Zülfü Livaneli in Izmir

Zülfü Livaneli is a Turkish singer-songwriter, composer, writer and filmmaker, born in Ilgın in 1946. His music draws on Anatolian folk and the politically engaged özgün tradition. His best-known songs include “Leylim Ley,” “Güneş Topla Benim İçin” and “Yiğidim Aslanım,” while the album “Nazım Türküsü” set poems by Nâzım Hikmet to music. In 1997, he performed a major open-air concert at Ankara Hippodrome. He later brought concerts built around his songbook to Istanbul’s Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre, where folk material, political songs and settings of poetry formed the core of the program.