Kazım Koyuncu, one of the most distinctive voices of Black Sea music and a musician, songwriter and activist, is being remembered on the 21st anniversary of his death.
Although his official birth date was recorded as May 10, 1972, because he was registered late, Koyuncu was born on Nov. 7, 1971, in Yeşilköy, a village in the Hopa district of northeastern Artvin province. He was the fifth of six children born to Cavit and Hüsniye Koyuncu.
Growing up listening to stories told by his grandmother, Koyuncu was introduced to Black Sea music at an early age through the folk songs of Yaşar Turna, widely known as “Kemençeci Yaşar.”
Reflecting on his childhood, Koyuncu once said he had been different from other children because of his father, who was an avid reader. “I became different from other children because of my father, who read books,” he said, describing his father’s influence on him.
Koyuncu began playing music in middle school with a mandolin his father bought for him. In 1989, he left his village for Istanbul, where he enrolled in the Department of Public Administration at Istanbul University.
