RUHI SU (1912-1985)
 Ruhi SU has brought a new life to Turkish
music with his unique compilation, selection and performance of folk songs for more than
forty years. He was a virtuoso of the Turkish folk instrument, saz; a hard working
folklorist compiling folk music; a pioneer at Turkish opera; a gifted Turkish composer and
poet; and a beloved teacher of young intellectuals for decades. Naturally, these features
dissolved into his charismatic personality that has affected the whole nation and even
many people abroad who listen to his music.
He was born in Van, an Eastern district of Turkey and grew up in Adana, in the Southern
region. He started playing violin at the age of ten. In 1936 he graduated from the
Teachers School of Music and in 1942 from the Opera Department of State Conservatory in
Ankara. For ten years he performed at the State Opera in Ankara as a celebrated bass
baritone, appealing in operas such as Madame Butterfly, Fidelio, Tosca and Rigoletto.
During his contemporary music education he also studied Turkish folk music and
consequently made regular radio programs, playing saz and singing folk songs, while he
worked at the opera. A political arrest in 1952 and imprisonment for five years ended his
career in the opera. After serving his sentence for thought he dedicated himself
to folk music in his unique way.
He compiled numerous folk songs while he roamed all over Anatolia from one village to
another, and then he rearranged and performed them using western techniques His western
music career formed the basis of his approach to interpreting and performing traditional
Turkish music. He argued that the authentic music should not be imitated as it is found
locally but rather elaborated into a national music with the enriching support of the
international music. That is why the international audience would feel closer to and more
familiar with his music, perceiving it as a contemporary of Atahualpa Yupanqui's and Pete
Seeger’s.
Su combined his efforts of creating a national musicality from the folk songs with his
compositions based on poems by famous Turkish poets, as well as his own poems. He has a
rich folk song repertory with more then ten LPs on Traditional Turkish Folk Music,
including Yunus Emre and Pir Sultan
Abdal. He also established and trained a choir in the 70's and conducted them in many
concerts and recordings His approach in bringing forth the sufferance, rebel and love of
people in his musical work has gained a great respect and support from his audience and
had a deep effect on many musicians who still follow his path.
- Source:
- http://turkishconnection.com/glossary.htm
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