Gülden Karaböcek – born Saniye Gülden Göktürk in Ankara, Turkey on November 4, 1953 – is an arabesque and fantezi (Turkish folk music) singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. She is the younger sister of acclaimed arabesque singer Neşe Karaböcek. She began taking singing lessons in her teens and started her recording career after moving to Istanbul with her family. Her first record, “Yazılanlar Gelir Başa,” was released in 1968 under the name Gülden Göktürk but, inspired by her sister’s stage name, she changed her surname to Karaböcek. In the 1970s, Gülden Karaböcek recorded a string of successful Turkish folk songs including “Derdimi Döksem Derin Dereye” (1971), “Sevdim Sevdim” (1972), “Nem Kaldi” (1974), “Kirlsin Ellerim” (1976), “Çeşme” (1977), “Dilek Taşı” (1978), and “Anne” (1997). Alongside her successful run of singles, Gülden Karaböcek released dozens of albums over the course of her career including Anadolu’nun Bağrından (1975), Dilek Taşı (1978), Sev Yeter (1984), Anilar Bana Yeter (1990), Silemem (1997), Senin Olsun (2012), and Maziden Kalanlar (2018). She was a popular live performer and gave concerts mostly in Turkey but did appear live in the UK and Germany in 2015. While she didn’t devote much time to an acting career, she did appear in several films including Dilek Taşı (1978) and Kenar Mahalle (1987). Gülden Karaböcek received a Lifetime Honorary Award at the 18th Golden Lens Awards of the 18th Journalists’ Association in 2012.
