Zülfü Livaneli

Zülfü Livaneli
Born	1946 (age 66–67) Ilgın, Konya , Turkey
Occupation	Musician, Composer, Author, Politician
Website
Livaneli's Official Website

Ömer Zülfü Livanelioğlu (born 1946) is a popular Turkish folk musician (singer and composer), a novelist, newspaper columnist and a film director who has been highly popular for decades. He is also a prominent left-wing and social-democrat politician and was a member of the Turkish parliament for one term.

He is most known for his fusion of Turkish folk music with contemporary music, in much the same way as Bob Dylan and his contemporaries in the United States. His 1997 Ankara concert was attended by no less than 500 thousand people. His collaborations with Mikis Theodorakis of Greece have been noted as a gesture of bringing together the two countries. Livaneli has been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 1996.

Livaneli has composed some three hundred songs, a rhapsody –recorded by London Symphony Orchestra–, and a ballet. His compositions have reached cult status nationwide and have been performed by internationally renowned artists such as Joan Baez, Maria Farantouri, María del Mar Bonet, Udo Lindenberg, Haris Alexiou, Jocelyn B. Smith and Kate Westbrook. He has also written five plays and thirty film soundtracks. Among these soundtracks are the soundtrack for "Yol" (The Path), directed by Yilmaz Güney and winner of the Golden Palm in Cannes Film Festival, "The Herd", directed by Yılmaz Güney and Zeki Ökten, and "Shirin's Wedding" by German director Helma Sanders-Brahms. His recordings have been published in the USA, Sweden, Germany, Holland and France, and he has given dozens of concerts throughout the world. He has produced albums and performed with Mikis Theodorakis and Maria Farantouri, and he has also collaborated with Manos Hatzidakis, Giora Feidman, Inti-Illimani and Ángel Parra. In 2010, he sang 'Mothers of The Disappeared' with Bono at U2's concert in Istanbul, Turkey, which was U2's first-ever concert in Istanbul. Livaneli has been distinguished with the awards Best Album of the Year (Greece), the Edison Award (Holland), and Best Album of the Year (Music Critics Guild of Germany), and the "Premio Luigi Tenco" Best Songwriter Award, San Remo, Italy, in 1999, among others.

Political life

Apart from his remarkable career as an artist, Livaneli was highly influential in Turkish politics over the last thirty years. In the 2002 Turkish elections, Livaneli was elected to the Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) as a Deputy for Istanbul for the Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP). Livaneli resigned from the CHP in early 2005, however, in protest at "CHP's non-democratic and authoritarian system of politics",

During his political career in Ankara, Livaneli presented a legislative proposal for amending Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The amendment proposed that the concept of "Turkishness" should be replaced with that of the "Turkish nation" which would put an emphasis on the concept of "nation" which, as formulated by the Republic, unites under its umbrella people of different origins. With this amendment, there would no more be a stress on the notion of Turkish race.

Besides this, in 2006 he presented a proposal to the National Assembly demanding that a commission be established in order to investigate the reasons for increasing violence and fanaticism among the youth; his proposal was accepted.

Following his resignation from the party membership, Livaneli continued in his position in the Grand National Assembly as an independent until the end of that term. He did not take part in the 2007 Turkish elections and appears politically inactive. He has since concentrated on his art, novels, and daily column.

Livaneli is a daily contributor as a columnist in the newspaper Vatan. Now Livaneli is have conserts and helping Turkey Geting Better.

Films

Livaneli directed four feature films: Iron Earth, Copper Sky, Mist, Shahmaran and Veda. His film Iron Earth, Copper Sky was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. Veda that based on the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is the last film written and directed by Zülfü Livaneli.

One of the most acclaimed Turkish films of the decade – and one of the first narrative films to tackle the highly charged subject of honor killings – Bliss was originally adopted from Livaneli's best-seller novel. The film, reviewed by New York Times as a consistently gripping, visually intoxicating film and standing as a landmark of contemporary Turkish cinema.

Partial discography

• Chants Révolutionnaires Turcs - 1973
• Eşkıya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz - 1975
• Merhaba - 1977
• Nazım Türküsü - 1978
• The Bus (OST) - 1978
• Alamanya Beyleri - 1979
• Atlının Türküsü - 1979
• Günlerimiz – 1980
• İnce Memet Türküsü – 1980
• Maria Farandouri Livaneli Söylüyor – 1982
• Yol (Soundtrack) – 1983
• Eine Auswahl – 1983
• Ada – 1983
• İstanbul Konseri (Concert) – 1984
• Güneş Topla Benim İçin – 1985
• Livaneli / 10 Yılın Ezgisi – 1986
• Zor Yıllar – 1986
• Hoşgeldin Bebek – 1986
• Gökyüzü Herkesindir – 1987
• Soundtracks – 1988
• Crossroads (New Age) – 1990
• Saat 4 Yoksun – 1993
• Neylersin – 1995
• Yangın Yeri – 1996
• Janus (Symphonic Poems) – 1996
• Livaneli & Theodorakis : Together – 1997
• Efsane Konserler – 1997
• Nefesim Nefesine – 1998
• New Age Rhapsody, London Symphony Orchestra Plays Livaneli - 1999
• Unutulmayanlar – 1999
• İlk Türküler – 2001
• Hayata Dair - 2005
• Efsane Konserler – 2006 35. Yil Konseri 2008

Bibliography

• Arafat'ta Bir Çocuk (A Child In Mount Arafat) (1978)
• Orta Zekalılar Cenneti (The Heaven Of The Mediocre) (1991)
• Diktatör ve Palyaço (The Dictator And The Clown) (1992)
• Sosyalizm Öldü mü? (Is Socialism Dead?) (1994)
• Engereğin Gözündeki Kamaşma (The Eunuch Of Constantinople) (1996)
• Bir Kedi, Bir Adam, Bir Ölüm (Memory Of Snow) (2001)
• Mutluluk (Bliss) (2002)
• Gorbaçov'la Devrim Üstüne Konuşmalar (Conversations With Gorbachov On Revolution) (2003)
• Leyla'nın Evi (Leyla's House) (2006)
• Son Ada (The Last Island) (2008)
• Sanat Uzun, Hayat Kısa (Art is Long, Life is Short) (2010)
• Serenad (Serenade) (2011)
• Sevdalim Hayat (Sevdalim Hayat) (2013)

See also

• Category:Works by Zülfü Livaneli

External links

• http://www.livaneli.net
• Zülfü Livaneli at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Web site
• Archive of articles in Vatan
• (French) Zülfü Livaneli - Préliminaires du premier disque "Chants révolutionnaires turcs"

Awards
Preceded by Gökçe Akçelik	Golden Orange Award for Best Music Score 2007 for Mutluluk	Succeeded by incumbent