Cengiz Onural

kemençe, guitar, rebap, cura

Cengiz Onural was born in 1961 in Istanbul. He received a mechanical engineering education but after a seven years of professional experience as an engineer, he left it for music and he has been making music professionally since 1996. He plays guitar, kemençe, rebap and cura.

Onural was a member of group Yeni Türkü from 1985 to 1997 as a composer, lyricist and musician. During this time, Onural worked in the production of nine albums with the group.

Since 1985, Onural has been composing for and performing with his groups. His works include music for five films, twenty-six television films, seven documentaries, about twenty television series and five multimedia projects.

Five amongst these works were released as soundtrack albums: Super Baba (with group Yeni Türkü), Babaevi (Cengiz Onural), Deliyürek 1 (with group Aria), Deliyürek 2 (with group Aria) and Ikinci Bahar (with group Incesaz).

Onural founded Incesaz in 1997 and has been a member since. Other key members include Derya Türkan and Murat Aydemir.

Onural has been collaborating with Muammer Ketencoglu, accordionist and researcher in Balkan Music, since 1986. Onural has been a member of his various ensembles such as Incesaz and DemBuDem, and participated in his albums as a composer, arranger and player.