Nida Tüfekçi

Nida Tüfekçi — Biography

Nida Tüfekçi (Mehmet Nida Tüfekçi) is regarded as one of the most important figures in the collecting, notation and teaching of Turkish folk music. A bağlama player, singer and composer, he gathered and wrote down roughly a thousand folk songs during his radio years, adding them to the folk music archives, and in 1991 the Ministry of Culture awarded him the title of State Artist.

Music began for him at home: he learned the bağlama from his father before even starting primary school. While studying at the Ankara School of Finance he met his teacher Muzaffer Sarısözen and, from 1947, appeared on TRT Ankara Radio programmes as a guest singer and instrumentalist. After graduating in 1950 and working three years as a finance officer, he won the radio's 1953 examination and joined the Yurttan Sesler choir, devoting himself fully to the cause of folk music. In 1959 he moved to Istanbul Radio. With his wife Neriman Altındağ Tüfekçi he founded the Yurttan Sesler women's ensemble in 1962 and published the book Memleket Türküleri with her in 1963. He rose from assistant department head to acting head of TRT's music department before resigning in 1976.

That same year he joined the founding work of the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory and sat on its management as a founding member. His research and writing earned him the İhsan Hınçer Award for Service to Turkish Folklore in 1985. He died of a heart attack in Istanbul on 18 September 1993; his memory is kept alive today through commemorative events and a folk music choir that bears his name.