Muharrem Aslan

Muharrem grew up in a music culture that practiced Alevism, where the feelings, ideas, and beliefs of Alevi culture are expressed through songs with the accompaniment of the baglama. He followed his tradition greatly which influenced his subsequent journey into the arts. His first encounter with the baglama was at the age of six when his father brought home a baglama after working at the Afsin-Elbistan Thermal Power Plant. At the age of twelve, Muharrem started playing the baglama anytime he had.

Muharrem completed primary school at Istiklal Primary School and high school at Mukrimin Halil High School in Elbistan. He then moved to Istanbul to study Geodetic Engineering at Yildiz Technical University, in 1995. During this time, he also attended music courses to expand and perfect his technique and his knowledge of theory at the Fine Arts Department of the same University—vocal training, harmony, and composition.

In 2001, Muharrem migrated to Sydney, Australia and he composed his first composition, ‘Gule Nisan’ in 2004. This song became the title of his first album, which was published in 2007. After debuting his first album, Muharrem decided to return to Turkiye to pursue his musical career over there. He performed concerts, appeared on TV and radio shows as well as prepared two more albums while in Turkiye. The song called ‘Ben Gönlümü Sana Verdim’, which he prepared during this time, has reached broad audiences and subsequently entered the charts on Spotify, iTunes, Shazam and YouTube Music.

In 2015, he returned to Sydney, Australia. He started studying and graduated from Diploma of Music Industry from TAFE in 2016, Bachelor of Music (Honours) from University of New South Wales in 2021, and Master of Creative Music Therapy from University of Western Sydney in 2023. For his Honours thesis, which he submitted at the University of New South Wales, he composed a suite for solo baglama called ‘New Compositions for the Anatolian Baglama: Five Songs Without Words’. This work incorporates a number of new playing techniques for the baglama, one of which he calls fourtemolo. At this time, he also successfully created a new rasgueado technique for the baglama.

Muharrem also composed, arranged and produced numerous collaboratives works with Australian musicians. He collaborated with UNSW Jazz Orchestra, Rose of April, UNSW Classical Guitar Ensemble and many other Australian musicians. He first worked with ‘Rose of April’ and the ‘UNSW Jazz Orchestra’ culminating in the album ‘Buluşmalar' (2019). He collaborated with 'Rose of April' on the composition 'Tale of a Platonic Love/ Platonik Bir Aşk Masalı’. This piece told a story through music and words. He also collaborated with UNSW Jazz Orchestra on the composition ‘Koçgiri Düz Halayı’ which he arranged in a jazz style.

In 2020, He composed, arranged and produced a musical story album with the ‘Rose of April’. The album, titled ‘The Legend of Ali Lake Mountain / Ali Göl Dağı Efsanesi’, was recorded in Sydney and based on a true story that took place around Nurhak Mountain in Anatolia in the eighteenth century. The next album he released was ‘Buluşmalar Vol.2’ in the same year. This album, which again recorded in Sydney, was the culmination of a collaboration between Muharrem and eleven Australian musicians. The album has thirteen compositions. Many are duets written for the baglama and twelve different instruments, Western and non-Western. Muharrem also composed a piece about the climate crisis called ‘Climate’ in this album. This was performed by Muharrem on the baglama and the UNSW Classical Guitar Ensemble. A song with English lyrics was also included on the album.