Okan Ersan
Okan Ersan (* April 27, 1972 in Nicosia, Cyprus) is a Turkish cypriot - jazz fusion guitarist and composer.
Biography
Okan Ersan was born in 1972 in the Republic of Cyprus. His father was a musician, and Okan started playing at a young age, guitar and piano. His studies he was in 1994 and specialized in the guitar-playing in Istanbul at the Music Academy of Marmara Üniversitesi. During his musical training influenced him musicians such as Steve Lukather, Mike Stern, Frank Gambale, Al Di Meola, Robben Ford, Scott Henderson, Ritchie Blackmore and many others from areas such as classical, jazz, classical, rock, fusion, blues and many more. All this helped him to create his own style, which is based on jazz fusion.
Okan Ersan began his musical journey in Northern Cyprus and brought his music to Germany, England, America and Turkey, as he began to work as a composer. To Whom It May Concern is the title track to his first album. This brought him among the five best musicians in 2003, according to the British magazine Guitarist. In 2005 he signed a contract with a record company and was invited to the United States for a promotional tour.
During this tour, Okan was invited as a guest musician for the Kansas City Jazz Festival and performed with Billy Paul. In the same year Okan also traveled internationally and held workshops and concerts in different countries, where he also presented his albums. He was twice invited to perform at the Leverkusen Jazz Festival: In 2006, he was the opening act for Al Di Meola, and in 2007 he joined with Robben Ford in the Guitar Masters category on.
In 2008, Okan with Panzerballett, Chick Corea and John McLaughlin occurred. He also played with Dave Weckl and Rex Richardson at the Yamaha All Stars Volume 1 and Volume 2 published in 2011, Okan Ersan his new album, A Reborn Journey. In this album with Dave Weckl, Ernie Watts, Ola Onabule, Misirli Ahmet Ercan Irmak and Istanbul had a super band.
Discography
- To Whom It May Concern ( 2005)
- A Reborn Journey ( 2011)
Equipment
Okan Ersan has a contract with Yamaha. He plays the guitar following models Pacifica 812V, Pacifica 904, AES -FG, SA2200, SG2000. He also plays PRS guitars and uses ATC Acoustic Engineers.