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Esin Afşar

Esin Afşar
Birth name Esin Sinanoğlu
Born 1 January 1936
Bari, Italy
Origin Turkey
Died 14 November 2011
Istanbul, Turkey
Genres Anatolian rock, türkü, opera
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, actress, artist, writer
Years active 1970-2002
Website www.esinafsar.com
External video
Esin Afşar Sanatçının Kaderi on YouTube
Esin Afşar Yoh Yoh on YouTube

Esin Afşar, born Esin Sinanoğlu (1 January 1936, Bari - 14 November 2011, İstanbul) was a well-known Turkish singer and stage actress.

She was born in Bari, Italy to Nüzhet Haşim Sinanoğlu, a writer and consular official of Turkey and his wife Rüveyde, a journalist and writer. Esin was the youngest of five siblings. Her brother, Oktay Sinanoğlu, became a notable professor of chemistry. Other brothers became professor of Latin, professor of Ancient Greek and Press Chief at European Council in Strasbourg.

She attended TED Ankara Koleji, and then studied piano at the Ankara State Conservatory. After graduation, she entered Turkish State Opera and Ballet as a pianist. But then her focus shifted to the stage. She married Kerim Afşar, another stage artist. After 12 years of stage she returned to music and began singing in French and Italian. But after collaborating with Ruhi Su, she included Turkish folk music (türkü) to her repertoire. After she got a divorce from Kerim Afşar, she was married to Şener Aral in 1975. After the mid 1980s, she was mainly active in foreign tours. She also played parts in drama. In 1999, she was hospitalized and her recovery was slow.

Although she briefly returned to concerts and album recordings, Afşar died on 14 November 2011 in a hospital in Istanbul, where she was taken due to leukemia about three weeks earlier. She was laid to rest at the Karacaahmet Cemetery. She was survived by her husband Şener Aral, son Doğan Can and daughter Pınar.

Although her repertoire included a wide collection of various melodies of different tastes, her fame mainly stems from Turkish folklore. In 1969 two of her arranged folklore melodies became hits. These were Bana seni gerek (lyrics by Yunus Emre (1240-1321) and composition by Esin Afşar herself) and Yoh Yoh (by contemporary folklore poet Kul Ahmet). The melody on the reverse side of the Yoh Yoh 45rpm, was Bebek, a well known anonymous Turkmen folklore melody. After the release of Yoh Yoh she was nicknamed "Bayan Yoh Yoh" ("Mrs. Yoh Yoh").


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