Ayşe Melike Demirağ (born June 3, 1956, Istanbul) is a Turkish singer and actress. Known for her political songs in the 1970s, Demirağ became famous for her roles in Yılmaz Güney's 1974 film ''Arkadaş'' and his 1978 film ''Sürü''. The song "Arkadaş," which she performed through the film's music, became one of the most popular songs of the period.

Biography

Melike Demirağ was born on June 3, 1956, in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Her mother, Rüçhan Çamay, was a singer and stage artist, and her father, Turgut Demirağ, was a film producer and director. Melike graduated from Üsküdar Turkish Girls' College. In 1971, she began her acting career with the film ''Üç Kızgın Cengaver'', directed by her father. In 1974, at the age of 18, she shared the lead role with Yılmaz Güney in the film ''Arkadaş'', directed by Yılmaz Güney. She also sang the song "Arkadaş", which was written by Yılmaz Güney and composed by Şanar Yurdatapan. The song became one of the most popular songs of the time. Due to the fame brought by this song, she ranked 5th with 870 votes in '' Hey'' magazine's "Promising Female Artists of the Year" list in 1974. She married Şanar Yurdatapan, whom she met during the film's production, on December 28, 1976.Haluk Aktar, ''Demirağ ve Yurdatapan'dan Şok Karar'', Milliyet gazetesi, 16 Haziran 1994 They have two children: Zeynep Ferah (born in 1979) and Can (born in 1989). Demirağ's fame increased with the release of 45 RPM singles of songs like "Merhaba" (1975), "Hadi Canım Sen De" (1975), "Ağlamak Ayıp Değil" (1976), "Ninni" (1976), and "Pervane ile Işık" (1977). In 1978, she starred alongside Tarık Akan and Tuncel Kurtiz in ''

Sürü ''The Herd'' () is a 1978 Turkish drama film, written, produced and co-directed by Yılmaz Güney with Zeki Ökten during Güney's second imprisonment, featuring Tarık Akan as a peasant, forced by a local blood feud to sell his sheep in faraway ...

'', a film with a screenplay written by Yılmaz Güney, where she portrayed Berivan, a sick and mute Kurdish girl. Her performance in this film earned her the "Best Actress Award" for the 1980 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, awarded during a ceremony 31 years later at the 48th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, because the 1980 event had been cancelled due to the 1980 military coup. The

Turkish Film Critics Association Turkish Film Critics Association ( or SİYAD) is a non-governmental organization based in Istanbul, founded in 1977 by film critic Atilla Dorsay. It distributes the annual Turkish Film Critics Association Awards and also a member of the Internatio ...

(SİYAD) also awarded her the Best Actress Award for this performance in 1979. The film also won the "Best Film" award at the 1979

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

in Switzerland and received the Golden Leopard Award. The opening music of ''Sürü'', composed by Zülfü Livaneli and with lyrics by Şivan Perwer, was later performed in Kurdish by Melike Demirağ under the title "Brindarım" (Turkish: "Yaralıyım"). Following the 1980 military coup, Demirağ was among the expatriates who lost their Turkish citizenship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demirag, Melike Living people 1956 births 20th-century Turkish singers Best Actress Golden Orange Award winners