BIO page2

Dede wound up studying multimedia in Saskatoon, and he worked in a bar to earn rent money. That was where he first encountered the art of deejaying. One day the bar’s deejay couldn’t make it, and Dede stepped in. The techno revolution was just beginning, and Dede was getting in on the ground floor. By the mid-80s, he was traveling to do “technotribalhouse” deejay gigs under the name Arkin Allen. He debuted as Mercan Dede in 1996 when he released his first album, Sufi Dreams, recorded for Golden Horn Records in San Francisco. The album was a minimalist techno project featuring the ney flute, and it earned impressive reviews. A few years later, Dede moved to Montreal where he first studied, then taught, at Concordia College, moving ever more forcefully into the burgeoning techno scene. Recordings he made under the name Mercan Dede got noticed in Istanbul, and a festival invited him to perform, expecting an older gentleman, as Dede means “grandfather” in Turkish. When people saw a young band mixing techno and tradition, they were exhilarated, and Dede has stuck with this adapted name ever since.

Dede formed his first group in 1997 and created more recordings, Journeys of a Dervish (Golden Horn, 1999) Seyahatname (Doublemoon, 2001), Nar (Doublemoon, 2002) , Su (Water) (Doublemoon 2004), Nefes (Breath) (Doublemoon 2006), 800 ( Doublemoon 2007 ). From the start, the group was more an idea than a set lineup. “I always get different musicians,” says Dede, “all the time. When I do a European tour, each country, I choose a guest musician from that country. This is the essence of the group.” The Canadian TV station Bravo filmed and aired Dede’s concert with Turkish master kemence (Persian violin) player Ihsan Ozgen at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in the Fall of 1998. German television producers Saarlandischer Rundfunk were so moved by Dede’s music that they traveled to Canada to feature him in their documentary about Sufi Music. While filming Dede at work in Montreal and Toronto in February of 1998, the producers requested that Dede create the soundtrack for this project.  Mercan Dede’s album Seyahatname includes pieces composed for a dance theatre project, directed and choreographed by Beyhan Murphy for the Turkish State Modern Dance Troupe.

Both as Mercan Dede and his alter ego DJ Arkın Allen, he has performed at events as diverse as the Black & Blue 98 (a world-renowned Montreal circuit party attended by 15,000 people) and a concert of improvisations with on classical Turkish music at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. In July 2001, Mercan Dede performed at the highly acclaimed Montreal Jazz Festivals, sharing the General Motors Big Event stage with Burhan Öçal and Jamaaladeen Tacuma, in a concert called “East Meets the West” before an audience of more than 150,000 people. On that same evening, right after his concert, he appeared at Spectrum, this time performing with his project Montreal Tribal Trio, again as part of the festival program.   In 2002, the group electrified the WOMEX world music trade fair in Essen, Germany, and also the International Transmusicales Festival in Rennes.

Dede has also performed with such musical personalities as Peter Murphy, Natacha Atlas, Mich Gerber, Omar Sosa, Maharaja. Mercan Dede and Secret Tribe’s summer tour 2003 included Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Arezzo Wave (Italy), Skopje Festival (Macedonia), Moers Festival (Germany), World Roots Festival (The Netherlands), Jaen-Etnosur (Spain), Rhythm Sticks Festival (UK), 2005 summer tour included Seatle Children Fest (U.S), Moers Festival (Germany), Paleo Festival (Switzerland), Salisbury Festival (UK), Wychwood Festival (UK), London Forum (UK), La Mar De Musica Festival (Spain), Horizonte Festival (Germany), Odeysse Festival (Germany), Ars Electronica Festival (Austria), Burgos Festival (Spain),  La Vilette (France).

The group’s 2004 U.S. debut took place at Joe’s Pub in New York in January, 2004, as part of the city’s groundbreaking world music marathon, GlobalFest. Mercan Dede also provided music for Pina Bausch's recent work, "Istanbul” performed in the city it was named for in the spring of  2003. Following those events, Mercan Dede worked on “Orman Şehir” (Jungle City) MDT Turkey’s modern dance performance, and an album for Secret Tribe.