Orhan Gencebay
Orhan Gencebay (August 4, 1944–) is a well-known Turkish musician and actor whose popular name among the public is Orhan Baba (father Orhan). He has released dozens of albums and appeared in 37 films. He is one of the first musicians whose music has been termed Arabesque, a musical genre that fuses Arabic scales with popular Turkish music.
He was born on the Black Sea coast town of Samsun. He started taking mandolin lessons, playing Western music at the age of 6. Soon afterwards, he started playing the baglama, and started composing at the age of 10. He also trained in his youth with the tanbur, a musical instrument often used in Turkish classical music. Also interested in jazz and rock music, he played tenor saxophone. He entered the Turkish conservatory and stayed there for 4 years. In 1966 he shared the first prize with Arif Sağ, and Çinuçen Tanrıkorur, two other contemporary masters of Turkish music. In the late sixties he collaborated with a wide range of musicians in performances and film music. In 1972 he founded the Kervan Record Company which became very successful, attracting many other talented musicians such as Erkin Koray, Ajda Pekkan, Muazzez Abacı, Mustafa Sağyaşar, Ahmet Özhan, Kamuran Akkor, Semiha Yankı, Samime Sanay, Neşe Karaböcek, Bedia Akartürk, Nil Burak, Ziya Taşkent, Semiramis Pekkan and Ferdi Özbeğen. As a composer, film musician, and as a person interested in other musical cultures, Orhan Gencebay is one of the major exponents of Turkish music in the 20th century.