Biography
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Born
1976 (age 48)
Orhan Osman (b. 1976) is a German musician, playing bouzouki.
Osman began his career as a musician in Greece, and spent many years studying and performing in the United States and Bulgaria as well as on stages in France, Germany, and Kazakhstan. Arriving in Turkey, Osman's bouzuki-playing led him to many recording opportunities as a studio musician; he also continued to work on integrating the Greek sound he loved with the multitude of sounds he had added to his repertoire on the road. Around this time he took on the nick-name that his followers had given him, calling himself Orhan "Buzuki" Osman.
By 2000 Osman was was invited to teach at the Klezmer & Greco Turkish music/CrossRoad Istanbul-New York workshop in Germany, organised by Muammer Ketençoglu. Upon his return from Germany, Osman found inspiration for a new stage project called "Balkan Express", which showcased his musical interpretations of Bulgarian, Roman, Greek, Indian, and Turkish music. The project was a success both acoustically and visually, leading to an international and domestic demand for Osman to tour extensively with the Balkan Express project.
His first album, Devr-i Alem, used material from the Balkan Express performances; Osman produced a stage show to accompany the album, which consisted of a forty-member orchestra and a narration to the songs. In December 2002 Osman revamped Balkan Express and started performing with yellow-copper saz instruments under the title "Istanbul Brass Band". A few months later he unveiled a new project he called "Bosphorus Kumpania", interpreting traditional rembetiko songs in a modern arrangements. The sound was a fusion of world sounds and his own.
In 2004 Osman released his second album, Gökkusagi. His third album was Reminiscing, a blend of jazz melodies and classical harmonies, his bouzouki accompanied by strings, woodwinds, and percussion.
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