Mustafa Kandıralı

Mustafa Kandıralı — Biography

Born Mustafa Kadıoğlu on 10 July 1930 in Kandıra, a district of Kocaeli, he took up music at his father's urging before eventually settling in Istanbul. From the 1950s onward he performed Turkish folk music and forged a clarinet style largely rooted in Romani music while absorbing Western influences. Over his career he accompanied leading vocalists such as Zeki Müren, Safiye Ayla and Müzeyyen Senar, and in 1954 he famously jammed on stage with Louis Armstrong.

A concert tour of the United States in the 1960s brought him international recognition, and he went on to appear as a guest artist at numerous jazz festivals abroad. Regarded as a virtuoso of classical Turkish art music, Turkish folk music and Romani music alike, Kandıralı released more than 150 records and 20 cassettes over the course of his career. He died on 27 December 2020 in Tuzla, Istanbul, and continues to be honored each year through memorial concerts and tributes, including events organized by the Kocaeli metropolitan municipality.