Yunus Emre Özer

Whirling Dervish & Dhakir

He was born in 1997 in Istanbul. He graduated from the Department of Persian Language and Literature at Istanbul University. He is currently pursuing a degree in History at the Faculty of Open and Distance Education of the same university. He began playing the ney (reed flute) in 2013. He received ney training from İbrahim Suat Erbay and Ahmet Şahin, and studied music theory (nazariyat) under Levent Çelik. He contributed to the organization and classification of sound recordings and notation archives of historical tekke (Sufi lodge) gatherings. Since 2015, he has been practicing sema (whirling ceremony). He has participated in various programs as a member of the mutrip (Sufi music ensemble) during Mevlevi ceremonies and as a zakir (vocalist) in Sufi devran gatherings. In 2018, he began his professional career as a guest artist at the Istanbul State Turkish Music Research and Practice Ensemble under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. He is currently serving as a vocalist, semazen (whirling dervish), and zakir in the Istanbul Sufi Ceremonies Ensemble, affiliated with the same ministry. He conducts scholarly work on Ottoman Turkish Sufi manuscripts and dervish trousseaus (derviş çeyizleri). He is engaged in research on the life and works of Sheikh Yahya Âgâh Efendi and has prepared two books based on three treatises by Âgâh Efendi related to Zenbûriye. Of these, Ceremonies in Sufi Orders (Tarikatlarda Merasimler, İnsan Publications, Istanbul 2020) has been published, while Tarikatname is currently in the process of being published by İnsan Publications.