"Samanyolu" (literally "

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

") is a Turkish melody which was a hit in 1968. "Samanyolu" was the theme music of a 1967 film with the same title.The film is based on Kerime Nadir's 1940 novel of the same name. It stars

Hülya Koçyiğit Hülya Koçyiğit (born 12 December 1947) is a Turkish actress. A prominent female lead in the Turkish cinema, she received numerous awards at international film festivals, including the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. Altogether, she ha ...

as Zülal and

Ediz Hun Ediz Hun (born 20 November 1940) is a Turkish film actor and politician. Biography Hun was born in 1940 to a Circassian father and a Turkish mother. After studying at the St. George's Austrian High School in Istanbul, he graduated in Biolog ...

as Nejat. The opus has been brought to the silver screen and the television numerous times, first being in 1959, a black white film version starring

Belgin Doruk Belgin Doruk (28 June 1936 – 26 March 1995) was a popular Turkish film actress. Biography Belgin Doruk was born in Ankara, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, wit ...

as Zülal,

Göksel Arsoy Göksel Arsoy (born 15 March 1936) is a Turkish actor, singer and sportsmen. Biography When Arsoy was studying at Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research univ ...

as Nejat. In 1989, a mini series version starring

Aydan Şener Memnune Aydan Şener (born 1 March 1963) is a Turkish actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Turkey 1981 and represented her country at Miss World 1981 but unplaced. She is of Tatar origin. Biography She was born in Kilis, a ...

as Zülal, Tolga Savacı as Nejat was produced and between 2009-2010, a TV series version starring

Vildan Atasever Vildan Atasever (born Bursa, 26 July 1981) is a Turkish film, television and theatrical actress. Biography She started acting at the age of fifteen. She joined hit crime series "Kurtlar Vadisi". Her first major part was in the hit revenge serie ...

as Zülal,

Özcan Deniz Özcan Deniz (born 19 May 1972) is a Turkish actor, singer, composer, writer and director Kurdish descent. Life His family is of Kurdish origin. Deniz's family is originally from Ağrı but he was born in Ankara and grew up in Aydın. He is t ...

as Nejat. The melody became very popular and the composer Metin Bükey decided to release its record after adding lyrics. He collaborated with Teoman Alpay for the lyrics. It was sung by

Berkant Akgürgen Berkant Akgürgen (December 31, 1938 – October 1, 2012) was a Turkish singer. Life He was born in Ankara, Turkey on 31 December 1938 to Cahide Akgürgen. His father Hasan Akgürgen was a teacher in Hasanoğlan village institute. During his ...

(aka Berkant). The song became very famous in Turkey and earned Berkant a

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. The next year Dutch singer

David Alexandre Winter David Alexandre Winter (born Lion Kleerekoper; 4 April 1943) is a Dutch-born international pop singer. Winter found fame in Luxembourg and France. Early life Winter was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands into a Jewish family. Both he and his parent ...

covered the same song with the title " Oh Lady Mary" and with French lyrics. It was also covered by

Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida (, ; ), was an Italian naturalized French singer and actress. Leading an international career, Dalida has sold over 140 million records worldwide. Some ...

and

Paul Mauriat Paul Julien André Mauriat ( or ; 4 March 1925 – 3 November 2006) was a French orchestra leader, conductor of Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, who specialized in the easy listening genre. He is best known in the United States for his mill ...

. This song was covered also by Italian singer Enrico Musiani as ''Lady Mary'' in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

References

{{Authority control Music of Turkey Light music compositions Turkish songs Songs written for films