Derya Türkan was born in 1973 in Istanbul. He graduated from the Turkish State Conservatory of Istanbul, in 1994. By the age of 17, his accomplishment on the kemenche brought an invitation to join the Necdet Yasar Ensemble, with whom he performed and toured for eight years.
In 1991, Türkan met Kudsi Ergüner with whom he worked on several projects (Ottomania, Ottoman Drums, La Banda Allaturca, Chemins) and toured throughout the world, including Europe, the United States, Japan, Israel, Tunisia, and Sudan.
In the United States of America, he gave concerts and seminars at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at Santa Cruz and New England Conservatory.
Moving forward, in 1997, he performed at the Sorbonne for the celebration of Yehudi Menuhin’s 80th birthday, organized by French President Jacques Chirac.
He was a co-founder of Incesaz along with Cengiz Onursal and Murat Aydemir.
Türkan collaborates with a wide range of musicians and has performed throughout the world. He recorded the album “Fuad” with Armenian duduk maestro Jivan Gasparyan. In 2014, he released Silk Moon, recorded with Renaud García-Fons.
In 2020, Türkan appeared on Damir Imamović’s Singer of Tales album.
Türkan released the album Anadolu Dansları-Anatolian Dances with DEM Trio in 2021. The album featured Derya Türkan on kemenche; Murat Salim Tokaç on tanbur, ney; and Cenk Güray on divan sazı, cura, tanbura, abdal saz.
In 2025, Hirundu Maris, a pan-European ensemble led by Türkan, Spanish soprano vocalist and harpist Arianna Savall, and Norwegian tenor and multi-instrumentalist Petter Udland Johansen, roled out the album Looking for New Horizons.
Discography:
Letter From Istanbul (Golden Horn, 2001)
Minstrel’s Era (Kalan Müzik,2006)
Silk Moon (E-motive Records, 2014)
Letter From Istanbul Vol.II (Kalan Müzik, 2018)
Anadolu Dansları-Anatolian Dances (Felmay Music 2021)
Looking for New Horizons, Book I (Seyir Müzik, 2025)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
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