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Niyazi Sayın was born in the Doğancılar, district of Üsküdar in Istanbul in 1927. He finished primary and middle school in the Paşakapı quarter of Üsküdar, and high school in Haydarpaşa and Beyoğlu. He learned Ney from Gavsi Baykara and Halil Dikmen at the Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Istanbul. In addition to ilahis, he learned art of marbling (Ebru), bookbinding, photography and collecting prayer beads from Mustafa Düzgünman. In 1950, Sayın attended a Saz program in the Istanbul Radio at the suggestion of Süleyman Erguner. In the same year, he began working in the Istanbul Radio. Between 1951 and 1952, Sayın served as a Ney player in the Turkish Classic Chorus Radio concerts, which were directed by Mesut Cemil, and continued to play until 1963. Between 1960 and 1963, Sayın performed Saz works with Mesut Cemil in the Istanbul Radio. In 1956-1976, Sayın performed in the Istanbul Radio Classic Turkish Music Chorus under the direction of Nurettin Selçuk. From 1956 to 1969, at the offer of Münir Nureddin Selçuk, Sayın became a member of the performing ensemble of the Istanbul Municipal Conservatory. Following this position, he was appointed as a teacher and president of the Wind Instruments branch of the State Turkish Music Conservatory newly opened at Istanbul Technical University in 1976. He has performed Ney and played religious and mystical music works on the occasion of the ceremony of Mevlana every year. In 1980, together with his colleague Tanburî Necdet Yaşar, Sayın served as a visiting scholar of Turkish Music for a year in the Ethnomusicology Department of the University of Washington in Seattle. At the same time, while giving concerts in countries including England, Germany and France, they had the privilege of introducing the true beauty of Turkish Classic Music. During his stay in the U.S., Sayın also opened two exhibits of Ebru in Seattle.
As of today, Sayın is the last representative of a longstanding school of Ney performance and teaches Ney at the State Turkish Music Conservatory. In 2009, he was awarded Culture and Art Prize by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Reference: turkishmusicportal.org/composer.php?id=188&lang2=en, neyzenim.com
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