Era un periodo di violenti conflitti sociali, durante i quali i turchi ciprioti lasciarono l’isola divisa tra Aziz Eoka e l’Organizzazione di resistenza turca. Il futuro appariva molto incerto e questa canzone fu fondativa per la propria identità e per mantenere sempre viva la memoria e il legame con la terra dove il popolo era nato e vissuto. Kamran dichiarò di aver attraversato un periodo molto difficile; furono sospesi i programmi radiofonici dell’ensemble, lei decise quindi di dedicarsi alla composizione di inni nazionali, che inizialmente eseguì solo in casa, ma in seguito furono trasmessi da Bayrak Radio.Kamran Aziz muore nel 2017, all'età di 95 anni. Ha ricevuto due premi alla carriera di farmacista, per i 25 anni e poi per i 61 anni di attività, da parte dell’Associazione dei farmacisti, nel 2005. In ambito musicale è stata insignita di importanti riconoscimenti e ha vinto il concorso di Musica popolare della Repubblica Turca con due canzoni: Sono andata a Pinar Kim Beginning e Strait Zeybegi (1973) e il concorso per il centenario di Ataturk, con la composizione The Most Mighty Turkish Ataturk (1981); ebbe il premio per l’attività folcloristica della Folk Art Association (1997), il premio Trnc per la carriera dal Centro studi delle donne dell’Università del Mediterraneo Orientale (2002), il premio speciale per la tradizione musicale turco-cipriota da parte del Comitato culturale dell’Assemblea Repubblicana (2008).

Nel 2006 una sezione del Girne Music Education Center è stata intitolata a suo nome.

Traduzione francese
Giuliana Gaudenzi

Kamran Aziz, compositrice et pharmacienne, est née à Chypre en 1922 ; son père est connu pour avoir contribué à l’éradication du paludisme, sa mère jouait de la flûte et était couturière et sa sœur aînée a été la première infirmière en chef à l’hôpital de l’île Kamran a étudié la musique et la pharmacologie à l’American Academy de Nicosie, où elle a obtenu un diplôme en pharmacologie en 1944, en devenant une des premières pharmaciennes chypriote turque. Sa vie suit deux chemins parallèles : l’engagement en tant que pharmacienne et l’activité musicale. Mais un épisode de sa biographie fait bien comprendre son caractère volontaire et curieux envers soi-même et les chances de la vie : l’école anglaise qu’elle fréquentait n’approuvait pas qu’une femme puisse jouer au hockey. Quand on a établi qu’il ne serait plus possible de fréquenter en même temps le sport et l’étude de la musique, elle a choisi le sport. Elle aurait aimé voyager et étudier à Londres, mais les évènements de la Deuxième guerre mondiale lui ont empêché de partir. Après son diplôme elle a travaillé au Laboratoire et la Pharmacie de l’Etat, en ouvrant en 1945 sa propre pharmacie à Victoria Street, enregistrée et appelée « Pharmacie Aziz ». Elle est devenue co-fondatrice de l’Union des pharmaciens de son Pays en 1959. Elle a travaillé avec un profond dévouement à rendre plus facile l’accès aux médicaments et, pour résoudre les difficultés constantes d’approvisionnement, elle a inauguré l’entrepôt « Güç », dans lequel elle a établi une convention entre public et privé, c'est-à-dire entre l’Etat et chaque pharmacien. Lors de sa fermeture, en 2001, l’association des pharmaciens et des pharmaciennes turques a décidé de le transformer en Musée de la Pharmacie de la ville, toujours ouvert au public.

