# Zülfü Livaneli

Ömer Zülfü Livanelioğlu (born 20 June 1946), known as Zülfü Livaneli, is a Turkish musician, author, poet, and politician.
Livaneli was imprisoned several times during the 1971 Turkish military memorandum because of his political views. As a result, he had to leave Turkey in 1972 and go into exile. He lived in Stockholm, Paris, Athens, and New York, where he met and collaborated with artists and intellectuals such as Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, James Baldwin, and Peter Ustinov among others. Livaneli returned to Turkey in 1984.
His cultural works, political activities and contributions to world peace were recognized by UNESCO in 1995 when he was appointed Goodwill Ambassador to UNESCO. He quit this UNESCO post in 2016 to protest the Turkish State's damage to the historic Kurdish Old Town of Diyarbakir. He served a term in the Turkish Parliament as well as in the Council of Europe.

## Personal life

Livaneli hails from a family of Georgian descent. His father served as a judge and later became the president of the Turkish Supreme Court. He has four brothers and a sister. Tragically, his mother passed away at the age of 38 when he was 20, after which his father remarried. His wife, Ülker, is a translator, and they have a daughter named Aylin, who was born in Ankara, Turkey.
In March 2020, Livaneli announced that he and his wife had contracted the coronavirus during their visit to New York in February amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He reported that after receiving treatment, both he and his wife fully recovered and were quarantined in Turkey.

## Musical career

For his debut album, Livaneli did not use his well-known name; instead, he recorded under the pseudonym "Ozanoglu." However, he later adopted his current name, Zülfü Livaneli, which appeared on his subsequent album, *Chants Révolutionnaires Turcs* (Turkish Revolutionary Songs), released in either 1971 or 1973. While he was in Europe, his brother Ferhat informed him that his songs were being sung by large crowds in Turkey during protests against the government. In response, Livaneli created an album titled *Nazim Türküsü*, which set his music to the poems of the esteemed poet Nâzım Hikmet. This album achieved remarkable success, remaining a top hit for 48 weeks.
Livaneli has composed 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 artists such as Joan Baez, Maria Farantouri, Maria 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. 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. His 1997 Ankara concert was attended by no less than 500 thousand people.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.
In 1986, he met the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. Together, they produced an album called Güneş Topla Benim İçin (Gather The Sun For Me). After the album was released in Turkey, it peaked in the Turkish music market. At that time Livaneli met Ahmet Kaya, another folk singer. Livaneli reached his first musical peak in the 1980s. The London Orchestra performed with Livaneli in 1998, and in 1999, UNESCO assisted Livaneli on the release of that album.

## Political life

Apart from his career as an author and poet, Livaneli was highly influential in Turkish politics over the last thirty years. In the 1994 Turkish local elections, he was nominated as candidate for mayorship of Istanbul by the Social Democratic Populist Party, but his bid failed. In the 2002 Turkish general election, Livaneli was elected to the Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi (Grand National Assembly of Turkey) as a Deputy for Istanbul for the Republican People's Party (CHP). Livaneli resigned from the CHP in early 2005, however, in protest at "the CHP's non-democratic and authoritarian system of politics". Livaneli was a member of the Turkish parliament for one term.
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. This amendment aimed to reduce stress associated with the notion of Turkish race.
Besides this, in 2006 he presented a proposal to the National Assembly that a commission be established to investigate the reasons for increasing violence and fanaticism among the youth. His proposal was accepted.
Following his 2005 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 and books.
Livaneli was a daily contributor as a columnist in the newspapers Sabah, Vatan, Milliyet and Cumhuriyet.

## 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.

## Literature

Livaneli turned his focus to writing after gaining notability with his contemporary music career. Published in 1978, his first collection of short stories A Child in Purgatory was turned into a movie by Swedish and German TV. Livaneli is known for his novels that interweave diverse social and historical backgrounds, figures, and incidents, such as in Bliss which won the Barnes & Noble's Discovery of Great New Writers Award in 2006, and in his Serenade for Nadia, Leyla's House, and My Brother's Story, which were all translated into 37 languages and won numerous Turkish and International literary awards. His novels have been turned into theatrical films, stage plays, and operas.

## Publications

* Arafat'ta Bir Çocuk (A Child in Purgatory) (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)
* Sevdalim Hayat (Sevdalim Hayat) (2009)
* Sanat Uzun, Hayat Kısa (Art is Long, Life is Short) (2010)
* Serenad (Serenade) (2011)
* Edebiyat Mutluluktur (Literature is Bliss) (2012)
* Kardeşimin Hikayesi (My Brother's Story) (2013)
* Son Ada'nın Çocukları (Last Island's Kids) (2014)
* Konstantiniyye Oteli (Constantinople hotel) (2015)
* Elia ile Yolculuk (2017)
* Huzursuzluk (2017)
* Rüzgârlar Hep Gençtir (2019)
* Kaplanın Sırtında (2021)

## Partial discography

* Chants Révolutionnaires Turcs (Turkish Revolutionary songs) – 1973
* Yasak Plak – 1971–1974
* Eşkıya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz (Bandit Cannot be a Ruler of the World) – 1976
* Merhaba (Hello!) – 1977
* Nazım Türküsü (Nazim's Song) – 1978
* The Bus (OST) – 1978
* Alamanya Beyleri – 1979
* Atlının Türküsü (The Horsemen Song) – 1979
* Günlerimiz (Our Days) – 1980
* İnce Memet Türküsü (Thin Memet Song) – 1980
* Anadoluyum Ben (I Am An Anatolian) – 1981
* Maria Farandouri Söylüyor Zülfü Livaneli (Maria Farandouri Singing Livaneli) – 1982
* Yol (The Way) (Soundtrack) – 1983
* Eine Auswahl (A Selection) – 1983
* Ada (Island) – 1983–1984
* İstanbul Konseri (Istanbul Concert) – 1984
* Güneş Topla Benim İçin (Gather The Sun For Me) – 1986
* Livaneli / 10 Yılın Ezgisi (10 Melodies of the Year)– 1986
* Zor Yıllar (Difficult Years) – 1987
* Hoşgeldin Bebek (Welcome Baby) – 1987
* Gökyüzü Herkesindir (Sky Belongs to Everybody) – 1988
* Soundtracks – 1988
* Crossroads (New Age) – 1991
* Saat 4 Yoksun (Hour 4, You Are Not Here) – 1992
* Sevgiyle (With Love) −1994
* Neylersin – 1994
* Yangın Yeri (The Place in Fire) – 1996
* Janus (Symphonic Poems) – 1996
* Livaneli & Theodorakis : Together – 1997
* Nefesim Nefesine (My Breath to Your Breath) – 1998
* New Age Rhapsody, London Symphony Orchestra Plays Livaneli – 1998–1999
* Unutulmayanlar (Unforgettable Ones) – 1999
* İlk Türküler (First Songs) – 2001
* Hayata Dair (About Life) – 2005
* Suyun Belleği (The Memory of Water) – 2005
* Efsane Konserler (Best Concerts) – 2006
* 35. Yıl Konseri (35th Year Concert) – 2008
* Gökkuşağı Gönder Bana (Send Me a Rainbow) – 2013
* Livaneli 50. Yıl "Bir Kuşaktan Bir Kuşağa (Livaneli 50th Year - 'From One Generation to Another') – 2016