Ayhan Sicimoğlu

As an energetic young lad at the Tarsus American High School Sicimoglu gained a reputation for being a solid drummer. With an insatiable thirst for projects that involved rhythm, Ayhan found himself playing with Miguel Serigides in London and famous “White Funk” group “Kokomo”. Following his interlude with White Funk, Sicimoglu returned to Turkey and founded “Ipucu” with Mazhar Fuat Ozkan arranging and recording the song “Heyecanli”. A sunrise or two later, Sicimoglu got invited to join Toni Esposito, a well-known drummer in Italian circles, to play in Rome. Ayhan ended up spending two years living La Dolce Vita while playing with “La Banda del Sole” alongside Bennatto and other well known artists such as Karl Potter, Johny Otis, Tulio De Piscopo. Music put a spell on Sicimoglu and lured him to New York where he spent 7 years playing on the Latin club circuit and being heard on the radio. Fame soon found the rhythm professor and after he joined downtown music master Johnny Rodriguez’ Senior Workshop, Sicimoglu expanded his latin network, and became familiar with the downtown music scene. Never letting his travels interfere with his education, Sicimoglu took World Percussion at Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music and delved into a seminar called “Explorations in Afro-Cuban Dance and Percussion” at Northern California’s Humboldt State University. Not just talking the talk, Sicimoglu also walks the walk in Istanbul with the “Afro-Cuban Percussion Workshops” he teaches as well as through the crowd-pleasing performances he gives with his band Ayhan Sicimoglu & Latin All Stars. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.