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www.korayergunay.com |
Koray Ergünay
Born in April 1973, Koray Ergunay has been
playing electric bass guitar since 1987. In
1988, he was chosen for the high school band’s
bass chair and as a band, won three prizes in
national high school band contests in 1990 and
1991. The high school band evolved into
“Continuum”, a group that played compositions by
fusion greats like Weather Report, Return to
Forever, Chick Corea Electric Band, Al DiMeola
etc. in early 90s.
He went on to perform and record with various
jazz-fusion lineups in mid to late 90s, the most
notables being Jazz Without Fear (with Burak
Babacan on electric guitar, Meriç Demirkol on
saxophone and Gürcan Konanç on drums) and
Retrofusion Trio (with Gökhan Yılmaz on electric
guitar and Arda Baykurt on drums). Both bands
performed in university festivals and various
venues in Ankara.
Then came the GKG project with Gökhan Yılmaz and
Gürcan Konanç, which also recorded an unreleased
album that featured original compositions in
2000.
In 2001, informal jams with the guitar player
Şinasi Celayiroğlu have started and eventually
led to the formation of the group “Giz”, which,
in time, metamorphosed into a three piece band
called “Trio Topia” with the drummer Can Dekak.
In 2004, Burak Yücesoy, who had joined the
lineup frequently for onstage jams formally
introduced into the group which adopted the name
“Ida Terra”. TrioTopia/Ida Terra performed
regularly at the Tenedos Cafe in Ankara thorough
2005-2006 and played at İstanbul Jazz Festival
(2004), Ankara Jazz Festival (2004), Eskisehir
Amateur Jazz Musicians’ Festival (2004 and
2005).
In the year 2002, Koray started working on a
bunch of fretless solo bass songs with live
electronics and loops, some of which ended up as
the “Miro’un Aşkı (Miro’s Love)” album, recorded
by Gökhan Yılmaz in his home studio in 2002. His
solo bass song “Kemikkiran” has been awarded
No.1 prize in a national solo bass competition
in 2006. Various invited workshops focusing on
improvisation and recording in Ankara and
Eskişehir have followed.
2008 saw the formation of two new bands, TriBass
and OSO Project, both of which performed at the
Ankara International Jazz Festival. TriBass is
an unusual band consisting of three bass players
with contrasting styles. In 2009, he has
performed with MCNKY, a jazz-fusion band with
horns and live electronics at Eskisehir Amateur
Jazz Musicians’ Festival once again.
Being a fan of heavy/progressive rock music
since his early teens got Koray involved with
some rock-based projects as well. The most
notable of such is Knightmare, an Ankara-based
heavy-power metal band whose founder member is a
high school buddy. He performed for the band’s
self-titled debut album which is to be released
in 2010 and a number of shows between 2004-2008
in addition to a title in a tribute album
distributed through Europe.
After having adapted a new right hand technique
with extended range bass guitars in 2008, Koray
started working on a new solo album to showcase
this approach in the summer of 2009. The
recording sessions were completed in december
with Kuzey Yılmaz on drums, tabla and ghatam,
Ozan Dündar on electric piano and organ. Also
included was his long-time friend N.Emin Güven
on piano.
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Discography
(released by Mireille
Music) |
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