Biography:

Bozkurt İlham Gencer (1925 ^[2] , 25 May 2023), Turkish jazz pianist , singer.

Gencer, one of Turkey’s first pianist singers, contributed significantly to the spread of jazz music in the country. Known as the initiator of Turkish spoken pop music, Gencer still sings actively. She celebrated her 100th birthday with a special event in Bodrum on August 30, 2022. Ajda Pekkan, who she brought to the art world, sang in the night. Many celebrities attended the night organized by his son Bora Gencer.

Life 

Born on August 30, 1922 in Istanbul, İlham Gencer first started music in 1931, when he was only five years old, with the lessons he took from his mother and playing the console piano in their home. he said in his interview. ^[3] [4] He composed his first composition “İlham Waltz” when he was five years old and gave his first concert at Saray Cinema when he was five years old. Gencer says that in 1938, when he was 16 years old, he fell under the horses of the ceremonies in the turmoil that broke out at Atatürk ‘s funeral, and he lay in Teşvikiye Health Dormitory for 3.5 months with a head injury. ^[5]

Graduated from “Beyoğlu High School for Boys” in 1943, İlham Gencer started his music career as an amateur at Public Houses and continued professionally in Beyoğlu in 1944. The first local jazz group of the period included İlham Gencer on the piano, Badi Kemal on the trumpet , Mehmet Akter on the clarinet , and Türkan Pasiner on the vocals. He formed another three-member band in 1949. He made a program on Istanbul Radio from 1949 to 1963. In these years, songs were always sung in foreign languages. In those days, when television was not yet around, radio was very important and gave direction to the music world. One of the singers he introduced on the radio for the first time was Berkant, who had not yet become famous in those days .

In the early 1950s, he taught the American singer Eartha Kitt the song “My Katibim”. In 1953, Kitt sang this anonymous song, which also contains Turkish words, in jazz style and with fun English lyrics. The song, also called “While I Go to Üsküdar”, became a worldwide hit (the song is written as “Uska Dara-A Turkish Tale” in Western literature). ^[6]

He explained that in 1953, he bought his first piano, a “Steinway” concert piano, from an auction attended by Koç and Sabancılar for exactly thirty thousand liras. According to Gencer, three mansions could be bought for this money at that time. ^[7]

In 1960 , he opened his own “Roof Club” in the building where the Site Cinema is located in Şişli , Istanbul . He brought many singers to the music world in this club, which he called “a kind of private conservatory of Turkey”, and gave some singers the opportunity to reveal their own styles. He put his ex-wife Ayten Alpman , Ajda Pekkan , Cem Karaca , Barış Manço , Emel Sayın , Metin Ersoy , Füsun Önal and Fikret Kızılok on stage in his own club. Among the artists he hosted during this period were Timur Selçuk , Erkut Taçkın ,Musicians such as Yurdaer Doğulu , Cahit Oben , Cahit Berkay and groups such as Mongols and Silüet were also present. ^[8] These singers, who sang in jazz and pop styles at this club, returned to their familiar styles in the following years. ^[3] [7] Here he named the group he formed with various singers “Los Çatikos”. ^[9] In an interview, he said that he has a project to reopen the “Roof Club” and make programs as before with artists who are still alive 50 years later. ^[8]

Gencer sang the song “C’est écrit dans le Ciel”, which was made famous in the world that year by the Lebanese-born French singer Bob Azzam , in “Roof Club” in 1961, with funny lyrics written by Fecri Ebcioğlu . This song was the first pop song sung in Turkish. Until then, pop songs in Turkey were sung by Turkish singers in their original languages, namely English, Spanish, French and Italian. Now ” Look, Once Upon a TimeThis song, which was named “, was first released in 78-cycle stone record format and then as a 45 vinyl record, and after it was released as a 45 vinyl record, it was met with great interest throughout the country and the continuation of such songs was like an avalanche. Turkish lyrics were written for hundreds of foreign songs in the following years. In short, “Bak Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş” went down in Turkish pop history as the song that started the ” arrangement ” music trend that would last for ten years in Turkey.

İlham Gencer entered the top 10 with the song “Zamane Kızları” in the ” Golden Microphone ” competition , which was first organized by the Hürriyet newspaper in 1965 and would later become a tradition ( Yıldırım Gürses won the competition with the song “Farewell to Youth”). This song was also printed by the publisher as a 45-cycle vinyl record and distributed to music markets.

İlham Gencer had two marriages: He married singer Ayten Alpman in 1953. They divorced in 1961. He made his second marriage to Necla Gencer. His children Bora Gencer , Ayşe Gencer and İlhan Gencer were also interested in music. İbrahim Gencer, son of Münür Gencer, uncle of İlham Gencer, was the wife of famous soprano Leyla Gencer . ^[10] Gencer became a tax record holder in 1960. In 1997, the 50th art jubilee was held.

Gencer, who founded the “Association for the Protection and Sustenance of the Beauties of Istanbul” ten years ago, defined himself as a staunch Turkish nationalist. Gencer, who served as a consultant to Alparslan Türkeş for many years, became a MHP deputy and mayoral candidate from Istanbul. In 2008, by a court decision, he deleted Osman from his real name “Ilham Osman Gencer” and changed his name to “Bozkurt Ilham Gencer”. The song ” My Memleketim “, which was very popular in the 1970s and sang by his ex-wife Ayten Alpman , does not include the concepts of Turkishness, homeland, flag, and is actually an arrangement of a Jewish song .She claimed that she was scammed by the society as a national song on the occasion, that her ex-husband was not at fault, that she was just deceived. ^[5] According to him, this was a part of the “assimilation in music” project that has been implemented in Turkey for many years. ^[11] [12] Today, İlham Gencer continues to perform at Pera Palace.

Gencer died on May 25, 2023, at the age of 98, in the hospital where he was treated in the Bodrum district of Muğla . ^[13]

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