Conversation with Recording Artist: Batu Akdeniz

Join Michael Litten "The Last DJ" for an in-depth discussion.
Featuring a variety of songs.

Sponsored by Drinkmate

Theme music provided by Peter Perkins

Special Thank You to Lucy Piller/ARN Entertainment for providing the talent

 

 

Batu Akdeniz (born 29 June 1993) is a Turkish rock musician. He is known for both his solo works and his collaborations with the Heavy Sky band.

His interest in music started at a young age and he later joined the Ankara Polyphonic Music Association Choir. In 2012, he founded the rock band Heavy Sky with Çağlar Töngür and Hakan Kılıç. With new members joining, the band took its final shape a year later. The band, which performs English rock music, released their album Dreamer in 2016. Akdeniz has also published videos on YouTube. After 2017, he started to write Turkish songs. Hayat Böyle was his first solo album, which featured rock and electronic music elements. In 2020, he was one of the guest artists on the Murathan Mungan tribute album 2020 Model.

Batu Akdeniz was introduced to music at a very young age starting singing in the Children's Choir at 6. His life changed when he started taking guitar lessons with his  friend when he was 16. In 2016, he founded the hard rock band Heavy Sky, and released his first album "Dreamer", which was added to the playlists of UK radio stations. He also collaborated with Karl Golden, a famous youtuber guitarist in many projects, gaining millions of views on the site. Thanks to an ever growing fan base, they finally gave a soldout concert in Paris. 

October 2018 was the first time he released music in Turkish. His Hayat Böyle EP, consisting of 5 tracks which also included a hit "Yanlış Biriyle Doğru Hikaye", helped him reach a wider audience. Akdeniz defines his music as "electrified rock and roll", with lyrics which talk about the happenings of every day life. His following EP, "Yarın Yokmuş Gibi" solidified his fan base, and also helped him reach 17 million streams on Spotify. He is considered to be one of the most important emerging artists of the Turkish rock scene.

Batu Akdeniz has been interviewed by many national and international platforms, also appearing on many TV shows and radio programs. Batu Akdeniz also starred in one of the most watched TV series in Turkey, Hekimoğlu, as himself. Last year, he was a keynote speaker at a TedX event. He was also included in the modern music history books printed in Turkey, having achieved this at 27. 

Discography

EPs

Hayat Böyle (2018)

Yarın Yokmuş Gibi (2020)

Singles

"Yanlış Biriyle Doğru Hikaye" (2019)

"Hareket Vakti" (2019)

"Vuruldum" (2019)

"Eksik" (2020)

 

Spotify