the post for about two years, while a list of Ağrı administrators shows him as governor there in 1932-1933. No record has been found explaining the father's connection with Merzifon in 1932. What is certain is that every source gives Merzifon as the birthplace, and that both his childhood and his artistic life took shape entirely in Istanbul.

A Childhood in Haydarpaşa

According to one source, the family had another son and three daughters besides Sadun. They lived first in Üsküdar and then in Yeldeğirmeni in Kadıköy. Sadun attended the Gazi Mustafa Kemal Paşa Primary School in Talimhane, finished Kadıköy Middle School No. 3 and graduated from Haydarpaşa High School; he did not go to university. Hürriyet reports that his childhood was spent on the meadow of Haydarpaşa, of which today only the name remains. He loved listening to Hafız Burhan and Münir Nurettin on a His Master's Voice gramophone; in middle school he had a darbuka bought for him and used to play along with the radio when Ankara Radio's fasıl programme began.

When he finished high school he went, fearfully, to his stern-tempered father and said he wanted to play the cümbüş. His father's answer was unexpected: "If you are going to play, play a pure instrument of Turkish music, play the tanbur!" Ali Kemali Bey bought him a tanbur and took him to Hüseyin Sadettin Arel. This account rests only on the Hürriyet piece and has not been confirmed elsewhere. According to the same article, Aksüt likens his meeting with the tanbur to a madly smitten man reaching his beloved, but adds that this love was never easy.

Teachers and Apprentice Years

Aksüt's training passed through almost all the great names of Istanbul's musical world of the time. At the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory he studied with Şefik Gürmeriç and Kemal Gürses; before finishing there he moved to the Advanced Turkish Music Conservatory Association, where he worked with Hüseyin Sadettin Arel, Dr. Suphi Ezgi and Laika Karabey. Some sources also list Rıdvan Aytan and Emin Ongan among his teachers. He began tanbur in 1949, with his first instrument, bought for 100 liras, and his first teacher, Laika Karabey Hanım, and went on to take classes in tanbur and in the theory of Turkish music.

Some time later, at the Üsküdar Music Society, where he had gone with great enthusiasm, he realised that the work was not as easy as it looked. According to Hürriyet, Emin Ongan, "the teacher of teachers," listened to him and said: "This is not how the tanbur is played. Let me speak to him, go to İzzettin Ökte." In early 1950 Aksüt became a pupil of the great master İzzettin Ökte, whose tanbur produced a sound "like a dome, like a pearl." The apprenticeship and friendship lasted until the teacher's death. For many years Aksüt also worked through hundreds of pieces with Emin Ongan, taking on his style. By his own account he benefited greatly from Ökte and continued to pass his teacher's manner and style on to his students. The archive he donated to the ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory also contains a tanbur that belonged to İzzettin Ökte.

Hürriyet also mentions that during his years at the Municipal Conservatory he, Cahit Peksayar, Rıdvan Aytan and Hüsnü Anıl were known as the "Four Aces" of Kadıköy. The same article says the young tanburi had his eye on the nightclubs, which were then in great demand.

Radio and Stage Years

In late 1951 he began playing instrumental pieces with friends at Istanbul Radio; some sources give 1950 for this. In 1956 he joined the Turkish Music Sheet Music Library of Istanbul Radio as a clerk, while continuing to play tanbur in solo and ensemble programmes. Between 1966 and 1967 he served as tanburi in the Turkish Music Performance Ensemble of the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory; in 1967 he returned to the radio and continued as a unionised artist. He retired from TRT in 1981.

Alongside his radio work he played "on the market," that is, in nightclubs, from late 1950 until 1975. According to Hürriyet his first stage experience was accompanying Safiye Ayla at the Kristal in 1952. For years he played with many of the soloists of the day, from Münir Nurettin Selçuk to Perihan Sözeri, from Mualla Mukadder to Safiye Ayla, from Mediha Demirkıran to Zeki Müren; he also accompanied figures who had moved from cinema to the stage, such as Göksel Arsoy and Ayhan Işık. From 1967 until his death he took part in Münir Nurettin Selçuk's solo concerts as tanburi. Hürriyet also records what nightclub life cost him: the shift ended after midnight, which meant that the instrumentalists went home on the last ferry, and Aksüt often found no time to watch his children grow up or to share an evening meal with them.

