Turhan Taşan

Composer, writer. He was born in Samsun on August 13^th, 1948. His full name is Ahmet Turhan Taşan. His father was Recai Taşan, an agricultural engineer and his mother was Leman Hanım. Merzifonlu Şair Eyüp Sabri Efendi was his uncle and Berin Taşan, poet and writer, was the son of his uncle. Having graduated from Samsun Sakarya Primary School he attended 19 Mayıs High School and graduated from İstanbul Pertevniyal High School. He graduated from the Management and Accounting Department of the Istanbul Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences.

He began to work at Yenicami Branch of Türkiye İş Bankası in Istanbul, then he worked as the chief, vice chief, principal, vice principal, and coordinator in some private companies, he retired in 1995 under terms of the “Law Governing Artists’ Debts”. Between 1989 and 1991 he held office in MESAM (professional association of musicians) in the position of a Member of the Board. Between 1993 and 1995 he became the director of Auditing Board at MESAM. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Eyüp Music Foundation.

His career in music began with his mandolin in primary school. Later on, he learnt how to play oud, zither and the guitar. When he was 18 years old, a record was made of his first composition, a song in 1966. Between 1988 and 1990, he published a page called Her Hafta Bir Besteci with biographies, photographs of many composers along with one of their songs in a weekly magazine, Müzik Magazin and between 1991 and 1996 he designed a page called Yaşayan Bestecilerimiz at a monthly magazine, Ana. He appeared in various radio and television shows as a guest. Between 1984 and 1998 he was honored in polls conducted by the newspaper Milliyet to choose the Ten Favorite Songs of the Year. In addition, “Aynı Çatı Altında” won the Hürriyet Newspaper's “Altın Kelebek” award in 1987. Between 1995 and 1999 he was awarded twice for his song “Oldu mu Ya”. He was awarded with honorary mention in composing competitions between 1990 and 2004. Taşan is married to Semiha Hanım and has two children, İpek and Sinan and also has one grandson, Mustafa. He has a model plane collection consisting of more than 100 planes.

WORKS:

MUSIC COMPOSITIONS: Aramızda dağlar var, aşılır mı bilemem? (Maqam: Hüseynî, Tempo: Aksak, Lyrics: Turhan Taşan), Aşk yarası dediğin kolay geçmiyor öyle (Maqam: Kürdî, Tempo: Sofyan, Lyrics: A. Aşkın Tuna), Aynı çatı altında aşkımız bir yalanmış (Maqam: Hicaz, Tempo: Nim Sofyan, Lyrics: Turhan Taşan), Bahar geldi güzelim, gülleri dermek gerek (Maqam: Rast, Tempo: Sofyan, Lyrics: Civan Argönül), Ben seni yürekten sevdim bir tanem (Maqam: Rast, Tempo: Nim Sofyan, Lyrics: Vural Şahin), Ben seninle bütünüm, sensiz yapamıyorum (Maqam: Düyek, Tempo: Nihâvent, Lyrics: Turhan Taşan), Biraz ümit ver de, istersen gelme (Maqam: Uşşak, Tempo: Düyek, Lyrics: Sadık Atay), Bugün sana bir müjdem var (Maqam: Düyek, Tempo: Nihâvent, Lyrics: A. Aşkın Tuna) Dünyayı dolaşsam, bir bir arasam (Maqam: Rast, Usul: Düyek, Lyrics: Halit Çelikoğlu).

BOOKS: Kadın Besteciler (2000), Türk Müziğinde Eczacı Sanatçılar (2001), Türk Müziğinde Samsunlu Sanatçılar (2007), Amasya'da Musiki ve Türk Müziğinde Amasyalı Sanatçılar (the chapter called Amasya'da Musiki was written by Dr. Hüsamettin Olgun, 2009), Türk Müziğinde Doktor ve Eczacı Sanatçılar (2011).  

REFERENCE: Fotomagazin Dergisi (s. 56, 20 Nisan 1966), Arzu Tanrıverdi / Turhan Taşan Hayatı ve Eserleri (Lisans tezi, T.C. Ege Üniversitesi Devlet Türk Musikisi Konservatuarı Ses Eğitimi Bölümü, 1996), Gülhan Bilgin / Turhan Taşan’ın Hayatı (Lisans tezi, İTÜ Türk Musikisi Devlet Konservatuarı Temel Bilimler Bölümü TSM Ana Sanat Dalı, 2002), M. Murat Teker / Turhan Taşan Hayatı, Eserleri (Lisans Tezi Sakarya Üniversitesi Devlet Konservatuarı Türk Müziği Bölümü, 2007), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Sanatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 5, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013), Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (12. Cilt, 2019).