Actors - Dario Moreno

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	Actors - Dario Moreno

Dario Moreno was a Turkish-Jewish polyglot singer, as well as an accomplished composer, lyrics writer and guitar player, who was born in İzmir, Turkey, in 1921, and who attained fame and made a remarkable career centered in France and which also included films, during the fifties and the sixties.

His real name was David Arugete and he was born in the poorer Jewish quarter of İzmir on April 3, 1921 to a large family. He was orphaned in early childhood when his father, who worked in a train station in the city, was shot to death under tragic circumstances. He was placed in the Sephardic orphanage of İzmir (Nino De Guerfanos) by his mother and remained there till he was four.

After a patchy primary education in the Jewish educational establishments of İzmir, he did many odd jobs during his early youth. But he has also put great effort into bettering his education at the same time as working for the bread, and having started as an errand boy in the cabinet of one of the city's prominent lawyers, he was in time raised to becoming a clerk in his office. In the evenings, he would study French in İzmir's Central Library. With a guitar that had fallen into his hands by chance, he also learned, mainly on his own with occasional tutoring asked here and there, to master playing that instrument.

He started singing in the Bar Mitzva feasts as a secondary occupation. In his early twenties, he had already become a well-known singer in İzmir, and particularly among the Jewish community. During his military service in the Turkish army, he was employed as a singer in officers quarters in various garrisons and became more focused on music. His first truly professional musical performance started in his hometown right after his discharge, through connections established while under the arms. Since he had started making money thanks to music, he moved to the more well-off Jewish quarter of Karataş to a house in a street leading to the historical building of Asansör, one of the city's landmarks (and which means, literally, the "Escalator", people taking an actual escalator to go to the higher part of the quarter, this part being separated by the coastal strait with a steep slope). This street is named Dario Moreno Sokağı (Dario Moreno Street) today in his memory.

A hyper-active personality, Dario Moreno died of a heart attack in a taxi while going to the airport in İstanbul on 1 December 1968. He was only 47. He has been buried in Israel against his wish.

Lyrics

My dear İzmir (Canım İzmir, written in Turkish)

İzmir! My sweet and dear city!
If I die far away from you one day,
May them bring me to you,
But, while taking me to my grave,
May them not say on me, "He died",
May them say, "He is sleeping".

The girls of İstanbul (İstanbul kızları, written in Turkish)

If you only knew how sweet they are, the girls of İstanbul,
How they can attract you to their side, from far away,
That I could not forget them, all lovely as they are,
And how I was bewitched at first sight by one, and how I loved her,
Wishing I could live forever and destiny could keep us together.

Films

Hotel Paradiso
Voulez vous danser avec moi?
Oh!Que Mambo
Fernandel
Tintin
Femme Pantin
Bon Roi Dagobert

Albums

Granada- Adios Amigos
Bossa Nova
Calypso
Le coco
Canım İzmir
Si Tu Vas A Rio / Viens
Long Bos
Moreno Poy poy
Mulata Ye Ye Ye
Hatıralar Hayal Oldu / Olam Boyun Kurbanı
Tropical Dario
Oh Que Dario

Awards

1958 Grand Prix Du Disque in France
Cesar for Best Supporting Actor in France with the film "Oeil Pour Oeil"

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Dario Moreno ]

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