Buhûrizâde Abdülkerim Efendi (also spelled Buhûrîzâde Abdülkerim Efendi; 1698–1778) was an Ottoman poet, composer of religious music, and Sufi prayer leader (zâkirbaşı). He wrote under the pen name Kemter, a Sufi pseudonym meaning "poor" or "pitiful."
Life
He was born in 1698 (1112 AH) in the Ottoman Empire and spent most of his life in Constantinople (Istanbul). As a teenager, he entered the Kocamustafapaşa tekke (lodge) of the Sünbüliyye Sufi order, under the guidance of Şeyh Nûreddin Efendi (d. 1747). After completing his training, he was appointed zâkirbaşı (prayer-leader) of that tekke. Later, he became the şeyh (master) of the Şah Sultan Sünbüliyye Tekkesi in Eyüp, a position he held into his eighties. He died in 1778 (1192 AH) in Constantinople.
Works and Legacy
In Turkish musical circles, he is known as Buhûrîzâde-i Sânî ("the Second Buhûrîzâde"). He is regarded as one of the most important composers of religious (tekke) music in the mid-to-late 18th-century Ottoman Empire. His poetry, found in various manuscript collections (mecmualar), shows him to be a skilled tekke poet, though no complete divan (collected poems) has been discovered. Only five of his musical compositions survive in notated form; the rest of his extensive repertoire is known only through contemporary writings and manuscript güfte (lyric) collections.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Buhûrizâde Abdülkerim Efendi"
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "ABDÜLKERİM EFENDİ, Buhûrîzâde" (author: Nuri Özcan, 1988)
- Râmiz, Âdâb-ı Zurefâ
- Müstakimzâde, Mecmûa-i İlâhiyyât
- Hüseyin Vassâf, Sefîne
