Yaşar Kurt

Yaşar Kurt — Biography

Yaşar Kurt is an independent-minded figure of the Turkish rock and alternative scene, a singer-songwriter who became known with the album Sokak Şarkıları. He is also remembered as one of the founders of the Barışarock event. A London concert was announced for January 2026.

His music began with self-training: when he could not enter the conservatory exams he formed his own band Beyaz Yunus, and when it broke up he went, at friends' invitation, to Wuppertal in Germany. In 1993, in the first recording studio he had ever seen, he recorded his songs in three hours. Sokak Şarkıları (1994), recorded in Cologne, was released in Turkey by Ada Müzik. In 1996, seeing that his songs had become popular in Turkey, he returned to focus on music. Göndermeler (1997), Reflex (2002), Anne (2003) and Güneş Kokusu (2011) followed. In 2004 he wrote the music for the series Sevda Tepesi, and in 2007 he formed the duo YASH-AR with Arto Tunçboyacıyan, with whom he released Nefrete Kine Karşı.

In a 2008 interview he said he had learned at forty that he was of Armenian descent, and he was baptised in the Armenian Apostolic Church, taking the name Arşak. In later interviews he spoke about the Homshetsi-speaking generation disappearing; in 2016 he released the album Hemşin Yaylaları.