La musique aussi a joué un rôle important dans sa vie, au point qu’elle a été parmi les premières femmes chypriote turques à s’exhiber en public ; elle a commencé à jouer du piano à huit ans, par la suite elle a étudié composition musicale et chant à l’American Music Academy et puis à la London School of Music. Elle a aussi été parmi les fondatrices de l’American Academy Alumni Association, elle a collaboré à la réalisation d’un récital de la Cyprus Philarmonic Society ; elle a participé à quatre opéras comiques à la Nicosia British School, où elle a chanté deux courts solos dans la chorale. Son engagement dans la musique a été précieux, tant dans la composition de textes et musiques originales et liées à la vie de l’île, que pour la passion dans la divulgation et l’ajustement de la musique classique occidentale dans la musique populaire chypriote turque. Elle a crée un ensemble musical (Kamran Aziz and her friends) où elle jouait de l’accordéon avec d’autres instrumentistes : Jale Derviç au piano, Zeki Taner au saxophone et à la clarinette, Fikret Ozgün au violon, Vecihi Turgay au violon et Ahmet Anlar aux percussions. L’ensemble est devenu le premier groupe chypriote dans la performance et la diffusion de la musique occidentale, en jouant pour la première fois à la radio (les responsables radiophoniques avaient en effet proposé à toutes les communautés de l’île de s’exhiber en direct avec leur propre musique sur scène et puis à la télévision de la Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. L’ensemble s’est dédié à revisiter et à traduire des opéras, des lieder et de la musique légère, comme O sole mio, Love in Portofino, Tombe la neige. A partir des années Cinquante Kamran se concentre en la composition ; sans intentions folkloriques, ses chansons sont quand même devenues populaires dans la tradition chypriote , ainsi que l’adaptation de lamentations, tangos turques, valses et marches. Ses compositions originales étaient aussi dédiées à la vie quotidienne et jouées dans les écoles, comme l’histoire de Mustafa Aynali, qui vendait des bombons et des pois chiches dans un panier à Nicosie, pendant qu’il racontait des histoires anciennes. En 1995 elle a écrit une chanson dédiée à la catastrophe écologique la plus dévastatrice de l’île, explosée dans la forêt des montagnes de Besparmak, intitulée We will greenen the Kyrenia Mountains. Elle a composé environ 70 chansons au total, qui représentent un atout culturel reconnu dans la musique populaire chypriote. Sa première collection musicale a été publiée en 1994 avec 39 compositions. Parmi les plus connues : Kibris’im, Kibris’im Sana Ne Oldu, Kibris Zeybeği, Al Yemeni Mor Yemeni, Seni Orakta Görduüm , Gelin Geliyor Gelin et Orak Zamani Geldi. En 1958 elle a écrit la chanson Cyprus, dans laquelle elle rendait hommage à son Pays : «Chypre est une île / C’est un bout de Paradis »

C’était une période de conflits sociaux violents, pendant lesquels les turques chypriotes ont laissé l’île partagée entre Aziz Eoka et l’Organisation de résistance turque. Le futur apparaissait très incertain et cette chanson a été fondante pour sa propre identité et pour garder toujours vivante la mémoire et le lien avec la terre où le peuple était né et avait vécu. Kamran a déclaré d’avoir traversé une période très difficile ; les programmes radiophoniques de l’ensemble ont été suspendus, donc elle a décidé de se consacrer à la composition d’hymnes nationaux, que au début elle a joué uniquement chez elle, mais qui par la suite ont été diffusés par Bayrak Radio. Kamran Aziz meurt en 2017, à l’âge de 95 ans. Elle a reçu deux prix à la carrière de pharmacienne, pour les 25 ans et puis pour les 61 ans d’activité, de la part de l’Association des pharmaciens, en 2005. Au niveau musical elle a reçu d’importantes récompenses et elle a gagné le Concours de musique populaire de la République Turque avec deux chansons : Je suis allée à Pinar Kim Beginning et Strait Zeybegi (1973) et le concours pour le centième anniversaire d’Ataturk, avec la composition The Most Mighty Turkish Ataturk (1981) ; elle a eu le prix pour l’activité folklorique de la Folk Art Association (1997), le prix Trnc à la carrière par le Centre d’études des femmes de l’Université de la Méditerranée Orientale (2002), le prix spécial pour la tradition musicale turque-chypriote de la part du Comité culturel de l’Assemblée Républicaine (2008).

En 2006 on a donné son nom à une section du Girne Music Education Center.

 

