Biography:

Ahmet Edip Akbayram [ 1 ] (29 December 1950, Gaziantep – 2 March 2025 [ 2 ] , Istanbul ), Turkish musician .

Life Story

He was born in Gaziantep on December 29, 1950. He was diagnosed with polio when he was only nine months old . Edip Akbayram, who spent his childhood in the grip of this disease, also began his passion for music in his childhood. Akbayram said of those years, “I would go to the concerts of famous pop singers with the money I saved from my weekly wage, and when I got home, I would imitate them in front of the mirror.” During his childhood, he founded an orchestra and worked as an amateur at a wedding hall near his home.

In the orchestra they founded in high school, they played and sang compositions they made on the folk songs of Pir Sultan and Karacaoğlan . They made their first record Kendim Ettim Kendim Buldum during their high school years. The name of the group they released their first record with was Siyah Spiderler. The record was released in two different editions under the titles “Siyah Örümcekler-Gaziantep Orkestrası” and “Edip Akbayram and Siyah Spiderler”. After Gaziantep , Adana became their second address. Adana is the city where Akbayram first took the stage with the orchestra he founded. Later, he started working in a nightclub called “Beyaz Saray” there.

He graduated from high school in 1968 and went to Istanbul . When he graduated from high school, he took the university entrance exams to study medicine, which he always wanted to do, and won the dentistry degree. However, music took over and he gave up this profession and devoted himself to music.

After coming to Istanbul , he participated in the Golden Microphone Competition in 1971. He won first place with his first composition, “Kükredi Çimenler”, inspired by a poem by Âşık Veysel . [ 3 ] He founded the Dostlar Orkestrası in 1974 and became one of the leading names in Anatolian pop music. Later, he received awards with the 45’s “Kara Kuzu”, “Deniz Üstü Köpürür” and “Garip” and became an artist whose fame was heard throughout the country. The artist, who broke sales records and won the Golden Record with the songs “Aldırma Gönül” and “Eşkiya Dünyaya Hükümdar Olmaz” , has around 250 awards given by various organizations.

The 80s were difficult years for Edip Akbayram and similar musicians. Between 1981 and 1988, his compositions were banned from being played on TRT . [ 4 ] But from the mid-90s onwards, he made a new breakthrough, especially with the album Türküler Yanmaz , and showed that he continued to follow his own path without deviating. Akbayram dedicated this album to those who lost their lives in the Sivas Massacre . [ 5 ] This album included songs composed by Can Yücel , Oktay Rifat , Ahmed Arif and Vedat Türkali .

Edip Akbayram explained what he wanted to do from the beginning as follows: “I wanted to do something permanent. I took Fikret Kızılok [ 6 ] and Cem Karaca ‘s pop style of Anatolian melodies as an example. I developed myself completely as Edip Akbayram in terms of color and line. I wanted to make social music. My music had to have the lives and problems of the masses. However, I also tried to stay away from sharp, cheap heroism. Without compromising my beliefs, thoughts, and politics, I wanted to reach the problematic, poor, masses by utilizing musical technique and do something more contemporary.” The artist, who married Ayten Hanım in 1979, has a daughter and a son named Türkü and Ozan from this marriage.

He died of multiple organ failure in the intensive care unit of Haydarpaşa Numune Hospital , where he was being treated for pneumonia, on March 2, 2025. [ 7 ]

Credits: