Ahmet Kaya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ahmet Kaya | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 28, 1956 Malatya, Turkey |
| Died | November 16, 2000 (aged 44) Paris, France |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, poet |
| Instrument(s) | Bağlama, Singing |
| Years active | 1985–2000 |
| Website | www.ahmetkaya.com |
Ahmet Kaya (28 October 1956 – 16 November 2000) was a Kurdish poet, singer, and a leading artist in Turkey.
He was born in Malatya, Turkey on 28 October 1956 to a Kurdish family . Some of his most popular songs include "Protect Yourself", "My Heart is Bleeding", "A Strange Man", "Ayrılık Vakti", Koçero, and Ağladıkça ("As We Cry").
Contents |
[edit] Career of Ahmet Kaya
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (August 2007) |
Ahmet Kaya is the youngest of five children born to a working class Kurdish family in Malatya, Turkey. He first encountered music at age 9 in primary school. Ahmet Kaya worked for a while as a taxi driver in Istanbul before becoming well-known as a singer in the mid-1980s.
His first album, Ağlama Bebeğim, was released in 1985. His popularity continued to rise into the 1990s when in 1994 he relased the album Şarkılarım Dağlara which was sold a record 2.8 million copies. All of his 1990 albums to chart-toppers.
During his career he recorded about 20 albums and was known for his protest music and positions on social justice. Most of his work is in Turkish. Recurring themes in his songs are love towards one's mother, sacrifice, and hope.
[edit] Awards controversy
At a 1999 televised annual music awards ceremony, SHOW TV, at which he was to be named Musician of the Year, he spoke out about his 'Kurdish' background and said that he wanted to produce music in his native Kurdish as naturally as he does in Turkish. He announced that he had recorded a song in Kurdish (Kerwan, released on the Hoşçakalın Gözüm album in 2001) and intended to produce a video to accompany it. At this event he was attacked by some Turkish singers because of his stance on the use of Kurdish. However, some of the same singers were among the first people to make Kurdish albums when the government gave in to pressure from Europe to relax the restrictions on the use of Kurdish language.[citation needed]
[edit] Exile and death
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. (August 2007) Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Kaya went to France in June 1999 escaping various charges arising from his political views.[citation needed] Among them were the accusations that he had performed in front of a poster for the Kurdistan Workers Party at a 1993 concert in Germany, and that he had made statements in support of Abdullah Öcalan and had referred to Turkey as a "dishonourable people's country".[citation needed] In March 2000 he was sentenced in absentia to three years and nine months in prison on the charge of spreading separatist propaganda. He died of a heart attack in Paris in 2000, at the age of 44, and is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery. He is survived by his wife Gülten.
[edit] Discography
|
Posthumous:
|
[edit] References
- Turkish, Kurdish, and French biography
- Interview with Ahmet Kaya
- Interview with Gülten Kaya, Ahmet Kaya's wife
- Documentary about Ahmet Kaya
[edit] Further reading
- Ferzende, Kaya. Başım Belada. TR: Gam. ISBN 975-6628-19-7.
