Hasan Saltık

Hasan Saltık (pronounced [hasan saɫtɯk]; 1964 – 2 June 2021) was a Turkish record producer. He was the 1991 founder of Kalan Müzik, a Turkish independent record label company based in Istanbul specialized in releasing Saltık's recordings of traditional ethnic and folk music from Turkey and vicinity, sometimes against governmental opposition.

Saltık was also a member of the board of the MESAM (Türkiye Musiki Eseri Sahipleri Meslek Birliği, the Musical Work Owners' Society of Turkey). In September 2004, Time magazine made a feature article about Saltık, "a rebel at heart", and his career, calling him "The Anthropologist of Folk Music".

As of 2004, the governmental change after the 2002 elections and the evolution of Turkey towards being a part of the European Union had led to a normalization of relations between Saltık and officials, such as the Turkish Culture Ministry handing out Kalan CDs to visiting dignitaries. This didn't entirely stop some indirect prosecutions:

In 2003, Saltık's work through Kalan made him a laureate of the international Prince Claus Awards on the theme "The survival and innovation of Crafts" for having "played a central role in the rescue, rediscovery and documentation of the cultural diversity of Turkish music". In 2004, he was called "The Anthropologist of Folk Music" by Time magazine.

In 2003 (aged 39), Saltık's work through Kalan made him a laureate of Netherlands's international Prince Claus Awards on the theme "The survival and innovation of Crafts" for having "played a central role in the rescue, rediscovery and documentation of the cultural diversity of Turkish music". The jury concluded, "Saltik founded a small company to produce recordings of the highest quality which have been the catalyst for the revival of musical traditions and led to their dissemination worldwide. He has conserved and promoted the musical heritage of the area th[r]ough establishing a label which produces unparalleled recordings."

In 1991 (aged 27), he became a record producer and founded the independent record label Kalan Müzik, named after his natal town's pre-1936 name. Since then, he has been scouring Turkey and neighbouring regions to record traditional ethnic and folk music and release it on his label, along with reissues of classic 78 rpm records of Turkish and Ottoman music. He also published modern acts, such as the controversial Grup Yorum, or the popular Yansımalar.

Because laws passed after the 1980 Turkish coup d'état banned songs in minority languages, especially in Kurdish (deeming them separatist), Saltık's work has been political as well as musical. He has been an activist for the right to disseminate minority musical genres, explaining, "Minorities are our biggest cultural asset; we should be protecting them and promoting them. […] I see it as my duty."

In 1964, Hasan Saltık was born in Hozat, Tunceli, a small town in eastern Turkey to a Turkmen father and a Kurdish-Zaza mother. At age 11, he moved with his family to Istanbul. He went to music school but had to drop out in order to take jobs, and at age 19, he went to sea. At age 24, he came back to Istanbul and worked in his uncle's music shop. In 1991 (aged 27), he founded Kalan Müzik, and has operated it since.