Ciguli

Ciguli — Biography

Ciguli, registered under the legal name Angel Yordanov Kapsov (Bulgarian: Ангел Йорданов Капсов), was a Bulgarian Turkish singer and accordion virtuoso of Romani descent, born on 1 March 1957 in Haskovo. Although his family called him Ahmet, the Bulgarian authorities of the time did not allow ethnic Turks to register their own names, so his birth was officially recorded as Angel Yordanov Kapsov. The speed and agility he displayed while playing the accordion earned him the nickname "Ciguli", a reference to the Soviet-made Zhiguli car that was widely popular in Bulgaria at the time.

He entered the gazino music scene in 1991 by accompanying Hülya Avşar on accordion at Çakıl Gazinosu, and built his reputation further in the summer of 1998 by performing behind İbrahim Tatlıses and Sibel Can at the İzmir Fair. Songs such as "Binnaz", "Şiki Şiki Baba" and "Yapma Bana Numara!" brought him a wide audience across Turkey.

Ciguli died in Sofia on 31 October 2014. He has continued to be remembered since his death, particularly for "Binnaz", a song that has resurfaced in new interpretations years later.