Cengiz Berkün

CENGIZ BERKÜN He was born in Istanbul, and began his music career by playing the mandolin at the age of 7. Then shortly after he started playing solo in the school chorus. When he was 16 years old, he met Azerbaijan and Caucasia dances, and as well as the garmon. He was an amatuer accordion and garmon player when he was 20 years old. In 1999, he finished the State School of Turkish Music of Istanbul Technical University. He danced as a professional until this year. After finishing Conservatory, he worked as a musician in the Istanbul Caucasia Dance Company. As a musician he participated in many festivals and concerts all around the world (e.g. Greece, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Armenia, Japan, Singapore, and Canada). He played garmon in lots of ethnic albums launched in Turkey. He is still playing garmon & accordion in the Meya Band, and keeps on working as a teaching assistant in the conservatory. Nowadays he is busy trying to launch an album with his own unique style of garmon playing.