Ashiks

Nuray Hafiftaş (2 November 1962 – 14 February 2018) was a Turkish folk singer of Azeri origin.

Arif Şirin, commonly known as Ozan Arif ("Arif the Bard"; June 10, 1949 – February 13, 2019), was a Turkish lyricist, composer, singer, and bağlama performer, foremost known for his songs with lyrics propagating the Turkish nationalist cause.

Şerif Cırık, popularly was known as Aşık Mahsuni Şerif, was an ashik, folk musician, composer, poet, and author from Turkey. He is remembered as the most renowned and cherished Ashik. Mahzuni Şerif was born in the Berçenek village of Afşin, Kahramanmaraş, Turkey in 1939. The word Aşık is a title used to indicate his position as a respected musician, but also indicates his relationship with Alevism, a variety of Shi'a Islam.

Âşık Veysel (born Veysel Şatıroğlu; 25 October 1894 – 21 March 1973) was a Turkish ashik and highly regarded poet of the Turkish folk literature. He was born in the Sivrialan village of the Şarkışla district, in the province of Sivas. He was an ashik, poet, songwriter, and a bağlama virtuoso, the prominent representative of the Anatolian ashik tradition in the 20th century. He was blind for most of his lifetime. His songs are usually sad tunes, often dealing with the inevitability of death. However, Veysel used a wide range of themes for his lyrics; based on morals, values, and constant questioning on issues such as love, care, beliefs, and how he saw the world as a blind man.

Ashig Alasgar (Azerbaijani: Aşıq Ələsgər; 1821–1926) was an Azeri mystic troubadour (Ashik) and highly regarded poet of Azeri folk songs. He was born in the village of Aghkilsa in the Goycha district of the Erivan Khanate administrative division within Qajar Iran.

An ashik (Azerbaijani: aşıq; Turkish: âşık) or ashugh (Armenian: աշուղ; Georgian: აშუღი) is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as hikaye) or a shorter original composition—with a long-necked lute (usually a bağlama or saz) in Azerbaijani culture, including Turkish and South Azerbaijani and non-Turkic cultures of South Caucasus (primarily Armenian and Georgian). In Azerbaijan, the modern ashik is a professional musician who usually serves an apprenticeship, masters playing the bağlama, and builds up a varied but individual repertoire of Turkic folk songs.

Âşık Ali İzzet Özkan (1902-1981) was a Turkish ashik and poet. A native of Şarkışla, Özkan became an ashik at a young age, and went to Adana at the age of 22 to compete with other ashiks from Çukurova. Özkan wandered throughout Turkey for many years and composer numerous original poems. He also participated in the festival of Turkish ashiks held in Konya.

Fatih Kısaparmak (born 31 January 1961 in Elazığ), is a singer/songwriter of traditional Turkish folk music.

Khanlar Maharramov (Azerbaijani: Xanlar Məhərrəmov; 1950, Tovuz – 1998, Baku) was a famous Azerbaijani ashiq.

Sayat-Nova (Armenian: Սայեաթ-Նովայ Սայաթ-Նովա Georgian: საიათნოვა; Azerbaijani: سایات‌نووا; Persian: سایات‌نووا; born Harutyun Sayatyan; 14 June 1712 – 22 September 1795) was an Armenian poet, musician and ashugh, who had compositions in a number of languages.