Çiğdem Talu

Çiğdem Talu — Biography

Çiğdem Talu was one of the most frequently cited lyricists of 1970s Turkish pop. A path that began with poetry and teaching led, through songs such as Ağlıyorum Yine and İşte Öyle Bir Şey, to the pop scene; with composer Melih Kibar she wrote around two hundred songs. Her songs are still being reinterpreted decades after her death in 1983.

A granddaughter of the writer Ercüment Ekrem Talu and a Robert College graduate, Talu was teaching English at Işık Lisesi when she wrote the lyrics of Ağlıyorum Yine in 1972. The song appeared on the B-side of Nilüfer's first record, Kalbim Bir Pusula, and its success led her to write for many singers, Yeliz and Füsun Önal foremost among them. In 1975, when Turkey took part in the Eurovision selection for the first time, three of her songs were in the Ankara qualifying round: Füsun Önal's Minik Kuş, Yeliz's Hayalimdeki Adam and Uğur Akdora's Anılar. That same year she met Melih Kibar, and İşte Öyle Bir Şey, sung by Erol Evgin, became the first big hit of their partnership.

She also wrote the lyrics for the play Nereye Payidar, with music by Timur Selçuk, and singers such as Nükhet Duru, Ajda Pekkan and Zerrin Özer performed her words. She died of breast cancer on 28 May 1983; an album of her songs came out in 2006. Her daughter Zeynep Talu also became a lyricist and music producer and wrote the lyrics of Sev, Turkey's 1995 Eurovision entry.