Ismail Altunbas

Ismail is darbuka player, who is studied eight years with Misirli Ahmet and inspired from Levent Yildirim, Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hidalgo… He is the only musician on his family. But his musical journey started in early ages by learning Anatolian folk music instrument ‘’Baglama’’ with his father’s encouragement. He started practicing rhythm on every surface he can find as a percussion instrument and finally on his first darbuka by old Turkish style. In later times he played darbuka in school choirs and ensembles. In 2003 he attended to Turkish folk music choir in TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation) and performed as a percussionist for 4 years. Ismail, who is one of the new representatives of an instrument which is primitive but very new and contemporary playing technique(Misirli Ahmet’s tecnique) such as darbuka, keeps working with different genre musics - artists and improving with the search of his own sound.