Vecihe Daryal

Vecihe Daryal — Biography

Vecihe Daryal was born on 17 April 1908 in the Beylerbeyi quarter of Istanbul and became one of the leading qanun performers of Republican-era Turkish music. She began studying the instrument with Nazire Hanım, a niece of Şevki Bey, and completed her musical training at the Darülelhan conservatory. She joined Istanbul Radio in 1926, the same year she graduated from the Kız Muallim Mektebi teacher-training school, moved to Ankara Radio in 1938, and returned to Istanbul Radio in 1953, where she also joined the Conservatory Performance Ensemble. In 1966 she returned to Ankara Radio for a final stint as both performer and instructor.

Daryal performed concerts in Baghdad and Nicosia and is remembered for recordings made at Ankara Radio with classical kemençe player Ruşen Kam, some of which were later released by Kalan Müzik. Her best-known song, set to lyrics by Hikmet Münir Ebcioğlu in the Nişaburek makam, is "Gül Yüzün Soldukça Ömrümden Siler Her Neş'eyi." She died on 12 November 1970 after slipping into a diabetic coma and was buried at Merkezefendi Cemetery in Istanbul. She is regarded as one of Turkish music's foremost qanun virtuosos after Hasan Ferit Alnar.