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**
former members of TURKANA
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Bahri Karacay, Ph.D.
Bahri Karacay, born in Erzurum, a northeastern town of Turkey, joined the
Erzurum Folk Dance and Music Organization (EFDMO) at the age of twelve.
Only five months after becoming part of the Turkey's very first Turkish
Folk Music Children's choir established by EFDMO, Bahri performed as solo
at live concert and soon after appeared in a local TV station. He
continued his music education as part of the Folk Music choir of the
government owned Turkish Radio and Television Organization (TRT). He
performed at several live concerts, national and local TV stations and
radio programs. After a long break due to his graduate studies both in
Germany and the Unites States, Bahri became actively involved with his
music again. In 1996, he established TURKANA. Although his musical
training was in Turkish Folk Music, he took a different approach this
time. The change was, in his terms "the result of being exposed to
world music. In my songs, you will hear the melodies resembling different
type of Turkish Music that is folk, art and pop performed in Turkey today.
You may also hear traces of influence of western music, I think" says
Karacay. In 1996, he composed his very first tune of which lyric was
written together with Yavuz Kadioglu. The first CD of TURKANA features six
of Bahri Karacay's original compositions. Bahri Karacay is currently
working at Children's Hospital, Iowa City, Iowa, as a postdoctoral
associate. His main goal in his research is to acquire information
regarding the early childhood cancer called "neuroblastoma". His
ultimate goal is to obtain information to be used in developing therapies
for this debilitating disease.
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