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maNga’s story began when Yağmur Sarıgül “Yamyam” (Guitar) seperated his ways with the cover band he played with at local bars. His plan for his new band was to combine rock music and electronic music bringing hard guitar riffs and rap vocals together. Yamyam came together with his friend Orçun Şekerusta (Bass Guitar) to form the new band. maNga began to form when Özgür Can Öney (Drums), Efe Yılmaz (Turntable) and Ferman Akgül (Vocals) joined the new band. The band began playing “nu metal” and “hard rock” songs.

maNga’s recording adventure began in 2001 when Ferman suggested to join the song contest “Sing Your Song”. Cem Bahtiyar (Bass Guitar) joined the band when Orçun had to leave for personal reasons. As a result the band was named maNga after the traditional Japanese cartoon art, bringing five different characters, five different music styles and five different world views together.

maNga took second place in the “Sing Your Song” contest with their first song “Kal Yanımda” After this success, they began writing the songs which would later be recorded in their first album. When they recieved a phone call from Haluk Kurosman, producer they met during the song contest, they concentrated more on writing songs and giving concerts. They began touring Turkey, giving more then 50 concerts and sharing their music with different crowds.

Their debut album which carried the same name with the band maNGA was released on December 14th, 2004 under Sony Music Turkey and GRGDN label. In this debut album, maNga sang “Kal Yanımda” featuring Koray Candemir from Kargo, “İz Bırakanlar Unutulmaz” featuring Deniz Akyüz from Vega, and “Dursun Zaman” featuring Göksel. Selling more than 180.000 copies, maNga was given the Golden Record award. maNga album was also released in Japan and sold many copies. “Bir Kadın Çizeceksin” was included in the Easports Fifa 2006 soundtrack.

In 2006 maNga album was rereleased as “maNga+” including the Cem Karaca song “Raptiye Rap Rap” and “Kandırma Kendini”. maNga+ came with a DVD that featured the music videos of this first album.

maNga was published by many music magazines including Blue Jean, Billboard and Yüxexes giving more than 50 intervies and with more than 200 news about their success.

After the album’s release, maNga had many concerts and participated in many national and international festivals (Sziget Festival, Mannheim Turkish Rock Festival, Wembley Arena, London) Giving more than 250 concerts nationwide maNga came together with music lovers who appreciate the maNga music.

Traveling through different cultures and meeting many different people, more than 4 years after their debut album, maNga got into a new time period catching a smoother, more characteristic, warmer and more melancholic sound. As the band members grew up in these 4 years, their world views changed and the variety and kind of music they listened changed. This change reflected on maNga’s sound, and their second album “Şehr-i Hüzün” which had a pre-recording period of 23 months. The joy of the first album’s great success came with great responsibility and a mission to top the debut album. The second album “Şehr-i Hüzün”, a product of many comprimises and hard work, was released on April 15th, 2009 under GRGDN & Sony Music label.

“Şehr-i Hüzün” album consists of 16 songs, adding up to more than 60 minutes of music. Instruments such as reed flute, piano, tambour and traditional music instrument called “bağlama” create a beautiful blend of western and orient sounds bringing out minor melodies that portray love, existential lonelines, death and melancholy. It is difficult to categorize the new maNga music that brings together rock, rap, electronic music, sufist music, and traditional turkish music. Famous philosopher poet Karacaoğlan and Ömer Hayyam are quoted in the songs “Üryan Geldim” and “Hepsi Bir Nefes”.

Listeners can also get a CD+DVD version of the album that includes a 150 minute maNga documentary wich was produced by Ferman Akgül. The documentary tells the story of maNga from the days it was first formed until the coming out of the new album. The album is also going to be released in LP format.

maNga worked with musical producer Haluk Kurosman, second musical producer Yağmur Sarıgül and menagerial producer Hadi Elazzi. The mastering of the album was made by Ted Jensen who worked with musicians such as Madonna, Moby, Metallica, Björk, Travis and Korn. The artwork of the album was done by Erdem Yücel who is the designer of many famous Hollywood movies such as “I, Robot”, “Rescue Dawn”, “Cold Mountain”, “A Good Year”. The photographs were taken by famous photographers Chales Richards, Cemil Ağacıkoğlu and Marton Magocsi.