Gülay Diri

Gülay Diri was born in Antalya in 1968. She began singing folksongs when she was in a primary school. She comes from a family of shepards based in the Toros Mountains, whom she helped in shepherding. The tough geographical conditions of the region propelled her to sing folksongs, which were the product of a district known as "İbradi". She used to believe in that singing would protect her from any kind of danger when she was in the grasslands. In 2010, Diri released her first album entitled "İbradı Türkleri" (Istanbul: Esen, 2010). Currently, she lives in Istanbul, and puesues her folk music to pass it on to new generations.