Lutfu Gultekin | Manushmusic

Lütfü Gültekin was born in Tunceli in 1949. Aşık, who has seven siblings, finished primary, secondary and high school in Tunceli. When he was fifteen or sixteen, he came to Istanbul from Tunceli with the request of entering the radio house. He met many folk poets in Istanbul, and for four years he was inspired by many important names such as Feyzullah Çınar, Aşık Daimi, Davut Sulari, Nesimi Çimen, Haydar Ağbaba, Ali Ekber Çiçek & Arif Sağ.

During this period, he made two 45 'records. "I took hand from those beautiful people, but the price was not easy. I slept under the bridge in Unkapanı for months." expressed in words.In 1969 he went to Berlin with his uncle to work. He played the saz for a while there at weddings. Later, Gültekin went to Belgium where he worked in mines. "I made half of my compositions underground,"for the period he worked in mines. he says. After his retirement, he established a studio in his home and concentrated his studies here.

Gültekin married Yeter Hanım in 1972 and had six children and seven grandchildren from this marriage (Turan et al.2010: 160). His sons Emre and Munzur are also engaged in music. Especially his son Emre Gültekin received his education in music and was adept enough to give lessons in context (Turan et al. 2010: 161).

Gültekin participates in Tunceli nature festivals and performs his art in television programs as well as festivals. He made sixteen programs on Düzgün TV established in Germany. It also accompanies the poetry nights held in Belgium with its tying (Turan et al. 2010: 162).

Gültekin met Davut Sulari when he came to Belgium on the occasion of a concert in the 70's and hosted Sulari at his home. Sulari gave Gültekin the pseudonym "Ferdi"; however, Gültekin did not use this pseudonym. Lütfü Gültekin did not leave his poems as he wrote them first, and then made minor changes on them. He has not yet collected his poems in a book. He composed many poems of Yunus Emre, Kaygusuz Abdal, Pir Sultan Abdal, Seyyid Nesimi, Nazım Hikmet, Hasan Hüseyin Korkmazgil and Ozan Emekçi in his early years (Turan et al.2010: 162).

Gültekin, his thoughts on dream and bade, "There is Düzgün Baba Tomb in Tunceli, our families used to take us to that visit when we were little, I saw the deceased lover Daimi in my dream once while he was sleeping in that tomb. I do not know if we can accept this dream as an approval." explains in their words (Turan et al. 2010: 161-162).

Gültekin did not have a special master in saz and learned the instrument by playing it himself in the 60s. He says he was inspired by his uncle. After his uncle died, he collected the tapes he had sang before, collected the folk songs his uncle had read with his son on a CD and paid his loyalty debt to his uncle. Many artists such as Grover Ali, Sabahat Akkiraz, Arif Sağ and Musa Eroğlu have performed the compositions of Gültekin (Turan et al. 2010: 162).

Gültekin's first album consisting of his own folk songs was released in 1973. His other albums are: Türküce (2008), El Emeği Göz Nuru (2005), Gül Türküleri (2003), Derman Bizdır (1998), Hasretim Hasret (1995), Wake Up in the Light (1989), Selam Olsun (1987), Yiğidi Doğuran Ana Bin Yaşa (1974), Gültekin (1974) (Turan et al.2010: 163).