Married for 62 years, Arif and Türkan Kaner still take the stage side by side to sing some of Turkish classical music's most beloved love songs.
Arif Kaner, 92, was working in custom furniture design and architecture in Istanbul when, on a neighbor's suggestion, he married Türkan in a traditional arranged marriage in 1963.
As a boy in old Bursa, a city in western Türkiye, he built swings in his garden and sang for fun. After marrying, he would row out from Mudanya and serenade his wife from the sea. The couple later traveled the world in retirement and raised three children and three grandchildren, but music remained the constant thread in their life.
Kaner pursued his lifelong passion more seriously in 2008, performing as both chorist and soloist in various choirs and orchestras across Bursa. He never appeared on stage without Türkan by his side. For a time, the couple attended rehearsals three days a week before cutting back as they grew older.
More recently, they joined Bursa's 650-year-old "gezek" tradition - community musical gatherings - and now perform regularly as soloists at the Uludağ Gezeği Culture and Music Association, where they continue to share their devotion to Turkish classical music.
Arif Kaner told Anadolu Agency (AA) that he carried his love of music into retirement and into ensemble work, always bringing his wife with him.
"This kind of love is different," he said. "It's not something you force by saying, 'Let me love this person.' You give yourself to them, and something comes back to you. That creates a good harmony. Otherwise it doesn't work - just like instruments that play out of tune."
"Marriage has its good sides and its difficult sides," he said. "If something needs to be said, you say it - but not in front of others. Some people marry and then separate; that's another story, of course."
Türkan Kaner said she married her husband only four months after meeting him through a neighbor, having never been to Bursa before.
"I got along wonderfully with his family," she said. "We had three children. When they reached university age, we traveled the world - America, Spain, even a Bahamas cruise. We used to go out on the water at night in Mudanya, and Arif Bey would sing under the moonlight. Our neighbors listened. Music was always inside him."
She later joined him in choirs and then in the "gezek" gatherings.
"We look forward to Tuesdays now; we continue our work at Uludağ Gezeği," she said. "Our harmony on stage is the same as in life. We never argued in front of our children. Whatever problem we had, we solved it privately. My voice isn't very good, but I always accompanied him. We never lost our love and respect. He's the pillar of our home. People get more difficult as they age, but thank God we don't have that problem. We love each other very much."