Composer, voice artist (B. 28th October 1957, Malatya –
D. 16th November 2000, Paris). He was born in the year 1957 as
the fifth child of a father of Kurdish origin who immigrated from Adıyaman to
They immigrated to Istanbul Kocamustafapaşa in
1972 because of the financial difficulties his family had and then he left the
school. He worked in several unqualified works such as street vending and apprenticeship.
He was arrested from printing forbidden posters when he was 16 years old. After
that, he joined the works of Halk Birimleri Association together with some of
his friends. He continued to play bağlama in various activities during his
works. He got the chance to meet Ruhi Su in an organization made in
His first album Ağlama Bebeğim was published in the year
of 1985. He gave a small concert in Istanbul Şan Theater. His album was
recollected in the year it was published and after that, the censor was
cancelled. Just like the first one, he came to terms with Değişim Studio for
his second album released in 1985. The owner of the studio was the brother of
Selda Bağcan who was in the Metris Military Prison during this period. He
mediated for the meeting of Ahmet Kaya and Gülten Hayaloğlu whom he met in the
prison. They got married after the album was published. Gülten Hayaloğlu
transmitted the poem named Şafak Türküsü
of Nevzat Çelik who got the death penalty in the prison. The album of Şafak Türküsü that was formed in the
year 1985 and published in 1986, made him to known by large masses. His
daughter Melis was born in the year of 1987. The same year, he published the
album Yorgun Demokrat, of which most
of the lyrics belonged to Yusuf Hayaloğlu who was the brother of Gülten
Hayaloğlu. The album Başkaldırıyorum
was made in the year 1988. This album consisted from poems, of which the lyrics
of only two of them were written by Hayaloğlu and other’s lyrics were composed
from the poems of well-known poets. After that, the album Resitaller-1, which was a collection of the concerts formed by only
a bağlama and a vocal, was published in the year of 1989.
The album İyimser
Bir Gül, of which most of the lyrics were written by Hayaloğlu and produced by
Osman İşmen, was published in the same year. In the year 1990, his album Resitaller-2 was published. His album
named Sevgi Duvarı, consisting of the
poems of several poets, was published in the month of October of the same year.
His album named Şarkılarım Dağlara was
published afterwards was recollected because of the lyrics such as “Abin bir gün dağdan döner, sarılırsın
yavrucağım (T.N. Your brother will
come back from the mountain, you will hug him, my child)” of the song named Özgür Çağrı that was in this album. It was forbidden for Kaya to
give concerts. He made the music of the films Tatar Ramazan in the year of 1990 and Tatar Ramazan Sürgünde in the year of 1992. He made the program
named Ahmet Abi'nin Vapuru in Kanal D
in the year of 1994.
He composed the poems of well-known poets
such as Attilâ İlhan, Can Yücel, Nevzat Çelik,
Hasan Hüseyin Korkmazgil, Enver Gökçe and Ahmed Arif and he also composed the
lyrics written by him. He generally handled social concerns in his songs. He
was selected many times as the artist of the year by the popular vote of
institutes, televisions, newspaper and magazines. He received honor awards from
many aid organizations and non-governmental organizations. Two law suits of a
total of 10.5 years of penal servitude were brought to him by the State
Security Court of Istanbul with the claim of “treason”. He left
Kaya lost his life after
the heart attack he had in his house in Paris during the recording of his album
named Hoşçakalın Gözüm. His funeral
ceremony was made in the Kurdish Institute of
WORKS (Album):
Ağlama Bebeğim (1985), Acılara Tutunmak (1985), An Gelir (1986), Şafak Türküsü (1986), Yorgun Demokrat (1987), Başkaldırıyorum (1988), Resitaller-1 (1989), İyimser Bir Gül (1989), Resitaller-2 (1990), Sevgi Duvarı (1990), Başım Belada (1991), Dokunma Yanarsın (1992), Tedirgin (1993), Koçero (with Selda Bağcan, 1994), Şarkılarım Dağlara (1994), Beni Bul (1995), Yıldızlar ve Yakamoz (1996), Dosta Düşmana Karşı (1998), Hoşçakalın Gözüm (2001). After his death: Hoşçakalın Gözüm (2001), Dinle Sevgili Ülkem (2002), Biraz da Sen Ağla (2003), Kalsın Benim Davam (2005), Gözlerim Bin Yaşında (2007), Ülkemde Son Turnem (2010).
