Background
Tanburi Büyük Osman Bey was born in 1816 in the Tophane district of Istanbul. His father, Zeki Mehmed Ağa as well as his grandfather Tanburi Numan Ağa were musicians of renown.
Tanburi Büyük Osman Bey was born in 1816 in the Tophane district of Istanbul. His father, Zeki Mehmed Ağa as well as his grandfather Tanburi Numan Ağa were musicians of renown.
He is considered one of the most outstanding peşrev compositors in Ottoman classical music Most of the information we have on him originates from an oral tradition amongst his pupils and the pupils of those who knew him. At the age of eight, he was accepted to the Imperial School of Enderun, where he began his education among the foregoing masters of Turkish classical music, from whom he required a firm theoretical basis.
His acquaintance with the tanbur also dates back to those years.
He is also said to have participated in fasıls with prominent vocal musicians of his time such as Rifat Bey and Haşim Bey, improving mostly his vocal technique. With the death of his father, he gave up singing and concentrated solely on his instrument and took part in "incesaz fasılları" performed at the court of Sultan Abdülaziz Han.
He is said to have made most of his compositions at this period. As he was enthusiastic about Mevlana Djelaleddin Rumi, he frequented many mevlevihanes, especially the Kulekapısı Mevlevihanesi on Fridays.
He is also said to have had an obsessive temperament, known for attempting to beat a kanuni who played a false note while playing the transition to the final part of his uşşak peşrevi.
In 1885, he succumbed to a pulmonary disorder from which he had been suffering for a long time, and is now buried in the cemetery of the Yahya Efendi Dergâhı in Istanbul.