Mor ve Ötesi
The group Mor ve Ötesi were internally chosen by Turkish broadcaster TRT, and will represent Turkey at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Deli.Mor Ve Ötesi was established in January of 1995 by Kerem Kabadayı (drums), Harun Tekin (vocals/guitar), Derin Esmer (vocals/guitar) and Alper Tekin (bass), four close high school friends in Istanbul, Turkey.
In 1997, the first line-up change took place with Burak Güven replacing Alper Tekin on bass. In 1998, Derin Esmer left the band and was replaced by Kerem Özyeğen on guitar.
Mor Ve Ötesi have recorded five albums during the period 1996-2006, all of which have enjoyed much success and various awards.On the stage, the group continued to headline major festivals and shows in Turkey. To name one, it opened up the international Radarlive 2007 festival which was host to 29 foreign acts and headlined by Marilyn Manson, James and Groove Armada. Mor Ve Ötesi also did a special acoustic performance for MTV Turkey at the niche Istanbul club Ghetto, which was aired as a special broadcast by the network. Four songs from this concert were released alongside other Rakun recording artists on a special label promo CD which was included in the february issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
On the international arena, the band had played 15 sell out shows in Germany between 2004 and 2007 in cities such as Berlin, Bochum, Köln, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and one in the Netherlands.
The end of 2007 came with the band’s nomination on two major issues, first as Best Band of the Year award by Powerturk, the country’s foremost music television network.Secondly as Turkey’s candidates for the Eurovision Song Contest that will take place in Belgrade, an event highly regarded and deemed very important amongst the Turkish population.
The band recorded some new songs early in the new year, which will be released later in the year. One of these songs, the energy-laden Deli, became the Eurovision Song Contest song and was launched to popular public praise. The band worked on the video clip of the song with the acclaimed director Ezel Akay. Band photos were taken by Okan Bayülgen, Ümit Ünal designed the costumes, and Beyhan Murphy took care of general choreography, an all-star cast lending their talent on the band's Eurovision Song Contest journey.
Mor Ve Ötesi sees 2008 as a year of action and opportunities, to take their already brilliant career further to reach new territories and wider audiences.