Askin Arsunan is a lucky musician who was born into a musical family. He was lucky because he was grown up in a house where a diffirent kind of music was heard in every room. His father was a multi instrumentalist who played trompet, violin, bass, accordeon and piano. His sister Ayla Jordan was a student at Ankara State Conservatory, now teaching piano in the US, his brother Neset Arsunan was studying trombon in the conservatory, all the uncles were also musicians along with his mother who was into Turkish music.
Arsunan's musical journey started with palying harmonica while listening the songs on the radio. Then he picked up the accordeon which was almost as tall as himself. After a short while he switched to piano from accordeon. He entered Ankara State Conservatory after the elementary school, but had to quit the conservatory because his musical interests went beyond classical music. He countinued studying at the Istanbul Conservatory but at the age of 15 he was already a professional musician.
In the 1970's he went to abroad with Turhan Eteke Orchestra and stayed in Sweden many years. His works with Carl Axel Hall at the Semus Music Academy developed his musical vision. There he played with many groups, got married and had children.
In the 1980's Askin Arsunan worked in Sweden, various European countries and the US as musician, arranger and composer. He played with Swedish superstar Lil Babs, Janet Jackson and the powerful voice of vocal jazz Patti Austin. He composed soundtrack music for documentary films in the US and returned to Turkey in 1988. In the 1990's Arsunan worked with some of Turkey's top musicians including Fatih Erkoç, Onno Tunç, Zuhal Olcay, Sertab Erener, Sezen Aksu and Levent Yüksel. He also continued composing music for films and TV spots such as the title music for 'Eskiya' one of the most popular films of recent Turkish cinema and the soundtrack music for 'Balalayka'.
In 2000 Askin Arsunan gave concerts with his Ethno Karma Project at Istanbul Jazz Festival and Babylon including some important musicians as Levent Altundag, Senova Ülker, Aycan Teztel, Eytem Pelit, Volkan Öktem.
Askin Arsunan's firt solo album 'One A Day' is released in 2004 by Aura Records. He got accompanied by world famous guitarist John Scofield and Turkish pop music diva Sezen Aksu during his concert at the 11th Istanbul Jazz Festival. He is now working on his forthcoming solo album that will feature Norwegian saxophone player Bendik Hofseth.
Askin Arsunan
Askin Arsunan müzigin içine dogan sansli müzisyenlerden. Sansli çünkü her bir odasindan farkli bir müzigin duyuldugu bir evde büyümüs. Trompet çalan baba Sait Arsunan ayni zamanda kontrbas, keman, akordeon ve piyano çalan bir multi enstürmanist. Halen Amerika’da piyano ögretmenligi yapan abla Ayla Jordan Ankara Devlet Konservatuari’nda ögrenci, agabey Neset Arsunan konservatuarin trombon bölümünde okuyor, dayilar ve amcalar müzisyen, ailenin Türk Müzigi kanadi ise anne Gülfem Arsunan.
Arsunan’in müzisyenlik macerasi radyonun karsisina geçip duydugu müzikleri mizikayla çalarak basladi. Ardindan hemen hemen kendisiyle ayni boyda olan bir enstrümana, akordeona geçti. Kisa bir süre sonra akordeondaki klavye pratigiyle piyanoya hiç zorlanmadan geçis yapan Arsunan ilkokuldan sonra Ankara Devlet Konservatuari’na girdi ama klasik müzigin disina çikmak isteyen tüm iyi müzisyenlerin basina geldigi gibi okuldan uzaklastirildi. Konservatuar egitimine Istanbul’da devam etti ama 15 yasinda profesyonel müzik hayatina baslamisti bile.
70’li yillarda Turhan Eteke Orkestrasi ile yurtdisina çikan Arsunan uzun yillar Isveç’te kaldi. Semus Müzik Akademisi’nde Carl Axel Hall ile yaptigi çalismalar müzikal vizyonunun gelismesine katkida bulundu, degisik gruplarla çalismaya basladi, evlendi ve çocuklari oldu.
80’li yillarda, basta Isveç olmak üzere Avrupa’nin çesitli ülkeleri ile Amerika’da müzisyen, aranjör ve besteci olarak çalisan Askin Arsunan’in ayni sahneyi paylastigi isimler arasinda; Isveç’in ‘süperstar’i sayilabilecek olan Lil Babs, Janet Jackson ve vokal caza damgasini vurmus olan güçlü ses Patti Austin sayilabilir. Amerika’da belgesel film müzikleri de yapan Arsunan 1988’de Türkiye’ye döndü. 90’li yillarda ise Fatih Erkoç, Onno Tunç, Zuhal Olcay, Sertab Erener, Sezen Aksu ve Levent Yüksel gibi Türkiye’nin önde gelen isimleriyle çalisti, bu arada çesitli film ve reklam müziklerine imzasini atti, Türk sinemasinin son dönem önemli filmlerinden Eskiya’nin jenerik müziklerini ve Balalayka’nin da film müziklerini yapti.
2000 yilinda Ethno Karma Project ile Istanbul Caz Festivali ve Babylon’da konserler veren Askin Arsunan’in ilk solo albümü ‘One A Day’ 2004 Subat ayinda Aura Records etiketiyle yayinlandi. Albümün ardindan 11. Istanbul Caz Festivali kapsaminda John Scofield ve Sezen Aksu’nun katilimiyla verdigi konser büyük begeniyle karsilandi. Arsunan 2. solo albümünün hazirliklari sürerken, Is Sanat’ta albümün müjdecisi niteliginde bir konser verdi. Albümde de yer alacak olan Norveçli saksofoncu Bendik Hofseth kendisine bu konserde eslik etti.
Askin Arsunan'in cazseverler disindaki kitle tarafindan taninmasi ise Nisantasi Nis Bar'da Blueprint Project ile yaptigi programlarla oldu. Is çikisi bulusma noktasi haline gelen mekan her kesimden insanla dolup tasarken, cazin farkli renkleri ilk defa Nisantasi sokaklarina yayildi.
Kabul icin tesekkurler üstadim. Parçalar büyüleyici derecede.Büyük zevkle dinliyorum.Müzik hayatinizda bu denli basarilarinizin devamini temenni ederim. görüsmek üzere
Thank you Askin for wanting to join me in choose tolerance choose love♥ What an interesting life and career you have had! I really liked your music! Very much the natural talent at such a young age! Please have Happy Holidays♥Peace and Love, Angellyn♥
We at JazZMode Radio are wishing you a wonderful day Askin. May your day be filled with the joyful sounds of music. (Happy Holidays To You)
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