Atilla Engin (1946-2019) was a Turkish American
fusion jazz drummer. From 1974 to 2001 he was active in Denmark as a musician and educator; he organized music festivals and represented Denmark as a musical ambassador. In 2001, he left Denmark for the United States, where he formed an orchestra.
Biography
Engin first played and recorded in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, moving to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in 1974, and playing with several groups. He released his first album ''Turkish Delight'' with the band ''Matao''. They performed at
Roskilde Festival
The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In ...
in 1979. His other group, Atilla Engin Group, released five albums. While he was recording and touring with his band, he taught at the Copenhagen Jazz Conservatory for four years. Engin formed a band with 12 Copenhagen Jazz Conservatory students and they toured Turkey.
In 1985 Engin was awarded Composer of the Year in Denmark. In the same year, the Atilla Engin Group was appointed Denmark's cultural ambassador to represent the country in conjunction with the European Music Year 1985.
Engin established the World to World Drums and Percussion Festival in Copenhagen with events taking place in
Aarhus
Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwes ...
and
Malmö, Sweden. The festival included performances by
Zakir Hussain,
Airto Moreira,
Nana Vasconcelos,
Peter Giger, and
Danny Gottlieb.
He participated in Tal Vadhya Utsav in India.
He taught an evening class of 16 young musicians at the ''Rhythmic Evening School'' in Copenhagen in 1984, turning them into a band named Tyrkis which performed at
Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen. In 1987, Tyrkis won first prize at the Dortmunder Big Band Festival in Germany and released an album, ''My Little Chinese Love''.
He left Denmark in 1989 for New York and formed the New World Orchestra and a six-piece group, ''Turquoise''. Engin left the US for Brazil in 2005.
In 2010 he was diagnosed with cerebral haemorrhage, and sat in a wheelchair unable to speak.
[ ] Atilla Engin died in Brazil the 2nd November 2019.
[ ]
His bands
Copenhagen 1977–89
New York 1992–2002
Discography
* ''Felek Usta'' (Evren, 1971)
* ''Kumsalda'' (Yonca, 1974) Vocals: Özdemir Erdoğan (Lyrics, music, arrangement, drums, piano: Atilla Engin
* ''Bütün İçkiler Benden Bu Gece'' (Yonca, 1974) Vocals:
Alpay
Alpay is a masculine Turkish given name, and a surname. It derives from "alp". In Turkish, "alp" means "stouthearted", "brave", "chivalrous", "daredevil", "valorous", and/or "gallant".
Notable persons with that name include:
People with the give ...
(Lyrics, music, arrangement: Atilla Engin)
* ''Turkish Delight'', Group Matao (RA, 1979)
* ''Atatürk's Children and Nasrettin Hoca'' (Fairytale, 1980)
* ''Solens Børn'' with Ariel(19), (Pick Up, 1980)
* ''Nazar'' (Danish Music Productions, 1982)
* ''Memories'', Atilla Engin Group (including
Okay Temiz on percussion,
Hugo Rasmussen on bass,
Jens Winther
Jens Winther (29 October 1960 – 24 February 2011) was a Danish jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger and bandleader. He composed for and played in a long line of European big bands and other orchestras. His work includes compositions for symphon ...
on trumpet) (Danish Music Productions, 1984)
* ''Marmaris Love'' with Okay Temiz (Danish Music Productions, 1986)
* ''No Money No Honey'' with
Arto Tunçboyacıyan) (Danish Music Productions)
* ''My Little Chinese Love'', Tyrkis Big Band conducted by Atilla Engin (
Stunt
A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery sp ...
)
* ''Melo Perquana'', Atilla Engin Group with
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen) (Olufsen, 1988)
* ''Mosaic of Anatolia'', Group Turquoise (Istanbul, 1999)
* ''Moon Dog Girl'' by the Noodle Shop (
John Kruth,
Elliott Sharp, Atilla Engin and
Jonathan Segel
Jonathan Segel (born September 3, 1963) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed.
Early life and education
Segel was born in Marseille, France, a ...
) (Sparkling Beatnik, 1999)
* ''Ocean of Emotion'', The İstanbul Orchestra – Group Turquoise (2009)
References
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engin, Atilla
1946 births
2019 deaths
20th-century American drummers
American jazz composers
American jazz drummers
American male drummers
Deaths from cerebrovascular disease
Jazz arrangers
Jazz fusion drummers
Jazz fusion percussionists
American male jazz composers
People from Kayseri
Turkish emigrants to the United States
Turkish jazz drummers
American world music musicians
20th-century American male musicians
Olufsen Records artists