Mercan Dede, Turkish born and Montreal based musician/producer/DJ, subtly fuses the Eastern spiritual traditions of Sufi music with contemporary electronic sounds to create a unique mix of old and new, sacred and secular, East and West. An adherent of Sufi spirituality, Dede brings his holistic understanding of sound, the rhythms of nature and of the universe to his interpretations of Sufi makams, as well as to his original compositions. Dede is also an accomplished musician, playing the ney (reed flute) and bendir. Mercan Dede began spinning vinyl at 23 years old under the name Arkin Allen, accompanied by percussionists and vocalists. As Arkin Allen, he contributed a track to the compilation Interior Horizons on Interchill Records (UK), as well as producing and mixing the compilation Omniscience in co-operation with SugarMonk/Interchill.

The Mercan Dede Ensemble, founded in 1997, represents the culmination of his extensive musical experience over the past decade, both in Turkey and North America. His ability to interlace the polyrhythms of Eastern music with house and techno beats has enhanced his unique perspective on the inherently inspirational and uplifting potential of music and dancing. Both as Mercan Dede and his alter ego technotribalhouse DJ Arkin Allen, he has performed at events as diverse as the Black & Blue 98 (a world-renowned Montreal circuit party attended by 15 000 people) and a concert of improvisations with on classical Turkish music at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. In July 2001, Mercan Dede performed at one of the world's most highly acclaimed jazz festivals, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, sharing the General Motors Big Event stage with Burhan Öçal and Jamaaladeen Tacuma, in a concert called "East Meets the West" addressing to an audience of more than 150,000 people. On that same evening, right after his concert, he appeared at Spectrum, this time performing with his project Montreal Tribal Trio, again as part of the festival program. In 2002, Mercan Dede's latest project Secret Tribe performed in France, Holland, Germany and Turkey.

The Canadian TV station Bravo filmed and aired his concert with Turkish master kemence player Ihsan Ozgen at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in the Fall of 1998. German television producers Saarlandischer Rundfunk were so moved by Mercan Dede's music that they traveled to Canada to feature Dede in their documentary about Sufi Music. While filming Dede, at work in Montreal and Toronto in February of 1998, the producers requested that Dede create the soundtrack for this project.

Mercan Dede's album "Seyahatname", released by Doublemoon Records in 2001 includes pieces composed for a dance theatre project, directed and choreographed by Beyhan Murphy for the Turkish State Modern Dance Troupe. Mercan Dede's latest album "Nar" was distilled from the music that naturally came to life during his concerts with the Secret Tribe project in Turkey and Europe. The songs on the album are crystals of ideas that have matured and reshaped since his debut album. In other words it is an album where Turkish, Persian and Indian influences are sewn delicately into layers of rhythms and recordings from nature in context of sufi-electronica.

A Turkish newspaper recently, and accurately, referred to Dede as a "dervish for the modern world." Mercan Dede lives up to this estimation, having traveled over two hundred thousand kilometers in the last year to work on diverse projects all over the world, earning his position as one of the most influential Sufi musicians and producers of his generation.

Web site : www.mercan-dede.com

Discography :
Nar (2002 - Doublemoon Records )
Seyahatname (2001 - Doublemoon Records)
Journey of a Dervish (1999 - Golden Horn Records)
Sufi Dreams (1996 - Golden Horn Records)

Contact:
Pozitif Tanitim and Uretim A.S
Hayvar Sokak No.54
80060 Cihangir, Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: (90 212) 249 7075 / 252 5176
Fax: (90 212) 245 4176
E mail: pozitif@turk.net
Web site: www.pozitif-ist.com