Refik Hakan Talu

Refik Hakan Talu was born in Istanbul in 1960. He graduated from the Turkish Music State Conservatory of Istanbul Technical University in 1984. After completing his Master′s degree at Istanbul Technical University, the Institute of Social Science, he taught Tanbur at the Turkish Music State Conservatory until 1996. Talu has given many concerts at various venues in Turkey and abroad. He has also attended many national and international festivals. He has given talks and lectures on Turkish classical music at eminent universities such as Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, and British Colombia. He has joined TV and radio programs including BBC, SBS, ABC, CNN, NBS, and Euro News to introduce Turkish music.

Talu has worked as a Tanbur artist as well as a music advisor for TV documentary programs. In 2008 Talu prepared and presented a TV program "Turk Müziğinde Formlar" at TRT channel. Talu has released several albums including "Mevlevi Müziği (2006), "Galata Mevlevihanesini Düşünürken" (2012) and “The Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi 1597-1925” (2014). He has also published books entitled "Aşk ile" (2002) and "Mevlevi Günlüğü" (2004). He worked as an art director for the albums "İstanbul Şarkıları" and "2007 Mevlana Şarkıları." Talu served as a board member and general secretary at the International Mevlana Foundation in 2009 and 2011. He currently continues his work as a tanbur artist at the TRT Istanbul Radio. Talu is a member of the DemBuDem Ensemble.

Reference: alaturkarecords.com, goldenhorn.com