Mahsun Kırmızıgül

Mahsun Kırmızıgül — Biography

Born Abdullah Bazencir in the village of Vezir in Diyarbakır's Hani district, Mahsun Kırmızıgül was one of twenty-two children in a Zaza family; as a young man he sold meatballs and sang at weddings to help support the household. While studying at the Istanbul Technical University Conservatory he broke into music with the album "Alem Buysa Kral Sensin"; he was a partner in Prestij Müzik, a leading production company, until 2002, then launched his own label, A1 Müzik. His 1998 album Yıkılmadım won him three Kral TV awards in one year.

Turning increasingly to directing from the 2000s, he won best film and best director at the Houston Film Festival for Beyaz Melek (2007), in which he also starred, and Güneşi Gördüm (2009) took best performance and best cinematography at the Singapore International Film Festival. New York'ta Beş Minare, Aşka Sürgün, Vezir Parmağı and the Mucize films are among his other well-known work. In July 2026 he performed for a crowd of 100,000 in İskenderun.