Biography
Gökhan Arslan was born in Ankara, Turkey, and spent his student and early worklife in Istanbul. He currently works as a full-time musician in Graz, Austria.
Gökhan is a clarinet and saxophone instrumentalist, composer & music producer, as well as a world-traditional festival curator and folk dancer from Turkey.
He graduated from the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory.
His stage-life began at the age of seven with a thriving folk dance company which brought him to Turkish and European folk dance contests. He travelled from Turkey over to Balkan countries and to Europe to take part in colorful music and dance festivals. At that time, he began to focus more and more on the musicians accompanying him and realised that this was what he wanted to do.
He later applied to I.T.U.'s Turkish Music State Conservatory. He gratuated while working in companies such as Shaman Dance Theatre and Hodjapasha Culture Center in Istanbul, followed by many other theatrical and musical projects. After being an assistant to his mentor, Ercan Yalazan, he worked as a clarinet teacher in Taksim Art School, Istanbul.
Throughout his musical journey, he has taken part in different projects with various artists in Europe and the Middle East. He has experience performing in and composing for bands and orchestras of Eastern modal musical idiom. Gökhan's expertise lies in musical styles such as Balkan, Greek, Turkish folk and classical music as well as Gypsy Jazz.
Today he works on combining the evocative and enticing melodies of his Anatolian heritage and Istanbul musical traditions with jazz sensibilities of the West. Gökhan Arslan plays Syos mouthpieces for G and Bb clarinet.
