Erkan Oğur (pronounced ) (born 17 April 1954) is a Turkish musician. As pioneer of

fretless guitar A fretless guitar is a guitar with a fingerboard without frets, typically a standard instrument that has had the frets removed, though some custom-built and commercial fretless guitars are occasionally made. The classic fretless guitar was first ...

s, he invented the first fretless

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

in 1976.Martinelli, op. cit.Unfretted, op. cit. As composer, he has influenced many musicians with his compositions combining the sounds of

Turkish folk music Turkish folk music () is the traditional music of Turkish people living in Turkey influenced by the cultures of Anatolia and former territories in Europe and Asia. Its unique structure includes regional differences under one umbrella. It includ ...

and classical music with the ancient traditional music. He has played many concerts all over the world. He is regarded as a master of the ''

kopuz The komuz or qomuz ( , , ) is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments, the Mongolian tovshuur, and the lute. The instrument can be found in Turkic ethnic groups, f ...

'' and ''

bağlama The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, Khazar, Central Asia including Germany, France, Belgium, TRNC, Netherlands, Albania, Greece,Bosnia, Serbia, Croat ...

'' lutes.

Biography

Erkan Oğur was born on 17 April 1954, in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He spent his childhood in

Elazığ Elazığ () is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, and the administrative centre of Elazığ Province and Elazığ District. Founded in and around the former city of Harput, it is located in the uppermost Euphrates valley. The plai ...

, eastern Turkey, where he became interested in

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and the Turkish ''

'' lute, and started to practice them frequently. He graduated from high school in Elazığ, then moved to study physics at the Ankara University Faculty of Science from 1970 to 1973. As a result of encouragement to be a scientist by his father, he started to study physics engineering and in 1974 continued his education in The Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, for three years. He was introduced to

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

education in 1973. Instead of being a scientist, he chose to be a musician. Since he needed detailed sounds from a guitar in order to obtain Turkish melodies, he modified his guitar and invented the fretless

in 1976. In 1980, he returned to Turkey, and started to study at the State Conservatory of

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University, also known as Technical University of Istanbul (, commonly referred to as İTÜ), is an public university, public technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

. After his military service, he worked as an '' oud'' lute teacher. He had live performances with

Fikret Kızılok Fikret Kızılok (10 November 1946 – 22 September 2001) was a Turkish rock musician. He was a pioneer of Anatolian rock, a prolific songwriter, impresario, multi-instrumentalist, and an early experimentalist. Due to a heart disease, he died ...

and

Bülent Ortaçgil Bülent Ortaçgil (born 1 March 1950) is a Turkish composer and singer. Biography He was born in Ankara, Turkey in 1950. He moved to Istanbul after starting elementary school which he finished at Sultanahmet Elementary School in Istanbul. He co ...

where he contributed to scene with fretless guitar. He released his first album in Germany called ''Arayışlar'' ''("Searches")''. In 1989, he went to the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

to work with numerous local blues artists, foremost of which was Robert 'One Man' Johnson. He introduced fretless guitar into

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. A year later, he released his first album in Turkey, ''Bir Ömürlük Misafir'' ("A Lifetime Guest"), which was ranked 4th in European lists. He still performs concerts through the world and in Turkey. He works with Kemal Eroglu on technical improvements on ''bağlama'' lute; and continues his performances with Fahir Atakoglu and Bülent Ortaçgil. In 2004, he played on Yansımalar's album ''Pervane'' ''("Moth")''. He is a member of the Telvin trio, which mainly performs Turkish folk music in improvised jazz style, with

İlkin Deniz Ilkin or İlkin is an Azerbaijani and Turkish given name and surname. Notable people with the name or surname include: People Given name *Ilkin Hajiyev (born 1983), Azerbaijani futsal player *Ilkin Shahbazov (born 1986), Azerbaijani taekwondo pla ...

and Turgut Alp Bekoglu, and has released an album called ''Telvin'' in 2006. His soundtrack for the 2004 movie ''Yazı Tura'' by

Uğur Yücel Uğur Yücel (born 26 May 1957) is a Turkish film actor, producer and director. He graduated from the Theater Department of the Istanbul Municipality Conservatory (İstanbul Belediye Konservatuarı Tiyatro Bölümü). He took part in several pl ...

won two awards: the 2004 Golden Orange for Best Music at the

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most important film festival in Turkey. Since 2009, t ...

