Musa Eroğlu

Musa Eroğlu — Biography

Musa Eroğlu was born in 1946 in the village of Kumaçukuru in Mersin's Mut district, into an Alevi Tahtacı Turkmen family; he left secondary school unfinished and began performing folk dances at the local Halkevi. He failed an audition for TRT Ankara Radio in 1965, but passed a later exam on instruments including the tar, kemençe, bağlama and divan saz, joining the station's roster and later working as a music director. Sources disagree on the year of his debut record, İkimiz Toprağa Girelim Elif — 1967 or 1969 — though his wider recognition dates to around 1970-71.

After 1980, the "Muhabbet" album series he began with Arif Sağ and Muhlis Akarsu, later joined by Yavuz Top, helped bring Turkish folk music to a mass audience. He recorded the song Mihriban, with lyrics by Abdürrahim Karakoç, and set poems by Karacaoğlan to music. In 1998 the Ministry of Culture awarded him the State Artist title, and he went on to work there as a specialist and researcher in folk culture and games. Since 1982 his own music school has trained thousands of students, and on land he leased in Mut he has personally planted an extensive forest. He continues to perform at festivals and concerts across the country.