Gülseren

Gülseren Yıldırım (born 1973) is a Turkish-French singer, whose output covers a wide range of genres, including pop, Latin, techno, and traditional Turkish music.

She studied at the French university INALCO, which specialises in Eastern culture, and she also gave Turkish language lessons to Parisian children.

Between 1997 and 1999, she forged her experience as a singer by giving nightly performances at the Parisian cabaret venue "Les Trois Mailletz", which showcases jazz and world music.

The song was uncompromisingly faithful to Turkish musical traditions[citation needed] – somewhat in contrast to the country's entries in 2003 and especially 2004 – and was criticised by 2003 Eurovision winner Sertab Erener for lacking the broad international appeal necessary to achieve a good result.

Due to the placing of Turkey's 2004 representatives Athena on home soil in Istanbul, Gülseren had the fortune of being immune from the tough battle to avoid elimination at the semi-final stage on 19 May, and instead qualified directly for the grand final on 21 May in which she finished 13th with 92 points.