In his memoir Alkışlarla Geçen Yıllar (Years Spent in Applause) he describes the backstage of this world. According to Hürriyet, the "musical society" looks from outside like a palace with a roof of ruby, walls of cut crystal mirror; inside, it is "a fountain with no water, a flower of crepe paper." The book deals with the early years of the nightclubs, those who achieved firsts on the stage, opportunism, complexes, the repertoire and review boards at the radio, and envy. One of the memories concerns 1967, when the Istanbul Municipality could not find posts for the members of the performance ensemble at its conservatory, and Aksüt, together with artists such as Münir Nurettin Selçuk, Emin Ongan, Hakkı Derman, Vecdi Seyhun and Fikret Kutluğ, was hired from "the street sweepers' quota." He also put in the book a sentence he heard during the 1970 cholera outbreak in Istanbul, at a vaccination held at the radio ("Nurse, there is little vaccine, do not give it to everyone who comes. Think of the civil servants first, what if the artists hear of it and come too"). These accounts are from a single source.

"What have we instrumentalists not endured for a morsel. Honeyed sherbet for others, a cup of blood for us" sums up the distinction between soloists and accompanists. Aksüt was among those who most resented the label "çalgıcı" (hired player); the people he spoke of were irreplaceable virtuosos of Turkish music. An anecdote in Hürriyet shows the everyday face of this divide: one evening at the Çakıl Nightclub, while accompanying Göksel Arsoy, the instrumentalists asked for water to take an aspirin, and the waiter said "we do not give water to instrumentalists, drink from the toilet"; when Arsoy learned of it, he answered by saying, "Bring me a crate of water."

The same interview also voices his longing for the old nightclub audience. According to Aksüt, those who came to the old nightclubs were truly "listeners." At a fasıl evening featuring Selahattin Pınar, Nevzat Tokyay and Fevzi Aslangil, a gentleman of Istanbul nicknamed Abacı reminded them that they had listened to the eviç fasıl the previous evening and asked this time for its sibling, the ferahnak fasıl. Aksüt says that the eviç fasıl is no longer performed on the radio today and that, on the market, the instrumentalists cannot even play the ferahnak peşrev properly from memory; he also sharply criticises advertisements for "live fasıl": a fasıl has no dancing and no clapping, it opens with a peşrev, and everything has its order.

Conservatory and Teaching

In 1975 he was appointed tanbur instructor at the Istanbul Turkish Music State Conservatory (today the ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory). According to Hürriyet, he accepted this post by choosing a salary of 17,500 liras at the conservatory when he was earning 200,000-300,000 liras a month in the nightclubs. Although he retired from TRT in 1981, he kept his conservatory post; after retiring at the age limit in 1996 he continued teaching on contract, and from 2000 on an hourly fee. By his own word, he would stay with his students "as long as I do not drop from my feet." One source says the post lasted 40 years, while Anadolu Agency writes that he trained hundreds of students over nearly half a century of teaching.

In its statement after his death, the ITU State Conservatory remembered him as a teacher who had contributed through his performance and teaching since the conservatory's founding. According to the same statement, Aksüt served on the Turkish Music Archive Board, headed by Nida Tüfekçi, by Board of Directors decision no. 46 of 13 October 1976. He also taught and conducted the İzmit Turkish Music Society; the duration is given as 10 years in Hürriyet and 15 years in Antoloji. After his death the composer Amir Ateş, speaking of Aksüt as one of the names raised by the Üsküdar Music Society, said: "He was one of our artists to be proud of, both as a tanburi, as a composer and for his musical equipment."

He was a member of the TRT Turkish Art Music Repertoire Board for 16 years. The guests on "Taş Plaktan Bugüne" (From Shellac to Today), which he prepared and presented at TRT in 1988, were Hamiyet Yüceses, Müzeyyen Senar, Alâeddin Yavaşça, Behiye Aksoy, Safiye Ayla, Sevim Tanürek, Neşe Karaböcek, İsmet Nedim, Mualla Gökçay, Nesrin Sipahi, Sevim Çağlayan, Sabite Tur Gülerman, Nigar Uluerer, Perihan Altındağ and Sevim Tuna. According to Doğan Hızlan, Aksüt would chat with his guests and then accompany them on his bowed tanbur. According to Hürriyet, the programme had been taken off the air without reason about two years before the 2003 article; its reruns still drew interest.

Compositions and Albums

The figures given for his compositions differ among the sources. Some sources count about 100 songs, 24 hymns, some 50 instrumental pieces, three children's songs and a Mevlevi ayin-i şerif in the Sazkâr makam; other sources speak of 60 instrumental pieces, about 150 songs and 30 hymns; Hürriyet gives more than 100 songs, about 30 instrumental pieces and as many hymns. Biyografiler.com also lists two film scores. He is also said to have prepared about 20 fasıl in the traditional fasıl style, with original interludes.

