Fikri Karayel

Fikri Karayel (born 7 February 1987) is a Turkish Cypriot rock singer and songwriter.

He was born in Zodeia, where he lived throughout his childhood. He was named after his grandfather, Fikri Karayel, a popular sportsman after whom the local primary school and Fikri Karayel Stadium were named.[1] He was inspired and helped by the local band SOS, and he quickly developed a passion for music. He started singing at the fifth year of the primary school and had his first performance to a broad audience at the Orange Festival of Morphou. He went on to study biochemistry at the Kingston University; meanwhile, he joined the band Refik and started composing songs that became popular. He performed before concerts of Turkish bands such as Duman and thus developed a Turkish Cypriot fan base, during this time, he became known in Turkey as Haluk Levent performed one of his songs.[2]

His first popular song was "Şehit" ("Martyr").[3] "Trenler" ("Trains"), "Hayal Edemezsin" ("You Can't Imagine") and "Morgue" ("Morg") are other popular songs by Karayel;[2] "Hayal Edemezsin" was especially a great hit in Turkey as it became very popular among alternative music listeners, remaining at number 1 on Myspace Turkey for two years.[4] In 2014, he performed the soundtrack for the Turkish-Turkish Cypriot movie Seni Seviyorum Adamım ("I Love You Man")[5] and received the best singer award from the Near East University.[6] In 2015, he released his first album, Zor Zamanlar ("Hard Times") and gave his first concert in Istanbul, Turkey.[4]