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www.symphoniscapes.net
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Nihat Emin Güven
[The WindWalker]
Nihat Emin Güven graduated from Ankara
University - American Literature Dept. in 1996
and earning his life as a freelance graphic
artist in Ankara.
He started playing guitar in early 80s. He
was the co-founder and lead-guitar of the soft
rock band "The Mood." which was formed in 1987
in Ankara. The band delivered several concerts
with their own compositions in Ankara and had
been invited to the first rock festival in Bursa
(1988). In Early 90s, he joined "Labirent", one
of the first Turkish language progressive rock
bands, as lead-guitar. They gave several
concerts, and appeared on several radio and TV
programs together.
In mid 90s, whilst on one hand I was digging
into guitar playing techniques, I had developed
a sudden interest in classical music having
chanced upon a score-book, which belonged to a
notable music teacher, Günes Apaydin, in Ankara;
it was full of chords and melodic lines of
famous classical works. While trying to play
J.S. Bach's Air (from Suite No.3) on guitar, I
had recorded some lines and chords on a tape as
a backing track and playing the main line along
with it, I realized that this was sounding
amazing! In awe of the profound technical
competency, elaborate work and the intensity of
feeling, I was now absolutely certain that this
kind of music was going to be the ideal tool
that I can use to express my own ideas and
feelings. It was clearly far more capable and
powerful than the popular genres. I, then, had
decided to devote my life to understanding the
components of musical theory.
He started off with some widely-acknowledged
academical sources on harmony, counterpoint,
form, orchestration, instrumentation, etc. such
as those books written by Hindemith,
Rimsky-Korsakov, Berlioz, Samuel Adler, Forsyth,
Salzer, etc. On the other hand, he was also
eagerly delving into the depths of classical
music literature, analyzing works thoroughly and
reading inspiring life stories of great
classical composers. Hector Berlioz had been his
main influence; particularly his works Symphonie
Fantastique and Harold én Italie.
I have written my first classical composition, a
string quartet in 1992. I could only hear it on
a primitive sequencer, which I had borrowed from
a friend. In later years, I have enlarged it
into an orchestral suite with 7 movements, each
for a major love affair in my life. I was much
more interested in the grandeur of the symphonic
orchestra. Thus, first thing I did when I got my
first job was to apply for a bank loan; so I had
been able to buy that renowned workstation Korg
O1/Wfd with some difficulty. It really gave a
boost to my orchestral studies, with its
16-channel sequencer and samples of orchestral
instruments with acceptable quality. It was the
most productive period of my life. Then, in the
late 90s, I started working with "soundfonts"
and other sampling technologies followed them. I
have spent quite a good time on editing and
sampling orchestral music on sequencers and had
gained significant experience in this field. I
keep using alias as "Wondian National Symphonic
Orchestra" coming from my imaginary country
Wondiana for my classical edits, and several
nicknames for conductors, according to the
sampling technology used: e.g. "Corgi Owan" for
Korg O1.
After the arrival of Korg O1/W, he also
started playing keyboards and working with
sampled orchestral sounds on MIDI sequencer. In
the late 90's he bought a PC and moved on to the
renowned "Soundfont" technology, a trade mark
developed by E-mu Systems and Creative Labs. In
the course of 2000s and 2010s, he followed new
sampling technologies closely and developed
unique techniques for sounding individual
instruments of the orchestral family and
creating overall realism with his immense
experience in working with orchestral samples
more than 20 years.
I've been writing relatively short orchestral
pieces, about 10-20 minutes long, which I used
to call "Symphonic Overture." I think it is the
closest form in the classical literature; but
actually I'm not strictly following that
specific pattern. They are actually spontaneous,
ad libitum forms with somewhat dramatic or
picturesque fabric, weaved with a freedom of
style. I have recently adopted a new title, an
invented word "symphoniscape" with the
combination of "symphonic" and "landscape"
(thanking Gökhan Yilmaz for the hint!). I think
now this term has been a better representation
of this short orchestral form. There are 16
symphoniscapes written so far, however some are
yet to be completed; I am planning to publish
them in the short term as 4 albums with 4 pieces
each. First album is already released by
Mireille Music, New York. Following albums are
on the table.
The WindWalker Band Project
Although I find orchestral music more favorable
for my musical purposes; I could not totally
recede from rock music. I still feel motivated
with its simplicity and the strong sound. So, I am also working on
an album under the alias The
WindWalker Band, with planned core members
Nihat Emin Güven (Guitars, keyboards, backing
vocals), Koray Ergünay
(bass) - Gürcan Konanç
(drums and percussion) and Emre Kökpınar
(vocals), also with the occassional
participation of guest musicians.
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Discography
(released by Mireille
Music) |
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Artwork
(released by Mireille
Music) |
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