Is Adele's 'Million Years Ago' actually from 1985? 'Plagiarism' row as fans of Kurdish-Turkish singer claim chart-topper's track is a rip-off of one of his songs

  • Critics say song on Adele's 25 bears resemblance to Ahmet Kaya's tune
  • Accused of 'stealing' melancholic song from Kaya who died 15 years ago
  • But Kaya's widow says it's unlikely for star like Adele to do such a thing

By Mark Duell for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

Adele was today embroiled in an alleged plagiarism row after Turkish music lovers sensationally claimed one of the tracks on her latest album is a rip-off of a song by an iconic Kurdish musician.

Critics of the London-born singer say ‘Million Years Ago’ on her album 25 bears an unmistakable resemblance to a 1985 tune by Ahmet Kaya called ‘Acilara Tutunmak’ (Clinging to Pain).

The song’s release has created a storm in Turkey, with some social media users accusing 27-year-old Adele of ‘stealing’ the melancholic tune from Kaya, who died in France in exile 15 years ago.

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London-born singer Adele
Iconic Kurdish musician Ahmet Kaya

Plagiarism row: Critics of Adele (left) say ‘Million Years Ago’ on her album 25 bears an unmistakable resemblance to a 1985 tune by Ahmet Kaya (right) called ‘Acilara Tutunmak’ (Clinging to Pain)

‘Adele has stolen a song from us,’ one user named Esra Nur Aydogan wrote on Twitter, sharing a picture of a man hanging a Turkish flag on his balcony in protest.

Kaya’s widow Gulten Kaya also weighed in, saying it was unlikely for a global star like Adele to do such a thing. ‘However, if she consciously did it, then it would be theft,’ she told Turkish daily Posta.

Speaking to the Anadolu news agency, Turkish music critic Naim Dilmener accepted that there were some similarities between the two songs but ‘not too much’.

Mr Dilmener said that Kaya’s song was ‘an easy tune to figure out’, adding: ‘I don’t think Adele listened to Ahmet Kaya’s song and copied it deliberately.’

Complaint: ‘Adele has stolen a song from us,’ one social media user named Esra Nur Aydogan wrote on Twitter, sharing a picture of a man hanging a Turkish flag on his balcony in protest 

Popular: Adele’s third studio album, 25, has become the UK's biggest seller of 2015, as well as the fastest million-selling album in British chart history. She is pictured during the filming of Adele at the BBC last month

Popular: Adele’s third studio album, 25, has become the UK's biggest seller of 2015, as well as the fastest million-selling album in British chart history. She is pictured during the filming of Adele at the BBC last month

Adele’s third studio album which she described as a ‘make-up record’, has sold millions of copies in both Britain and the US, smashing records on either side of the Atlantic.

It has become the UK's biggest seller of 2015, as well as the fastest million-selling album in British chart history. MailOnline has requested comment from the singer’s UK representatives today.

If she consciously did it, then it would be theft
Gulten Kaya, widow of Ahmet Kaya

The controversy has been compared to when US rapper Jay Z was accused of ‘stealing’ flute samples from the late Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez’s 1957 song ‘Khosara’ (What a Shame) for use in his 1999 song ‘Big Pimpin’’.

Jay Z won a copyright infringement trial in October after an American judge ruled that the rapper was not liable for an ‘uncleared sample’ that helped to create the song.

Jay Z and producer Timbaland revealed they paid for the hook in the song in full by paying $100,000 (£66,000) to EMI Music Arabia for the license in 2001.

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