İbrahim Tatlıses

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İbrahim Tatlıses (born İbrahim Tatlı in 1952, affectionately known as İbo) is a Turkish singer. In addition to hosting his own television program, İbo Show, on different private television stations and appearing in several dozen films, Tatlıses has been one of Turkey's most prolific recording artists. His twenty-three cassettes include Ayağında Kundura, which broke all sales records in Turkey in 1978, and Selam Olsun, which focused on traditional folk music played on indigenous instruments.

Born in Urfa to a homeless family, Tatlıses was raised by his Kurdish mother, following his father's death in 1956. Music provided an outlet for emotional stress. He began singing at weddings and other celebrations while still in his teens. Although he released a cassette in 1975, it failed to sell, and Tatlıses temporarily left music. Moving to Istanbul with his family in 1977, Tatlıses worked as a salesman until recording his second cassette, Ayağında Kundura. The cassette's success proved to be the launching pad for Tatlıses' still-thriving career. A major star during the mid- to late-1980s, he recorded numerous folk dance hits with the accompaniment of an orchestra, and was recognized as a master of the rural "uzun hava" style (marked by lengthy, semi-improvised tunes).