Mesut Cemil

Who was Mesut Cemil?

Mesut Cemil was a Turkish composer, and a notable tanbur lute and cello player. His father was Tanburi Cemil Bey.

He participated in the 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab Music.

Cemil took cello and violin lessons and attended Berlin Music Academy as a student of cello. In 1927 he began to work at the Istanbul Radio. Cemil was assigned to most of the positions in the Radio, including announcer, producer and head of music broadcasts, as well as working as a tanbur performer. Cemil formed the Classical Choir at the Ankara Radio. He retired in 1960, but continued conducting choirs at the Istanbul Radio.