Suavi

Suavi — Biography

Suavi, born Mehmet Suavi Saygan, is a singer and songwriter who opened the Turkish folk tradition to world music. In 1994 he represented Turkey at the Voice of Asia contest in Kazakhstan and received the jury's Grand Prix; in 1997 he was chosen both best composer and best professional performer at the Kuşadası Altın Güvercin contest. He set to music the verse of poets such as Nâzım Hikmet, Ahmed Arif and Hasan Hüseyin Korkmazgil.

He grew up in Kırıkkale as one of four children of a civil-servant father and a housewife mother, and began making music there with a band he founded, Meçhuller Grubu. From 1968 to 1972, while studying architecture at METU, he played and sang with various groups and musicians in Ankara nightclubs, paying his way through school and beginning to write his own songs. After graduating he spent many years as a drummer, guitarist and vocalist in orchestras. He came second at the Beyaz Güvercin İstanbul contest with İki Gözüm İki Çeşme.

The turning point was 1994: he won TRT's Altın Anten contest with Yalıçapkını and went to the Voice of Asia final in Almaty, where 24 countries took part; he took the Grand Prix, though his own country's press gave the success little room. In 1997 he won awards with De Lan. His discography includes Deli Gönlüm, Yalıçapkını, Tükenme, Çığlık Çığlığa, Hasret Türküsü, Gül'le Diken Arasında and, from 2015, Drama Köprüsü. He is a mountaineer and diver.