Nazan Nihal

Nazan's music career started in Ankara in 2001 when she decided to buy her first electric guitar. She began writing and composing her own songs in English even before she learned to play covers of famous bands. The deep dedication as a songwriter was anchored in her soul. Her first rock band "Cherry Jam" has been her very first entry into the world of rock music, helping her to shape and improve her instrumental skills. She also sang in the TRT (Turkish Radio and TV Administration) polyphonic choir for one year.

Nazan's first serious project was the all-female rock band FE-MAIL which was formed in 2005. Nazan was the songwriter and played electric guitar as well. While the band got more and more famous they became very successful and toured big cities of Turkey. At the New Year's Eve party of 2006, FE-MAIL was big news as they needed bodyguards when they appeared as an all-female band on stage.Nazan wanted to go beyond playing covers from other artists. In the beginning of 2007, Nazan decided to seek other roads with her own material besides the success of the covers with FE-MAIL. The name of FE-MAIL had to be changed as two European and one American band were using the same name.

Searching for new challenges, Nazan started playing drums. Together with her friends she formed a new band called "Candy". Nazan was the drummer and the back vocal of the band. However, Nazan's ambition pushed her to new ideas and she left her band in the end of 2008, trying to search for possibilities to release her own songs. With the founding of KupaKizi in the summer of 2008, Nazan opened the doors to record two self written compositions and one cover.

The songs of KupaKizi were sent among 3.000 other participating songs to the Miller Music Factory 2008. Nazan's rock song Paket was the winner of the contest. It brought Nazan her first recognition of the great possibilities of her talents. After the victory in Istanbul, KupaKizi wasn't able to go on tour like Nazan did with FE-MAIL before. In 2009, at the Spring Fest of Ankara University, KupaKizi performed in heavy rain and thunder for hundreds of fans. In January 2010, Nazan decided to suspend KupaKizi in order to focus on her solo career. Since then she has been writing many new songs by herself. Her solitary months brought her the opportunity to meet other talented musicians. During her studio recording sessions Nazan unveiled her talents as a vocalist, making it possible to sing her own demo recordings.

At the 6th anniversary of the Emrahan Halici & Ankara Musicians rock concert, in April 2011 she appeared again on stage among the best musicians from Ankara. Before that period she met Müge Alpay, a passionate violinist from Holland. Together they created a brand-new program, formed a new band and performed for a selected audience in the ÇSM studio. Another successful concert was organized in Ruhi Bar. In September, Nazan performed in Holland at Ekko/Utrecht in front of hundreds of Dutch-Turkish friends. Nazan's Turko-Dutch song Mesafeler-Kilometers is a unique song expressing international feelings of friendship. Michael Waters, an Amsterdam-based musician/producer, rearranged and recorded the song at his studio (Soul Planet Studios/Amsterdam) with Nazan Nihal. "Mesafeler-Kilometers" might be the key to explore new musical fields and international audiences. The song is dedicated to the celebration of 400 years of friendship of Holland and Turkey.

In November 2011, Nazan Nihal collaborated with Utar Artun, a talented musician/composer from Berklee College, Boston. Sung by Nazan Nihal, Utar Artun's song "The Girl Who Has Chocolate Eyes" won the first prize at the 18th TBD-Halici Electronic Music Contest in Istanbul. The jury consisted of 10 prestigious music personality, namely Attila Özdemiroglu, Borga Parlar, Emrehan Halici, Faruk Eczacibasi, Garo Mafyan, Hakan Özer, Izzet Öz, Mehmet Okonsar, Sinan Akçil and Seref Oguz.

Nazan played acoustic and electric guitars of 2 songs in Turkey's famous privileged rock singer Cemil Demirbakan's debut album which is produced by Artun Ertürk in 2012.

In January 2012 Nazan performed with a Turkish-Dutch band in Amsterdam, in the appealing location of Panama. Six months later Nazan returned in Holland in Sporthallen Zuid in Amsterdam in order to grace the festivities around the celebration of the 400 years Dutch Turkish relationships. She appeared on stage around the international female basketball game between The Netherlands and Turkey and sang the Turkish national anthem during the game introduction. That summer Nazan focused on finishing her PhD program in pharmacy in Ankara and in September she graduated and continued to work on her first album under the guidance of Tuna Veliba?oglu, front man of the successful Turkish band Seksendört. She performed with Utar Artun and Tuna Velibasoglu as a guest of honor in 19th TBD-Halici Electronic Music Contest, which very known politicians, musicians were among the audience