Tarkan

by Heather Phares
A superstar in Europe and in his homeland of Turkey, dance-pop composer Tarkan mixes modern beats with Middle Eastern melodies and arrangements. Though he had been a fixture in the Turkish dance scene for a few years, his 1999 single "Simarik" made him an overnight success in European clubs and led to a wider release of his self-titled album from that year. Tarkan included songs from his two previous Turkey-only releases and repeated the success of the single; in mid-2000, it was released in the U.S. by Universal Music Latino.