Tanburi Cemil Bey is the most renowned composer of instrumental art music from the late Ottoman Empire. For over a century, his contributions to the suite forms known as pesrev and saz semai and breathtaking, elegiac improvisations (taksims) on tanbur and kemençe have remained the benchmark for modern Turkish composers and performers. From 1910 to 1914, before the invention of the electronic microphone, the Blumenthal Record and Talking Machine Company made acoustic recordings featuring Cemil Bey. These volumes in our Tanburi Cemil Bey series include extraordinary taksims, some of Cemil Bey's best compositions, and rare collaborations with great early 20th-century Turkish singers and instrumentalists. All have been digitally remastered using the state-of-the-art CEDAR system.
Featuring Tanburi Cemil Bey on tanbur, kemençe, lavta, yayli tanbur and violoncello; other musicians include Tanburi Kadi Fuat Efendi, Udi Sevki Bey, Udi Nevres, and Kemani Salih Efendi, as well as some of the most celebrated master vocalists of the early 20th century, including Hafiz Asir, Hafiz Sabri Bey, Hafiz Yasar Okur, and Hafiz Sasi Osman Efendi.