Atilla Engin (1946-2019) was a Turkish American
fusion jazz
Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and ke ...
drummer. From 1974 to 2001 he was active in Denmark as a musician and educator; he organized music festivals and represented Denmark as a musical ambassador. In 2001, he left Denmark for the United States, where he formed an orchestra.
Biography
Engin first played and recorded in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, moving to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in 1974, and playing with several groups. He released his first album ''Turkish Delight'' with the band ''Matao''. They performed at
Roskilde Festival in 1979. His other group, Atilla Engin Group, released five albums. While he was recording and touring with his band, he taught at the Copenhagen Jazz Conservatory for four years. Engin formed a band with 12 Copenhagen Jazz Conservatory students and they toured Turkey.
In 1985 Engin was awarded Composer of the Year in Denmark. In the same year, the Atilla Engin Group was appointed Denmark's cultural ambassador to represent the country in conjunction with the European Music Year 1985.
Engin established the World to World Drums and Percussion Festival in Copenhagen with events taking place in
Aarhus and
Malmö, Sweden. The festival included performances by
Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain ( ur, , link=no) is the name of:
* Zakir Husain (politician), an Indian politician and former president of India
* Zakir Hussain (actor), Bollywood actor
* Zakir Hussain (field hockey) (1934–2019), Pakistani field hockey player
* ...
,
Airto Moreira,
Nana Vasconcelos
Nana, Nanna, Na Na or NANA may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name
* Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname
* Nana ...
,
Peter Giger
Peter Giger (born April 12, 1939 in Zurich) is a Swiss percussionist and bandleader, formerly of the band :de:Dzyan.Steve Freeman, Alan Freeman ''The crack in the cosmic egg: encyclopedia of Krautrock'' 1996 "The talented percussionist, formerly ...
, and
Danny Gottlieb
Daniel Richard Gottlieb (born April 18, 1953) is an American drummer. He was a founding member of the Pat Metheny Group and was co-founder of Elements with Mark Egan.
Biography
Gottlieb was born in New York City on April 18, 1953. He took less ...
.
He participated in Tal Vadhya Utsav in India.
He taught an evening class of 16 young musicians at the ''Rhythmic Evening School'' in Copenhagen in 1984, turning them into a band named Tyrkis which performed at
Jazzhus Montmartre
Jazzhus Montmartre is a jazz club in Copenhagen, Denmark. Many jazz musicians, including Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, and Chet Baker, have performed there. It is sometimes called Cafe Montmartre. The Montmartre was located first in Dahlerupsgade, then ...
in Copenhagen. In 1987, Tyrkis won first prize at the Dortmunder Big Band Festival in Germany and released an album, ''My Little Chinese Love''.
He left Denmark in 1989 for New York and formed the New World Orchestra and a six-piece group, ''Turquoise''. Engin left the US for Brazil in 2005.
In 2010 he was diagnosed with cerebral haemorrhage, and sat in a wheelchair unable to speak.
[ ] Atilla Engin died in Brazil the 2nd November 2019.
[ ]
His bands
Copenhagen 1977–89
New York 1992–2002
Discography
* ''Felek Usta'' (Evren, 1971)
* ''Kumsalda'' (Yonca, 1974) Vocals: Özdemir Erdoğan (Lyrics, music, arrangement, drums, piano: Atilla Engin
* ''Bütün İçkiler Benden Bu Gece'' (Yonca, 1974) Vocals:
Alpay (Lyrics, music, arrangement: Atilla Engin)
* ''Turkish Delight'', Group Matao (RA, 1979)
* ''Atatürk's Children and Nasrettin Hoca'' (Fairytale, 1980)
* ''Solens Børn'' with Ariel(19), (Pick Up, 1980)
* ''Nazar'' (Danish Music Productions, 1982)
* ''Memories'', Atilla Engin Group (including
Okay Temiz
Okay Temiz (born 11 February 1939, Istanbul, Turkey) is a Turkish fusion jazz percussionist and drummer.
Biography
Temiz was influenced in his early years by his mother, Naciye, who was classically schooled in music. Temiz started playing profe ...
on percussion,
Hugo Rasmussen on bass,
Jens Winther on trumpet) (Danish Music Productions, 1984)
* ''Marmaris Love'' with Okay Temiz (Danish Music Productions, 1986)
* ''No Money No Honey'' with
Arto Tunçboyacıyan
Arto Tunçboyacıyan ( hy, Արտո Թունջբոյաջյան; hyw, Արթօ Թունճպոյաճեան, Art'ō T'unjpoyajean; born August 4, 1957) is a United States-based avant-garde folk and jazz multi-instrumentalist and singer of Armenian ...
) (Danish Music Productions)
* ''My Little Chinese Love'', Tyrkis Big Band conducted by Atilla Engin (
Stunt)
* ''Melo Perquana'', Atilla Engin Group with
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (, 27 May 1946 – 19 April 2005), also known by his abbreviated nickname NHØP, was a Danish jazz double bassist.
Biography
Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of ...
) (Olufsen, 1988)
* ''Mosaic of Anatolia'', Group Turquoise (Istanbul, 1999)
* ''Moon Dog Girl'' by the Noodle Shop (
John Kruth
John Kruth is a singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist best known for his highly energetic “Banshee Mandolin” style of playing. He has also worked as a music journalist and has authored several book about popular music.
Biography
He is al ...
,
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp (born March 1, 1951) is an American contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, and performer.
A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released ...
, Atilla Engin and
Jonathan Segel
Jonathan Segel (born September 3, 1963) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed.
Early life and education
Segel was born in Marseille, France, a ...
) (Sparkling Beatnik, 1999)
* ''Ocean of Emotion'', The İstanbul Orchestra – Group Turquoise (2009)
References
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engin, Atilla
1946 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American drummers
American jazz composers
American jazz drummers
American male drummers
Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
Jazz arrangers
Jazz fusion drummers
Jazz fusion percussionists
American male jazz composers
People from Kayseri
Turkish emigrants to the United States
Turkish jazz drummers
American world music musicians
20th-century American male musicians
Olufsen Records artists