Zeki Müren

Zeki Müren From Outcyclopedia, the free and queer encyclopedia. Zeki Müren was perhaps the most famous and well-loved of Turkish entertainers. He was also the first openly gay celebrity in Turkey. Zeki Müren was born in the provincial city of Bursa in 1931. He completed his secondary education in Istanbul, where he later majored in Decorative Arts at the Fine Arts Academy, from which he graduated in 1953. By then his musical career had already begun. He recorded his first album in 1951 and that same year began making musical performance broadcasts on Istanbul Radio. Zeki continued recording albums, totaling 200, and became the first Turkish singer to win a Gold Record in 1955. In time he came to be called "The Sun of Art," and was often referred to as "Pashah" to his fans. He later began appearing in films, for some of which he also composed the musical scores. In 1951 he also published a collection of poems, Bildircin Yagmuru ("The Quail Rain"). The fame and adoration which Zeki Müren earned was such that his portrait often hung in Turkish homes next to that of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey. Even more significantly, his gayness and flamboyance, - his dress and hairstyles came to be nearly identical to that of American performer Liberace -, became so accepted among the Turkish public that in time, calling someone "Zeki" was a euphemism for suggesting someone was gay, and the term was never used in a derogatory manner. As Müren became older and his health declined, he became increasingly more reclusive, staying in his house in Bodrum, a resort town on Bardakci Bay. It may or may not have been coincidence that the androgynous performer had chosen the mythical birthplace of the Greek deity Hermaphrodite for his home. Müren had suffered a heart attack in the 1980s, his weight had ballooned, and he was also suffering complications from diabetes. Fans often gathered outside his home to catch glimpses of the performer, who now rarely appeared in public. In 1996, Zeki was persuaded to appear in a live television tribute to his life and career to be broadcast from Izmir. It was during this appearance, on 24 September, that he suffered a final, fatal heart attack. Fans of the artist were grief-stricken, and the President of Turkey and other officials attended his funeral. Zeki Müren continues to command a huge fan following in Turkey and music lovers in other countries are coming to know and appreciate his writing. Some even see him as a gay rights pioneer, as his high visibility helped create a climate of change and greater acceptance for gays and the transgendered in his country External links: Official Website, in Turkish IMDB Entry Obituary piece in Turkish Daily News Turkey mourns death of music idol Zeki Muren The Late, The Great Zeki Muren Zeki Muren Museum Entry added 7 December, 2004. All text is available for use under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (see Copyrights for details).