He set to music poems by Yahya Kemal Beyatlı, Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Mustafa Nafiz Irmak, Ahmet Muhip Dranas, Necip Fazıl Kısakürek and Ümit Yaşar Oğuzcan. Pieces to words by Halil Soyuer, Rüştü Şardağ, Sami Derintuna and İlkan San are also in the TRT repertoire. Among his instrumental works, "Köyde," "Gelin Karşılaması" and "Ege'de Şenlik" were arranged for polyphonic performance by Yalçın Tura; the world premiere was given on 24 September 2004 by the Istanbul Chamber Orchestra under Hakan Şensoy.

In 2004, at the request of his musician friend Dağhan Baydur, he made the album Sisli Bir Eylül Gecesi (A Misty September Night) at Muzikotek, made up of his own songs, which he sang and played on the bowed tanbur; Western instruments accompanied him on the album. In 2012 Altmış Yıllık Aşk (Sixty Years of Love) came out from Kalan Müzik. According to Doğan Hızlan, the album brought together his solo performances and compositions. After his death, the digital album Arzu, prepared with Göknil Bişak Özdemir as performer, included "Arzu-Mahur Saz Semaisi," "Aşk İki Kişiliktir" (words: Ataol Behramoğlu), "Sisli Bir Eylül Gecesi," "Kadıköy'ün Şen Kızı," "Yılların Ardında Eski Bir Bahar," "Yörük Kızı" (words: Karacaoğlan) and "Senin Gibi Ceylana."

Author and Researcher

Aksüt's books include Tambur Metodu (regarded as the first tanbur method published in Turkey; after the 1971 and 1994 editions a revised technical edition appeared), 10 fasıl collections, 500 Yıllık Türk Musikisi Antolojisi, Dede Efendi (a joint translation with Rüştü Eriç of Rauf Yekta Bey's Esatiz-i Elhan), Türk Musikisinin 100 Bestekârı (1992), Güfteler Hazinesi, Dillerdeki Şarkılar (2003), Müzisyen Osmanoğulları, Şarkılarda İstanbul, Bahardan Hazana Esintiler and Dile Gelen Mızrap (poems), Alkışlarla Geçen Yıllar (memoir, 2000) and İstanbul'da Eğlence Hayatı (2017). Biyografiler.com's list also includes a title called Cumhuriyetten Günümüze.

In Hürriyet's phrase, Alkışlarla Geçen Yıllar is a memoir that recounts, with plenty of gossip, the musical life of half a century earlier and the backstage world of the nightclubs and the Radyoevi. The same article says the book angered many people but also gave an idea of those years. According to an encyclopedia entry, Rıdvan Aytan filed a compensation suit against Aksüt in 2000; the subject and outcome of the case are not given in the sources.

Family Life

Aksüt taught music to Rübeyza Hanım, whom he had met in the years he attended the association, and married her. The couple had two children, Harun and Arzu; the infobox also lists Yiğit Aksüt among the children. His son Harun died young in 1992; Cumhuriyet gives his age as 32, Biyografiler.com as 36. According to Hürriyet, Rübeyza Hanım, who also had a beautiful voice, could not continue a musical career because of her husband's jealousy; after a period apart, the couple married again. The same article relates an anecdote: returning from the nightclub on the last ferry, Aksüt one night sees his wife at the window from the corner of the street, sits on the opposite pavement and begins to strum his tanbur; when Rübeyza Hanım says "stop it, I am going inside," he answers, "If you run off, I will start singing too." This anecdote appears only in Hürriyet.

His Archive and Death

He donated the archive he had gathered over his lifetime to the ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory Archive and Documentation Center. It holds handwritten notebooks of music by important composers, photographs, letters, records, handwritten works prepared in different notation techniques, loose-leaf scores in Turkish and Ottoman script, printed works and a large number of newspaper clippings that will shed light on the history of music. According to Anadolu Agency, Aksüt also donated the library of Prof. Ercümend Berker and Prof. Ş. Şehvar Beşiroğlu. The same report and Cumhuriyet also call him "Turkey's musical memory."

