Zafer Dilek

Zafer Dilek — Biography

Born Zafer Akansoy, Zafer Dilek (30 August 1944, Adana – 11 December 2025, Istanbul) was a noted Turkish composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He began his professional career playing in orchestras in the mid-1960s, made his name with a string of instrumental singles in the 1970s, and released his self-titled debut album in 1973.

He became one of the era's most widely heard instrumentalists with his 1975 album Oyun Havaları, whose tracks were used as film music in Kemal Sunal comedies such as Kapıcılar Kralı, Süt Kardeşler, Sakar Şakir and Çöpçüler Kralı, cementing his place in the memory of Turkish Yeşilçam cinema. Throughout his career he worked as producer, arranger and instrumentalist on albums by artists including Selda Bağcan, Sezen Aksu, Bülent Ersoy, Edip Akbayram and Gülden Karaböcek, and in 1989 he formed a duo with Cantekin Arefeoğlu that also hosted a music program on TRT 2.

Blending Western styles such as psychedelia, funk, jazz and blues with Turkish classical and folk music, Dilek forged a distinctive sound before withdrawing from music in the early 2010s; as the internet spread, his recordings went on to reach a worldwide audience of new listeners. He died in Istanbul on 11 December 2025.