Soner Akkaya
Soner Akkaya (born October 26, 1985, Istanbul) is the founder of first Turkish underground music management and tour booking agency Bohemian Events Group. He is the manager of several renown Turkish artists like Pickpocket, Second, Eskisi Gibi. And also he is the manager of well known Turkish actor and rock artist Erdem Yener.
Early life
Soner Akkaya was borned in Ankara, Turkey with an interesting story;
His mother was a successful student when she was pregnant to Akkaya. When she is nine months pregnant to Akkaya, she went to Ankara to take an exam for her dreaming of being a teacher. When she was in examination she gave birth to Soner Akkaya. The local newspapers and radio stations noticed she named him Sınav, which means Exam in Turkish.
In 1999, he organized his first concert in a small bar at Taksim (age 14). It wasn't too late for him to book the other concerts. He started to work at Blue Jean Magazine when he is 16 years old. After six years in high school, he started to work with the well known night clubs and concert venues in Istanbul. He was so young and experienced. Big productors and promoters have always been interested on him.
In 2004, he started to work with Mute Promotions, Host Productions and Bronx Productions in Istanbul. He has been in the biggest productions in Turkish Music History as Pink, Chuck Berry, Buena Vista Social Club artists as Omara Portuondo, Deftones, Incubus, Samantha Fox, Wasp, My Dying Bride, Katatonia Turkey Tour, [...] Tendencies and 100 more...
At the same year, he worked with Bronx Club which has the same owner with Bronx Productions (Ozgur Sevinc). He did his job at Bronx for three years as Music Director. He booked more than 30 foreigner artists, organized local shows and parties for every week.
In 2007, he went to Erzurum for his military service. There were [...] actings for soldiers in these years because of [...] acts in Southeast Anatolia. His commander Staff Colonel Irfan Sahin ordered a task to Akkaya to book morale tours for soldiers interior gendarme stations. He was still organizing concerts in the army for 15 months.
Bohemian Group And References
In February 2008, he has founded Bohemian when he was doing his military service. When he is back from his army, he booked his first show with Bohemian in May 2008. It was a secret party in an apartment and only invited own friends network.
He has booked Animassacre which is an hardcore techno band from Bulgaria. He announced it as a secret party and he locked all the doors of the place after doors opening. There were only some close friends to him. It was a clear signal what Bohemian is going to be.
Soner Akkaya, asked his friend from high school Talat Talu to work with for Bohemian. Talu said yes and they started to organize club events and underground concert organizations.
Soner Akkaya has booked the first underground shows in Turkey for hardcore, punk, drum and bass, dubstep artists and rave parties. After three months of Bohemian opening, some of indie dj's and bands asked Soner Akkaya about Bohemian to manage their music. After a few months Bohemian has been a great tour booking and artist agency with more than 30 musicians.
Some of Bohemian Artists
- Pickpocket
- Second
- Rapor 2
- Eskisi Gibi
- 2GET4
- Burc Tuncer
- Bugra D
- Tight White
- Tayfun Ersoy
- Raba di Babba
- Sunevil (USA)
- Crowfish (BG)
- Deadrise (SR)
- Dé Rien
- Geregi Dusunuldu
- Yellow The Marble
- The Rorscach Audio
- Chopstick [...]
- Tamerror
- Stage Invaders
- Rocketheadz
- Evon9ne and more...
Bohemian has booked more than 200 shows. Some of the artists they booked concerts are Unrestrained (USA), The Dying (SE) Europe Tour, Adam Freeland (UK), Indignity (BG), Crowfish (BG), Deadrise (SR) and more.
External links
tr:Soner Akkaya