Arif Sağ was born to a miller at Dallı village of Aşkale district in Erzurum Province, eastern Turkey.

He continued with commercial music activities as a bağlama artist at TRT Radio Istanbul, where he began working in the late 1960s.

The serial album titled Muhabbet ("Small talk"), which he recorded with Musa Eroğlu, Muhlis Akarsu, and later Yavuz Top, helped introduce Turkish folk music to broad masses after 1980.

[2] Markoff comments on one of his performances that "Sağ has been consistent in his truly creative approaches to refashioning standard baglama repertoire.

[2] With the support of Roman Herzog, then President of Germany, Sağ gave a concert together with Erdal Erzincan and Erol Parlak, accompanied by the Cologne symphony orchestra, at the Kölner Philharmonie on 5 May 1996.

[1][2][3] Between 21 January and 5 February 2000, Sağ went on a concert tour in twelve European cities with the Spanish roma flamenco guitarist Tomatito.

[1][2][3] In 1976, Sağ was appointed instructor at the newly-established State Conservatory for Turkish Music at Istanbul Technical University.

[2] Sağ entered politics in the 1985-founded Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP), and became a Deputy of Ankara Province in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey following the 1987 general election.