One of the most prominent oud virtuoso of Turkish Classical Music History, Yorgo Bacanos (1900, Istanbul (Silivri) – February 24, 1977, Istanbul) was also known with his compositions and piano playing. His career as an oudist lasted for 51 years, from the first year of foundation of Istanbul Radio until 1977, which is a record that he still holds and is hard to break. With his oud, he accompanied the foremost figures of Turkish Classical Music, including Denizkızı Eftelya and Münir Nureddin, leaving a permanent trace in the musical society of İstanbul.

He is the son of Lutist Haralambos, who was a legendary oud artist and composer in Istanbul Music circles, and the  brother of Aleko Bacanos, a kemencha player and composer. Once famous with his kemenche, Anastas, is his maternal uncle and the kemenche player Sotiri is his cousin.

He attended Saint-Benoit High School after his ground school education, although, later on he left high school because of his musical enthusiasm. He got involved in music with the lute lessons he received from his father and he also received piano and western music lessons from Büyük Sinanyan, the consequence of which was an outstanding success. He became a professional in Eftalofos Club in Taksim at a very young age and became very famous within only a couple of years. He was invited as an oudist to Istanbul Radio by Mesud Cemil, the director of the time, opened in 1927 on the Big Post Office in Sirkeci, where he continued for 51 years.

In 1928, he went to Berlin with his brother Aleko Bacanos and Kanuni Ahmet Yatman and played in the records of Hâfız Kemâl and Hâfız Sadeddin Kaynak. A year after that, he went to Paris with the violinist Sadi Işılay and Aleko Bacanos to play for Denizkızı Eftalya, the wife of the former. He then went to Cairo with the same band and gained the appreciation of Oum Kalthoum and Muhammed el-Kasabci, the composer and oudist who accompanied her. He also turned down the offers for staying in Cairo as an instructor. In the same period, he released his albums including Rast, Hüzzam, Hüseyni and Nihâvend instrumental solos.

In 1946, Bacanos participated in the Istanbul Municipality Conservatory Performance Team and starting from 1953, he played oud until the mid-1960s, under the conductorship of Münir Nureddin Selçuk in the concerts held twice a week at Şan Movie Theater.

Bacanos was one of the greatest figures among all oudists  in Turkish Classical Music History. He had a technique and musicality that was hard to imitate. After him are there almost no oudist who was not influenced from his style.

He almost revitalized the works that he performed with unique variations. He was a great master, similar to Tanburi Cemil Bey, in making the performance sound more aesthetic and creating melodies with alternatives. Many supplementary tunes in musical parts are base on the style of Bacanos and are still performed with his variations.

In 2010, the 110^th anniversary of his birth, Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency organized the “International Yorgo Bacanos Oud Festival of Istanbul”.

In courtesy of Mr. Mehmet Güntekin

GIORGOS BATZANOS

Giorgos Batzanos' life and recordings exemplify the conflict, experimentation and creativity that are an inherent part of 20th-century Turkish classical music. Bacanos was a virtuoso udist and accomplished amateur pianist of mixed Greek origin, Gypsy  descent. His instrumental compositions and takasim (improvisations) are among the foundational works of modern Turkish classicism.

Bacanos, who worked as a lead musician for Turkish state radio, didn't seem to care all that much about recording contracts. The cuts on this important (though fragmentary) anthology were assembled from rare 78s, airchecks and what appear to be privately-made recordings. Bacanos began avidly experimenting with Western compositional devices and new playing techniques for the ud while still in his teens. This is evident on his recordings from the late 1920s, where near-Listzian chromatic runs and flamenco-style picking are balanced by his ability to recast classical and folkloric music in a highly individual vein. But his no-holds-barred playing on a 1940s quintet recording of "Kόrdilihicazkar peshrev" (by Ottoman-era composer Tatyos Efendi) reveals his great affinity for earlier classical music.

Although Bacanos achieved a lasting reputation as one of the great innovators of modern ud playing by pushing the limits of the Turkish classical repertoire and playing technique to a previously undreamt-of degree, in many ways he was a traditionalist in revolutionary guise. I'd like to hear a more balanced anthology of his work - however, due to the scarcity of extant recordings, that may be a long time coming.

In courtesy of Mr. Nikos Dimitriadis