After Sultan Abdülmecid I became aware of his beautiful voice, he was admitted to the Muzika-yi Humayun, which was the Imperial Military Music School in the Ottoman Empire. Due to his closeness to the Sultan, he was responsible for teaching music to the women in the harem. He fell in love with one of the Circassian concubines, Çeşm-i Dilber, and had two children with her.