Sadun Aksüt died in the hospital in Istanbul where he was being treated. The date of death is given as 2 January 2023 (some sources) or 3 January 2023 (others); Anadolu Agency's report is dated 3 January. His age is given as 90 and 91; counting from the birth date of 26 October 1932 gives 90. After a ceremony on 4 January 2023 at the ITU State Conservatory in Maçka, he was buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery following the noon prayer. His composer friend Turhan Taşan announced his condolences on hearing the news, speaking of him as "my elder brother." At the ceremony the conservatory director, Prof. Dr. Ali Tüfekçi, said that he was one of the school's founding masters; his student Hakan Tolum said his teacher had taught them "how to be a fine person, how to sit, rise and speak."

His Tie to Amasya

Apart from his birth in Merzifon, no source has been found for any later tie between Aksüt and Amasya; no building, street or commemorative event in Amasya bearing his name has been identified. His place is among the artists whom Amasya remembers as a birthplace but who built their lives in another city. Even so, that a child born in Merzifon became one of the reliable tanburis of Istanbul's last great fasıl and nightclub generation leaves a trace that deserves to be added to the musical memory of these lands.

His own poem "Tanburuma" (To My Tanbur), given in Hürriyet through Doğan Hızlan, describes his relationship with his instrument as follows:

For years she was my beloved, she was the one who drew out my coquetry
On the day I die, bury my instrument with me in the grave
Let it not be left in other hands to weep after me
Let it not see my wreckage without the Tanbûr
I laid it in my lap, I made it moan in my hands
I let every lover hear its sweet, sad voice
It made me write poems, it made me write songs
With its delicate melodies it cooled my soul

Chronology

1932: Born in Merzifon on 26 October.

1933-1934: The family moved to Istanbul (sources say "when he was a little over a year old"; Biyografiler.com gives 1934 via Bilecik).

1949: Began studying tanbur with Laika Karabey at the Advanced Turkish Music Conservatory Association.

Early 1950: Joined the Üsküdar Music Society and began lessons with İzzettin Ökte.

Late 1951: Began playing instrumental pieces at Istanbul Radio.

1952: Had his first stage experience with Safiye Ayla at the Kristal.

1956: Began work as a clerk at the Turkish Music Sheet Music Library of Istanbul Radio.

1966-1967: Became tanburi in the Turkish Music Performance Ensemble of the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory.

1967: Returned to Istanbul Radio; began taking part in Münir Nurettin Selçuk's solo concerts.

1975: Became tanbur instructor at the Istanbul Turkish Music State Conservatory.

1976: Served on the Turkish Music Archive Board by a Board of Directors decision of 13 October.

1981: Retired from TRT.

1988: Prepared and presented the programme "Taş Plaktan Bugüne" at TRT.

1992: His son Harun died.

1996: Retired from the conservatory at the age limit and continued teaching on contract.

2004: The album Sisli Bir Eylül Gecesi was released; on 24 September, the polyphonic premiere of three instrumental pieces took place.

2023: Died in Istanbul on 2 or 3 January; buried at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery on 4 January.

Sources

Other sources

  • "Sadun Aksüt" and "Ali Kemali Aksüt," Vikipedi (tr.wikipedia.org). tr.wikipedia.org
  • "Sadün Aksüt," Biyografya (biyografya.com). biyografya.com
  • "Sadun Aksüt," Biyografiler.com. biyografiler.com
  • "Sâdun Aksüt," SalihBora.Com.
  • "Sadun Aksüt," Muzikotek Müzik Bankası.
  • "Karısına tamburla serenad yapan üstad Sadun Aksüt," Hürriyet, 2 March 2003. hurriyet.com.tr
  • Doğan Hızlan, "Sazıyla bütünleşen bir sanatçı: Tamburî Sadun Aksüt," Hürriyet, 21 April 2013.
  • Doğan Hızlan, "Sadun Aksüt'ü anarak," Hürriyet, 24 November 2024.
  • "Usta tamburi Sadun Aksüt vefat etti" and "Usta tamburi Sadun Aksüt, sevenlerinin katıldığı törenle son yolculuğuna uğurlandı," Anadolu Agency, 3-4 January 2023.
  • "Sadun Aksüt kimdir, kaç yaşında öldü?" Cumhuriyet, 4 January 2023. cumhuriyet.com.tr
  • "Tamburi Sadun Aksüt vefat etti," Yeni Şafak, 4 January 2023.
  • "Şehri Sadece Yönetmedi: Ali Kemali Aksüt'in Erzincan'a Bıraktığı Miras," Erzincan Haber, 5 September 2026.
  • Sadun Aksüt biography, Antoloji.com and Kral Müzik.

Online sources