Müslüm Gürses: The father of Turkish arabesque

Turkish singer Müslüm Gürses, a national legend for his mournful, melancholy lyrics and contributions to arabesque music, will be remembered this week at an Istanbul cemetery, as March 3 marks the seventh anniversary of his passing. 

Gürses' musical talent was unimpeachable, according to Songül Karahasanoğlu, a professor of musicology at Istanbul's prestigious İTU-Turkish Music State Conservatory.

"The way he sings and reflects his feelings in music was very successful. He was a good musician with a fine ear," Karahasanoğlu told state-run Anadolu Agency.

Caner Işık, a sociologist at Aydın Adnan Menderes University, echoed these sentiments, saying Gürses had the gift of perfect pitch, meaning the rare talent to properly identify the musical note of any sound without a reference tone.

Gürses was best known for his mournful tunes blending Turkish folk instruments with Arabic or "arabesque" (arabesk) melodies, and his albums sold millions. He died of heart failure in 2013, when he was just 59 years old.

The Turkish public had a love-and-hate relationship with the popular singer. While the 1980s saw his songs banned in Turkey, some of his passionate fans are known for having cut themselves with razor blades at his concerts.

Yılmaz Bulut, 35, a hardcore Gürses fan, said harming yourself out of love for the singer was not appropriate, as Gürses himself "stood against such actions and always rejected them."   

'Pain in his voice'

The socioeconomic situation in Turkey, and especially the wave of migration during the 1950s from villages to cities, and the struggle of these newcomers to adjust to urban life, also played a large role in his music.

"There's a pain in the voice of Müslüm Gürses,"...