Omer Zulfu Livaneli was born in Ilgin, Turkey in 1946. After being held under military detention for three months during the coup of March 12 th, 1971, he had to leave Turkey and move to Sweden. After Stockholm, he lived in Paris and Athens, and he returned to Turkey in 1984.

Livaneli’s latest novel “Leyla’s House” was published in Turkey in May 2006; as of today it’s in its 45th edition and a number one best-seller.

His third novel “Bliss”, published in 2002, also a number one best-seller, made 44 editions, became almost a cult work and is recently adapted to cinema in Turkey. In 2005, “Bliss” was published in Greece and Sweden, and in 2006, it was published in France by Gallimard, in the United States by St.Martin’s Press and in Italy by Gremese. Immediately after its publication in the latter, Bliss was awarded by Barnes & Noble, the biggest bookstore chain in the world, with the annually given “Discover Great New Authors” award due to its “superior literary value”. Bliss will soon be published in Norway by Gylendal and in Netherlands by Prometheus/ Bert Bakker. His second novel “One Cat One Man One Death”, his first novel “The Eunuch of Constantinople” and a collection of his stories titled “A Child in Purgatory” have also been published abroad.

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With more than 1 million downloads Muhabbet is already a famous internet-Star in the ethno-world especially in the German-Turkish community.

But not only in Germany: In Turkey his german songs are also sang by heart.

Something like this doesn`t happen accidentally. It only happens when something significant is on the way. Today Muhabbet is the first German artist who successfully builds bridges between the Orient and Occident with his RnBesk music.

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Who is Gönül Akin ?

Gönül Akin is one of Turkey’s best known musician-painters, a professional singer who voluntarily retired from Ankara Radio, and Turkish Radio and Television ( TRT) years ago in order to devote all her energies to her beloved art.

She had been a musician for forty and a professional painter for the last forty three years.

She started to paint during the same childhood years when she first started to sing. Akin received early encouragement from the Turkish Minister of National Education of the time, Hasan Ali Yücel.

As a result of such support, she had her first painting exhibition while she was still a child and received her first award.

1962 marks the year when Akin began to attend the most well-known studios in Ankara in order to develop her art in new directions.

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Sinem, pronounced “C”-nem, is an ancient Turkish word meaning “deep from within my heart.” As her name implies, Sinem writes and delivers her music in this very manner. Sinem’s love of music comes from an eclectic selection that include the likes of Bebel Gilberto, Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, and others that fuel the bossa nova fire and sensual latin rhythms into Sinem’s own music. As a German-born American with Turkish family roots, Sinem is already set apart from her colleagues. Her music is a fusion of several of these influences, from the music she loves, Bossa Nova, to the music she was born into, Turkish, with the music she was raised in, American Pop and Jazz. The end result is music with beautiful, captivating subject matter; awe-inspiring lyrics embraced with sophisticated, infectious melodies; pure, enchanting vocals over sexy, latin and middle-eastern rhythms that leaves any listener completely spell-bound. It’s no wonder her listeners keep coming back for more.

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In 1998 he won the first place and a scholarship to study music in the Unite States, in the Operatic Arts section of the Siemens Company’s first Artistic Award of the Year in Turkey.

In March of 1999, he won the Sedat Gürel-Güzin Gürel Science and Art Foundation award to study at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA), Philadelphia, PA, USA where he was accepted for advanced operatic studies. After his graduation, he studied at the Lyric Academia Parma with Maestro Bonaldo Giaotti and Katia Riccaerelli using the Zehra Yildiz Science and Art Foundation’s scholarship. During his stay at Parma, he also gave a concert with Katia Riccaerelli.

A recipient of numerous awards, the young Turkish bass Burak Bilgili has been busy collecting top prizes including First Prizes in the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition 2002 in Vienna, the International Alfredo Kraus Competition 2002 in Las Palmas, the Neue Stimmen International Opera Competition in 2001, the Mario Lanza Opera Competition, and the J. Parkinson Italian Opera Competition. He was also a winner of the Loren Zachary Opera Competition, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Voice Competition, and was First Place winner in both the Giargiari Bel Canto Voice Competition.

From his professional operatic début at the Teatro alla Scala in the 2002-03 season as Don Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia, Mr. Bilgili has enjoyed a busy international schedule of engagements. He opens the 2005-2006 season with his return to the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto for Banquo in Macbeth, followed by Timur in Turandot for the New York City Opera, Leporello in Vancouver, and Banquo for his Seattle Opera début. Mr. Bilgili makes role débuts this season including Escamillo in Carmen at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and the bass solo in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony which he will perform with the Louisville Orchestra. Future seasons will bring him to Den Norske Oper for Escamillo, to the Las Palmas Opera Festival for Colline in La bohème and to the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino for his début as Padre Guardiano in La forza del destino. Also in 2006-07 he returns to the Vancouver Opera for the role of Banquo and to Toronto for his début in the role of Walter in Luisa Miller. In 2008 he will début in Geneva as Leporello in Don Giovanni.

Highlights of Mr. Bilgili’s 2004-05 season included two débuts: his Canadian Opera Company début in Toronto as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, followed by his début at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona as Timur in Turandot. Also in the season he was Colline in La bohème and Don Basilio in Barbiere at the Cincinnati Opera Festival.

Mr. Bilgili made his Metropolitan Opera début as Leporello in a new production of Don Giovanni in the 2003-2004 season, under the baton of Maestro Andrew Davis. His schedule in 2003-04 also included house débuts with Pittsburgh Opera, Vancouver Opera as Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Virginia Opera as Mefisto in Faust

In 2002 he débuted as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Rome Opera and Palm Beach Opera and débuted as Sparafucile in Baltimore Opera’s Rigoletto. Other highlights of previous seasons include Fauré’s Requiem in France with the Lyon Symphony Orchestra and Istanbul European Choir, and solo recitals at the 25th and 28th International Istanbul Music Festival as part of the Young Soloist Series. Mr. Bilgili appeared in recital singing Schubert’s Winterreise at the Austrian Consulate Cultural Office in Istanbul, and took part in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program where he performed Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Betto in Gianni Schicchi. Mr. Bilgili also appeared as soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass with the Istanbul European Choir, and joined the Istanbul State Opera as Don Geronio in Il Turco in Italia and Abimelech in Samson et Dalila. He was the Bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Istanbul Symphony Orchestra and Istanbul State Opera Chorus. With the Mimar Sinan University Orchestra, Mr. Bilgili sang Fauré’s Requiem and performed Schaunard in La bohème.

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Born in Berlin, Aziza A. is the first German-Turkish rapper and has developed oriental hiphop by blending hiphop with traditional Turkish features. Though not a strident feminist, she raps in Turkish or German about migration and the desires of Turkish women born in Germany. She has moderated a TV show, presents her own radio program and lives in Kreuzberg in Berlin.

Aziza A. (Aziza is a word in Arabic literally meaning “precious” or “holy”; her real name is Alev Yıldırım), was born in Berlin in 1971, three years after her parents had arrived with their son. Her period at primary school coincided with the boom period of Döner stalls, for which reason she and other Turkish girls were nicknamed kebab by middle-class children in the borough Steglitz. They were also called kanake, a term which she may have heard mentioned by her parents without knowing its actual meaning. “At that time I was still a nice Turkish girl, and butter wouldn’t have melted in my mouth. I was more an observer.”

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