İrfan Alış, songwriter, Peyk band's lead singer, and human rights advocate has died at the age of 53.
The news was announced by his band on social media. The group has not yet provided further details on the cause of death.
Alış was known for his strong support of the Gezi protests, environmental and human rights causes, as well as his anti-war stance and views on the Kurdish issue. In a recent social media post, Alış expressed his criticism of the recent government takeover of İstanbul’s Esenyurt district municipality and the arrest of Mayor Ahmet Özer.
Alış was one of the founders of the Peyk band in 1991. Recently, they took the stage with their project Hamiyet, a musical telling the story of a woman’s life turned upside down after the 1980 military coup, featuring compositions by Alış.
Known for his commitment to solidarity-focused projects, Alış advocated for collaboration among musicians and the growth of independent music. He frequently highlighted challenges faced by musicians during the pandemic. He also positioned himself as a voice for musicians’ rights, particularly regarding copyright issues.
In one of his last interviews, when asked about the importance of solidarity among musicians in Turkey, Alış said, “Organizing changes everything. When one journalist and then thousands of people refused to be silent on the case of a child abuse scandal, and artists stood up, the case was reopened. Without this solidarity, there wouldn’t have been a case, but they couldn’t silence us.
“Censorship didn’t work because we live in a different world now. Organizing solves everything, because we’re the majority. This is always a struggle between the many and the few, between the wealthy and the poor.”
In a YouTube profile description, Alış described his journey: “I’ve been making music for years, writing songs, and my life in music has always been writing and singing Peyk songs. After 30 years, I’m releasing my first solo track, Kaybolmam Lazım, with more solo songs to come.”
He was not only a musician but worked in several jobs throughout his life and described himself as a "retired artisan and a songrwriter" on his Instagram account. In one of this interviews, he had said, "If you count the jobs you've done so far, there are about 15. For example, I'm going to start contracting now. I've worked as a waiter, sold sunflower seeds, worked in a döner shop, worked in the fields in England, played music on the streets with the Spaniards for two and a half months, traveled, aluminum joinery, PVC windows, electrician, newspaper dealer, welding machine distributor, hotel photographer, boutique owner, textile wholesaler, peddler, sold sweatpants"
Here is a playlist comprising Peyk's most popular songs:
(VK)
