Zilan Tigris

Zilan Tigris — Biography

Zilan Tigris was an Armenian-descent singer who took part in Diyarbakır's musical life for more than thirty years, performing mainly Kurdish folk music. Beyond her singing she is remembered for the choirs she founded: she created Diyarbakır's first children's choir and its first women's choir. Her surname came from Tigris, the Latin name of the river that flows past her home city.

She was born in Diyarbakır in 1972, the daughter of an Armenian family that had lost relatives during the Armenian Genocide before settling in the city, and she completed her education there. Her music career began in 1989 with the children's choir she founded that year; she released her first Kurdish album in 1992 and a second in 1998. In 2005 she founded the city's first women's choir. On stage she sang in Turkish and Armenian as well as Kurdish. In 2015 she took part in the "Ari Tun" programme organised by the Ministry of Diaspora, visited Armenia and performed songs in all three languages there.

She was married to the actor Çağdaş Çankaya. On 6 February 2023, in the earthquake centred on Kahramanmaraş, the building they were staying in collapsed in Diyarbakır and she died under the rubble at the age of 51; her husband also died in the same earthquake. National media followed the recovery of the couple for days. She was buried at Yeniköy Cemetery in Diyarbakır.