Ugur Akbaba - Biography
Born in 1990 in Kocaeli / Turkey, Ugur Akbaba started his musical education at the age of eight under the guidance of his father Ahmet Akbaba. The first instrument was the oud and it was the main focus of those years. At that time he started to join local Turkish Traditional Music Community as a oud player.
When the music infrastructure began to shape, he began looking for an instrument with a wider range of sound due to oud's technical boundaries. His first encounter with the kanun was in 2000 as a result of his research. His infinite desire to learn led him to find more lessons. In 2001, he registered with Kocaeli Municipality Conservatory with the best acceptable exam score. He took Makam, Usul, Repertory and Kanun Classes.
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During the his musical history, he was influenced by Ahmet Meter, Halil Karaduman, Göksel Baktagir and Turgut Özüfler. Tamburi Cemil Bey's genious melodic structure and Selahattin Pınar's compositions are biggest passions of him in terms of Turkish Traditional Music.
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He has been played many concerts in Turkey, USA, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Kuwait, Dubai, Jordan, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has played kanun in albums, theater plays, live radio and TV shows.
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UÄŸur Akbaba was lecturer of the Ferahnak Turkish Musikisi Association which he founded with his friends. During his kanun lectures, he has found chance to review challenges of the playing kanun and develop easy and effective practices to overcome these obstacles. He is currently working on a new kanun method which will be a new point of view to kanun.
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He has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Kocaeli University and a Masters Degree from Bogazici University, Department of Mechanical Engineering. He works as an engineer in a private company. He currently lives in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.