Mehmet Badan
A charismatic singer and passionate percussionist, Mehmet translates his feelings into song. The warmth and exotic charm of his music are inspired by human relations - he sings of the pangs of unrequited love, passionate affairs and errant hearts. Mehmet appeals to a wide audience, and is sure to conquer the hearts of many fans outside his native Turkey...
ARTIST-INFO
For the last 25 years, Mehmet has been crossing borders, going back and forth between his birthplace, Germany, and his family´s native Turkey. Musically, he has been following that same path since 1982.
At an early age, Mehmet discovered the pleasures of playing relentless turkish rhythms in late night digs on the instrument of his choice, the darbuka, the most important and expressive of oriental drums. Mehmet describes himself as "very persistent, ...but unfortunately also very forgetful...". Accordingly, some time went by before he embarked upon a solo album project- time which he spent playing percussion for acts of international stature, live and in the studio. This is where he discovered his passion for crossing musical borders. No surprise that his first solo album, entirely instrumental, turned out a blend of Arabic dance and folk music.
Having done that, the self pronounced George Michael afficionado decided to take a shot at a more "western" style and in 1997 started producing the album at hand - one that exceeded all expectations. Mehmet had found a befitting partner in Lothar Krell, musician and producer, who had just founded his own record label - "Music of One World" together with Andreas Schardt, a Berlin-based lawyer.
Things started picking up speed, and soon Mehmet was off to Istanbul to record orchestral parts on a bunch of songs they had written. Concurrently, Thomas Schmidt-Zijnen, producer of Saga, Moody blues and Bobby Kimball renown, was called upon to complete instrumental and vocal tracks in Frankfurt. The results were impressive - Ibrahim Tatlises, Turkish superstar-cum-entrepreneur was so taken by the music, he immediately signed Mehmet to his company IDOBAY.