HÜSNÜ SENLENDIRICI - PORTRAIT

Hüsnü Şenlendirici is a Turkish clarinet player from Bergama in the province of Izmir. He is a Roma and one of the most famous and influential musicians in Turkey, coming from a long-standing family of musicians. His grandfather Hüsnü Şenlendirici played clarinet and trumpet, his other grandfather Fahrettin Köfteci also played clarinet and his father Ergün Şenlendirici is a trumpet player.

At the age of five, Hüsnü started learning to play clarinet and in 1988, when he was 12, he began his studies at the State Conservatory of Turkish Music in Istanbul, which he ended in 1992 without obtaining a degree. He then played in various bands and took part in music projects, including being a member of his father’s band Laço and leading a belly-dance ensemble for a while. In 1997, he founded the band “Laço Tayfa” which mixed traditional Turkish music with jazz. With that band he gained success internationally. He is also founder of the band Taksim Trio, which likewise deals with the fusion of jazz and Turkish music.

Hüsnü Şenlendirici has participated in a number of national and international music projects. Among those was his collaboration with the German group Embryo with whom he recorded several albums and gave concerts. He assists many Turkish musicians from the worlds of Turkish pop, folk and jazz at their concerts and album recordings and appears regularly on Turkish TV, too.

Hüsnü Şenlendirici gained further international recognition through his collaboration with the group Brooklyn Funk Essentials and their recording together with his band Laço Tayfa of the album “In the Buzzbag” in 1998.

In 2000, he released the album “Bergama Gaydasi” with Laço Tayfa, and in 2005, made his solo debut with “Hüsn-ü Klarnet”. The album includes a beautiful rendition of Sezen Aksu’s classic “Ah Istanbul”. Another of Hüsnü Şenlenderici’s projects is the album “Hüsnü Şenlendirici & Trio Chios”. The songs on this album are known from both Turkish and Greek folk music. All albums were released on the Istanbul world music label Doublemoon Records, from which Hüsnü separated, however, in 2011. In 2012, his most recent album entitled “Hüsnü-ü Hicaz” was released.

Discography (excerpt):

Brooklyn Funk Essentials & Laço Tayfa - In the Buzzbag (Doublemoon Records, 1998)
Hüsnü Şenlendirici & Laço Tayfa - Bergama Gaydasi (Doublemoon Records, 2000)
Laço Tayfa - Hicaz Dolap (Doublemoon Records, 2002)
Hüsnü Şenlendirici - The Joy of the Clarinet (Doublemoon Records, 2005)
Hüsnü Şenlendirici vs. Trio Chios - Ege'nin iki yani (Both Sides of the Aegean) (Doublemoon Records, 2010)
Hüsnü Şenlendirici - Hüsnü-ü Hicaz (Sony Records)

Web:

facebook.com/HusnuSenlendirici