Fikret Kızılok

Fikret Kızılok — Biography

Münir Fikret Kızılok was born in Istanbul on 10 November 1946 and discovered music at Galatasaray High School, where his first instrument was an accordion given to him as a birthday present. Influenced by Elvis Presley, he later took up the guitar, counting fellow students Barış Manço and Timur Selçuk among his early supporters. While studying dentistry, he co-founded the Beatles-inspired group Cahit Oben 4 in 1964; its record Hereke featured his first published composition.

A 1969 journey with writer Arda Uskan to meet the folk poet Aşık Veysel transformed his career. His arrangement of Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım topped the charts, and singles such as Yumma Gözün Kör Gibi and Söyle Sazım made him a pioneer of the Anatolian rock movement. During the 1970s he turned increasingly political, setting to music the poetry of Ahmed Arif, Nazım Hikmet and Bülent Ecevit, experimenting with atonality on the album Not Defterimden and becoming the first to bring the sitar and Indian tabla into Turkish pop. After a forced hiatus in the late 1970s, he returned with Zaman Zaman (1983) and Yana Yana (1990), which contain many of the songs for which he is best remembered. Following a 1998 heart attack, he died in Istanbul on 22 September 2001, leaving behind numerous gold records and chart-topping singles; his songs have since been covered by many younger artists.