Biography - Urie Kermenchikli

About singer

Urie Kermenchikli was born in the city of Simferopol, Crimea, on November 4, 1938. At a young age, she started showing her vocal abilities and decided to devote her life to musical art.

In 1956, after finishing high school, Urie Kermenchikli entered Samarkand Musical School. After graduating with honors in 1960, she continued her musical education at Tashkent State Conservatory, the vocal class. After graduating from the conservatory, she was sent to work at the Opera House of the city of Samarkand, but the singer decided to devote her career to Crimean Tatar art.

At the time of her studies at the conservatory, she already knew the famous composer Yaya Sherfedinov and recorded his songs in the radio and television studio of Uzbekistan. Then the famous Crimean Tatar composer Ilyas Bakhshish became interested in her voice and invited Urie Kermenchikli to participate in concerts with the ensemble "Khaitarma". Later, he dedicated to and recorded with Urie a whole series of his songs accompanied by a chamber orchestra ("Baryshalym - Severim Seni", "Goje Gul", "Ay Yarygym Tan Belledim", "Kel Rustemim", and others).

The singer dedicated 42 years of her creative work to the state Crimean Tatar song and dance ensemble "Khaitarma".

In 1970 Urie Kermenchikli became a laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize and took second place in vocal in the Republic of Uzbekistan. In 1974 the singer was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Uzbek SSR.

The famous singer Sabrie Eredzhepova, Urie’s aunt, played a great role in the formation of folklore singing and melismatics in Urie.

Urie Kermenchikli’s husband, the musician and composer Memet Arslanov also plays an important role in her work. The couple’s creative union gives birth to a lot of modern Crimean Tatar songs in the genre of tango music, waltz, ballad. Urie performs many songs of famous Crimean Tatar composers (A. Refatov, F. Aliev, K. Seitveliev, E. Nalbantov, Y. Sherfedinov, I. Bakhshish, S. Kakura, M. Arslanov). More than 100 songs performed by her were archived, recorded on the radio and put on records with the ensembles: "Khaitarma", "Efsane", with the chamber orchestra under the guidance of Ilyas Bakhshish, with the pop symphony orchestra of radio and television of Uzbekistan under the guidance of Evgeniy Zhivaev.

Urie Kermenchikli is a legend of Crimean Tatar art, one of the first singers with a higher professional vocal education. She presented her art, touring with the Khaitarma ensemble around the union, and returned with the group to her homeland in Crimea under the state program in 1993, having arranged the transfer of the ensemble to Crimean State Philharmonic.

Urie Kermenchikli has also participated in many festivals in Europe and America. She has performed and presented Crimean Tatar art twice at the United Nations Organization (UNO) in New York.

At the moment, she lives with her daughter's family in the USA, where she continues to participate in all the events held by the Crimean Tatar diaspora of America.