, and the 2005 award for Best Music at the

Ankara International Film Festival The Ankara Film Festival () is an international film festival in Turkey. The 34th edition of the festival was held from November 2 to November 10, 2023. The Ankara Film Festival was first organized in 1988.

Discography

Chronologically, subsections by the date of their first item: ; Early works and collaborations * 1982 - ''Istanbul'da Bir Amerikalı'' * 1983 - ''Perdesiz Gitarda Arayışlar'' - small-distribution cassette ; Soundtrack albums and collaborations (by film date) * 1989 - ''Sis OST'' - Zülfü Livaneli film soundtrack * 1996 - ''Eşkiya OST'' ''(The Bandit)'' - with Aşkın Arsunan,

Yavuz Turgul Yavuz Turgul is a Turkish film director and screenwriter, known for classic films of Şener Şen. Early life and education Yavuz Turgul graduated from the Istanbul University Institute of Journalism and worked as a journalist for six years f ...

film '' Eşkıya'' soundtrack (Kalan, released 2000) * 2003 - ''Yazı Tura OST'' -

film soundtrack, (Kalan, released 2005) * 2009 - ''Mommo (Kız Kardeşim)'' - Atalay Tasdiken film soundtrack ; Solo and collaboration albums * 1993 - ''Fretless'' (Feuer und Eis) * 1996 - ''Bir Ömürlük Misafir'' - reworked reissue of ''Fretless'' (Kalan) * 1998 - ''Gülün Kokusu Vardı'' - with

İsmail Hakkı Demircioğlu In the biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Islam, Ishm ...

(Kalan) * 1999 - ''Hiç'' ("Nothing") - with Okan Murat Öztürk (Kalan) * 2000 - ''Anadolu Beşik'' - with

(Kalan) * 2001 - ''Fuad'' - with

Djivan Gasparyan Djivan Gasparyan (var. Jivan Gasparyan; , ; 12 October 1928 – 6 July 2021) was an Armenian musician and composer. He played the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gasparyan is known as the "Master of the d ...

* 2006 - ''Telvin'' - in Telvin trio * 2007 - ''The Istanbul Connection'' * 2012 - ''Dönmez Yol'' * 2014 - ''Dokunmak'' - with Derya Türkan,

; Featured on albums * 1989 - ''Mideast/Midwest'' - recording of live performance with Robert 'One-Man' Johnson * 1995 - ''The Other Side of Turkey'' - compilation, includes Oğur (Feuer und Eis) * 2004 - ''Pervane'' ''("Moth")'' by Yansımalar - studio album, Oğur on four tracks (Kalan) * 2009 - ''Kıyıların Ardı'' by Fatih Yaşar - Oğur plays on "Sirlarumi Söyledum" * 2011 - ''Bahçeye Hanımeli'' by Ayşenur Kolivar - Oğur plays on the title track, "Bahçeye Hanımeli" * 2013 - ''Sabah Rüzgarı'' by Hüseyin and Ali Rıza Albayrak - Oğur plays on "Böyle Buyurdu Aşık" * 2017 - ''Encounters'' by ''Katre - Oğur plays on the title track, "Existence I. Underwater World"''

References

; Sources consulted * * ; Endnotes

External links

; Official sites
Discography of Erkan Oğur
at label

Kalan Kalan may refer to: * The sea otter, also called kalan, a large otter native to the North Pacific * Kalan Müzik, Kalan Music, Istanbul, Turkish independent record label of ethnic and folk music People * Elliott Kalan (born 1981), U.S. comedy w ...

.com – with MP3 samples
Discography of Telvin
at label

.com – with MP3 samples ; Other sites * – some inaccuracies in dates and spellings * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ogur, Erkan 1954 births Living people Best Music Score Golden Orange Award winners Musicians from Ankara Turkish classical guitarists Turkish film score composers Blues guitarists Turkish inventors 20th-century Turkish folk musicians 21st-century Turkish folk musicians Turkish male guitarists