Tree of Patience
Honored as a peacemaker and virtuoso, OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK is now  a highly sought-after musicians whose work transcends political boundaries  while maintaining traditional sensibilities in a way few artists can  manage.Omar Faruk was born in Adana, Turkey to a musical family who nurtured his  precocious talents. At the age of eight, he began his prodigious musical  career by developing proficiency on the kaval, a small diatonic flute. His  musical interests were nurtured by his older brother and a sympathetic  uncle who owned a music store and who provided lessons. While working in  the store, Omar Faruk learned the intricate rhythms of Turkish music, how  to read scales, and other rudiments. He was trained on and eventually  mastered several instruments: ney (bamboo flute), zurna (double-reed oboe  like instrument with buzzing tone), the baglama (long-necked lute), the oud  (the classic lute), as well as percussion. By the age of twelve he began  performing professionally at local hot spots.In 1967, upon turning sixteen, he moved to Istanbul where he and his  brother spent the following decade as in-demand session musicians. Omar  Faruk stayed true to his folkloric roots, but during this period of  frenetic session work in the metropolitan music scene, he explored  Arabesque, Turkish, and Western styles and the compositional potential of  the recording studio. In Istanbul he also met the Mevlevi Dervishes, the  ancient Sufi order of Turkey. He did not join the order, but the head  Neyzen (ney player), Aka Gunduz Kutbay, became another source of  inspiration.  Omar Faruk was profoundly influenced by their mystical  approach and fusion of sound and spirit. During that time he was introduced  to Hatha Yoga and eventually to Tai Chi, which he continues to practice  daily.After establishing himself as one of the top session musicians in Turkey,  he began touring Europe and Australia. By 1971, he made his first tour of  the United States as a member of a Turkish classical/folk ensemble. It was  while touring in the US that he met his future wife, Suzan, and in 1976 he  relocated to upstate New York to marry her.Omar Faruk found very few options for a Turkish musician in the US, so he  formed a band called the Sultans with an Egyptian keyboardist, a Greek  bouzouki player, and his brother-in-law on percussion. It started as a pop  band but very quickly turned into a sort of Pan-Near Eastern ensemble. They  began to attract some attention within the circle of Middle Eastern dance  fans and managed to record five albums, but Omar Faruk was still unknown  outside his local musical community.This all changed after his fateful meeting with Brian Keane in 1988. In the  following years, he and Keane would produce another six recordings  together, launching Omar Faruk boldly into the world music scene and  establishing himself as one of the world's foremost exponents of Middle  Eastern music.