The Turkish singer was born and raised in Istanbul and settled in Netherlands at the age of 17. There she soon developed her interest in traditional modal music, began to play the bağlama and kemane and studied Turkish Music at Codarts Rotterdam Conservatory. To deepen her knowledge she then completed a four-year private study with the ethnomusicologist and bağlama virtuoso, Talip Özkan, in Paris.

Moving to Hamburg in 2008, she co-founded the School of Anatolian Music with her husband and still teaches there today.