All right, let's do this.

I was born in Izmir, Turkey on the 23rd of May 1979. We moved to Istanbul when I started primary school. After spending plenty of time at Lycee St.Joseph and Mimar Sinan University, in 2003, I formed the band Maya with Guney Kurdak and Cem Aykut, both of whom I had been making music with since highschool. We started making recordings in our studio in Caddebostan, which we constructed ourselves. Things developed quite easily for this electronic, post-jazz/rock band Maya in Turkey. In a short time, our first album Telecine was released in CD and 'cassette' format and our music was heard by people we didn't know personally.  My good friend Aylin Gungor, who is now the Editor in Chief of Bant Magazine, was our manager at the time. After some good times such as playing at Athens Biennale and at Babylon, the group dissolved for reasons I can't even recall at this point.

Right during this time, I was working on a book-album with my close friend, illustration artist Sadi Guran. With Senem Akcay joining us as a writer, the project evolved into stories told through illustrations, writings and music. After months of disappointing meetings with publishers, we were finally approached by Alef Publishing, who grasped the idea, and took the risk to publish it. I remember clearly the moment I first held a published copy. A moment of pure relief. It was worth waiting for.  Meanwhile, I was frequently writing on documentaries and computer games, and preparing a photo-novel for Bant Magazine. It was a very fruitful period for all of us, where every hour of the day gave rise to another project.

Around the same time, I started making electronic-dance music based on vocals and guitars with Tan Tuncag, mostly for our own fun. Things took a turn, when we signed a six concert contract on the bluff that we had enough songs.  In the month that followed, the songs that are now in our Undertone album were created. I think a combination of right timing and right mind-set led Portecho, which started as a personal fun project, to play more than 200 times in a relatively short period. It was a strange experience for me to see that many people moved by our music. During this time, Portecho appeared in the New York Times, more than 3000 people danced to our music in Florence, our YouTube videos were flooded with comments either too flattering or too nasty. I personally felt very different when we completed our second album Studio Plastico. Until that point, I had thought of myself as a free project hunter who would prepare many first albums. Things got more serious with the second album. Like moving in together.

Possibly, as an excuse to be closer to the Nordic land and music, which I had been interested in since Maya, I started a music project with my percussionist friend Hakan Vreskala in Stockholm, which would take 2 years in total to complete. Joined with Selen Hunerli's unique vocals and Ali Riza Sahenk's live electronics, the band was now called Norrda and played both in Turkey and Europe after releasing it's first album Infinite Face. During one of our Sweden-Denmark gigs, we drove to the wrong city, and realized this only after parking in front of the wrong venue with the right name. We also played in Popkomm Music Festival in Berlin. I think each concert, we have performed with a different setup and guest musicians. These are some of the ways in which Norrda is a special project for me. Norrda is world music in our own way.

I have always wanted to make music for documentaries and films. I first started with my director friend Emre Akay's projects. Recently, I have been working on many other exciting movies. I think I got into a field I will always enjoy working in.

There are few people who I collaborate on almost every project. Especially, I should mention Ali Riza Sahenk. A very talented sound engineer, the founder of TheFatLab Studio. Or drummer Berke Can Ozcan and bass player Feryin Kaya. And of course, Bant Magazine and its crew. I have always been in the same boat with them. I feel lucky to be working with these people.

It was a result of such collaborations with musicians in Istanbul that I was led to produce Brazzaville's "In Istanbul" album. It was for this project that I first started making recordings in New York as a producer. One thing led to another, and now I have a double life based in New York and Istanbul, patched together by many flights between these places.

Finally, there are two exciting projects to come for the next episode. The first is G.R.O.S. (Great Republic of South), music that is of the "South". It is a collaboration with my friend Sarp Keskiner for whom I have great respect as a musician. This is probably the most personal music I have made so far.

The second one is my current main band with bass player Brian Bender and  drummer Cem Misirlioglu. These days you can find us rehearsing in a warehouse in Brooklyn. I think I'll need to update this page soon, as this project develops in the upcoming months.

After all, All I can say is all I can do...