Traduzione inglese
Syd Stapleton

Kamran Aziz, composer and pharmacist, was born in Cyprus in 1922. Her father is remembered for having contributed to the eradication of malaria, her mother played the lute and was a seamstress. Her older sister was the head nurse in the hospital on the island. Kamran studied music and pharmacology at the American Academy in Nicosia, where she graduated in pharmacology in 1944, becoming one of the first female Turkish Cypriot pharmacists. Her life follows two parallel paths: her commitment as a pharmacist and her musical activity. But an episode in her biography clearly shows her to be strong-willed and curious, about herself and the possibilities of her life. The English school she attended did not approve of a woman playing hockey. When it was determined that it would not be allowed to participate in sports and study music at the same time, she chose sports. She would have liked to travel and study in London, but the events of the Second World War prevented her from going. After graduation she worked at the State Laboratory and Pharmacy, opening her own pharmacy in Victoria Street in 1945, registered and known as the “Aziz Pharmacy”. She became co-founder of the Union of Pharmacists in her country in 1959. She worked with great dedication to make access to medicines easier and, to solve the continuous supply difficulties, she inaugurated the "Güç" warehouse, where she established an agreement between the public and the private sector, that is, between the State and individual pharmacists. When Aziz Pharmacy was closed in 2001, the association of Turkish pharmacists decided to transform it into the city's Pharmacy Museum, which is still open to the public.

Music also played an important role in her life, so much so that she was among the first Turkish Cypriot women to perform in public. She began playing the piano at the age of eight. Later she studied composition and singing at the American Music Academy and later at the London School of Music. She was also one of the founders of the American Academy Alumni Association and collaborated in the realization of a recital by the Cyprus PhilarmonicSociety. She also performed in four comic operas at the Nicosia British School where she sang in the choir, including singing short solos. Her commitment to music was precious to her, both in the composition of original lyrics and music related to life on the island, but also because of her passion for the dissemination and adaptation of Western classical music into Turkish Cypriot folk music. She created a musical ensemble, Kamran Aziz ve Arkadaşları (Kamran Aziz and her friends) where she played the accordion, together with other instrumentalists: Jale Derviş on piano, Zeki Taner on saxophone and clarinet, Fikret Özgün on violin, Vecihi Turgay on violin and Ahmet Anlar on drums. The ensemble became the first Cypriot group in the interpretation and dissemination of Western music, performing for the first time on the radio, and then on television with the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. Radio officials had in fact proposed to all the communities of the island that they perform with their own live music. The group devoted itself to revisiting and translating operas, lieder and pop music, such as O Sole Mio, Love in Portofino, and Tombe la neige (The Snow Falls). Starting in the 1950s Kamran concentrated on composition, without folkloric intentions, but nevertheless her songs became popular in Cypriot tradition, as did her adaptations of laments, Turkish tangos, waltzes and marches. Her original compositions were also dedicated to daily life, and often performed in schools. One such song is about of Mustafa Aynali who, in Nicosia, sold candies and chickpeas from a basket while telling stories from ancient times. In 1995 she wrote a song dedicated to the most devastating environmental disaster on the island, a fire which exploded in the forest of the Besparmak mountains. The song was entitled “We Will Green the Kyrenia Mountains”. She composed a total of some 70 songs, which represent a recognized cultural asset in Cypriot folk music. The first collection of her music, with 39 compositions, was released in 1994. Among the best known: Kıbrıs'ım, Kıbrıs'ım Sana Ne Oldu, Kıbrıs Zeybeği, Al Yemeni Mor Yemeni, Seni Orakta Gördüm, Gelin Geliyor Gelin and Orak Zamanı Geldi. In 1958 she wrote the song “Cyprus,” in which she paid homage to her country. Included in the song were the lines, "Cyprus is an island / It's a piece of paradise."

It was a time of violent social conflict, during which Cypriots were divided between the Greek Eoka-B and the Turkish Resistance Organization. The future seemed very uncertain, and this song was fundamentally aimed at reinforcing Cypriot identity, reminding people of their bonds with the land where they were born, lived and died. Kamran went through a very difficult period. The radio programs of the ensemble were suspended. She therefore decided to devote herself to the composition of national anthems, which she initially performed only at home, but were later broadcast by Bayrak Radio. Kamran Aziz died in 2017 at the age of 95. She received two career awards as a pharmacist from the Pharmacists' Association, for her 25th year as a pharmacist, and then for her 61st anniversary, in 2005. In the musical field she was given important awards, and won the popular music competition of the Turkish Republic with two songs, “I Went to Pinar Kim” and “Beginning and Strait Zeybegi” (1973). Later, for a competition for the centenary of Ataturk, she won with the composition “The Most Mighty Turkish Ataturk” (1981). She received the Folk Art Association award for folkloric activity (1997), the TRNC career award from the University of the Eastern Mediterranean Women's Study Center (2002), and the special award for Turkish-Cypriot musical traditions by the Cultural Committee of the Republican Assembly (2008).

In 2006 a department of the Girne Music Education Center was established in her name.