Rüştü Şardağ

He was born in 1915, when his father was served as regimental clerk in Aleppo. He is the son of Mr. Mehmet Atif born in Elbistan, and Ms. Melek member of Kadiriye cult. He graduated from “Balıkesir Teacher School” in 1936 and from “Gazi Educational Institute Literature Department – Ankara” in 1938. After lecturing in some schools, he worked as a consultant in the preparations of the work titled Turkish Encyclopedia published by the Ministry of Education. In 1950, he was appointed to Secretary General of Izmir Municipality. He also served as manager of Izmir Radio, which began broadcasting in the same year. He received a master's degree from the “Middle East Public Institute of Management” in 1960. Until 1967, besides his position in the municipality, he lectured at Ege University and Manisa Youth and Sports Academy. He retired in 1967, when he was deputy mayor of Izmir Municipality.

Between 1983 and 1987, he served in the National Parliament as deputy of Izmir. In 1988, he lectured Turkish Music Literature at Ege University State Conservatory of Turkish Music. During all these years, he wrote articles for many newspapers and magazines about politics and literature. He made translations from Persian. Many of the poems he wrote were composed by different composers. He prepared proceedings for various scientific and cultural meetings and music congresses.
He began his musical studies at the encouragement of his father. After taking his first music lessons from his father, he had lectured by precious teachers, like Lemi ATLI. Because he came from a family related to a religious sect, he was closely engaged in religious music. He studied at the Üsküdar Music Society and later undertook duties in this society. His first song in Rast starts with the line as "Bahçemde safa hükmediyorken solayım (Let me fade while pleasure ruling in my garden)".