History

The Kurdish-Turkish singer Ferhat Tunç was born in 1964 in Turkey's most eastern region, Alevi. Imbedded to the south of the ranges of Mercan and Cemaldaglari, his home town Tunceli flanks to the north-western side of the area known as Kurdistan. Ferhat Tunç's Kurd origin and affiliation to the Alevi religion is for him the inspiration and his mission as a composer, singer, author and political human being.

While Ferhat Tunç was in primary school, his father lived in Germany as a so-called "guest-worker" (immigrant labour invited by the German government). During grammar school he often performed as a singer at events of left-wing organisations. In 1974, he played his first performance to a full house at “Arkadas-Sinema” of Tunceli. Ever since then he has been called “The little Ozan of Dersim”. (Dersim is the Kurdish name for Tunceli) ”

The 1970s in Tunceli were coloured by political conflicts between a fascist group called “The Grey Wolfs”, the police and the army on the one side and on the other side students, the working class and left wing intellectuals. Against this background Ferhat Tunç emigrated in 1979 to Germany without finishing his grammar school education. In Germany, he attended an evening school to learn the German language. In 1982 Ferhat Tunç recorded his debut album 'Kizilirmak' in a small sound studio in Bremen. In the same year he was introduced to the American musician Darnel Sumers with whom he set up his first band, along with three German and one Greek friend. The impressions from this new period of his life flew into his album 'Bu Yürek Bu Sevda Var Iken' which was released in 1984

He started taking training lessons as a singer, but already after six months he abandoned the vocalist studies and instead went on tour in Germany with his band. He gave many concerts for an audience consisting of mainly Turkish and Kurdish people living in Germany. During this period he learned that if he were to return to Turkey, he could expect to be persecuted by the military government for his Kurdish-related political activities, especially since the political situation after the military coup on 12th of September 1980 had become increasingly violent and complex. p>

During this period he learned that if he were to return to Turkey, he could expect to be persecuted by the military government for his Kurdish-related political activities, especially since the political situation after the military coup on 12th of September 1980 had become increasingly violent and complex.

Even so, in 1985 Ferhat Tunç returned to Turkey for the first time since he had left his home country in 1979.

As soon as he arrived he was arrested and brought to the prison camp DAL in Ankara. He was released after xx months. Some of Ferhat Tunç's lyrics are written in the language of the Zaza and Kurmanci, which are regarded as languages of the Kurds. His concerts has often become meetings of the Kurdish resistance movement. He has supported strikes of the working class, the democratisation of Turkey, the environmentalism and the free university of Istanbul, which practices critical teachings and research. He is also an active member of IHD, an association for human rights. His apparent oppositional attitude caused several arrests and long series of trials in the following years. In 2006 he went on tour with his album entitled 'Ateşte sınandık' throughout Turkey. The concerts were held under the theme title 'Songs for Peace'. Since 2003 Ferhat Tunç has been working together with the film-maker Umur Hozatli on the film 'Perperik', which tells the story about a person's life as Kurd in Turkey. This will be the first full-length feature film which is only in the Kurdish language. More information about Ferhat Tunç's on-going trials in Turkey can be found at http://www.freemuse.org/sw6289.asp