My journey began on the roof of our house in Bursa. My father is a bird-catcher. He had a pigeon cage in the attic. He passionately took care of those birds. Maybe, at an early age, I learned to be passionate about something by watching his gaze.
I was a kid. One day, I went to my father to ask him for money. He took three liras out of his pocket and said, “The rest is up to you. Do whatever you want with it.” Back then, it was only enough to go downtown Bursa so I grabbed the money and left the house. I knew I had to do something to get back home. That day, I learned about making an effort and deserving something. I went into a textile store. I decided I could sell those. I hit the streets and sold the fabrics. It was my first achievement, the first step towards all other achievements that followed. A DJ friend of mine visited the store and lit a spark in my mind. “Would you come to Uludağ with me?” he asked. I accepted. I was introduced to music while carrying their equipment. It didn’t take me long to start working as a DJ at the same place. January 1, 2009 was the first day I went behind the set. I was fifteen years old that day and had taken the second step in my journey. My mother wanted me to stop doing it. I promised her that I would give the world a song by the time I was twenty-five.
"YOUR NAME, WHO YOU WERE, OR WHERE YOU CAME FROM - NONE OF THESE MATTERED. WHAT MATTERED WAS YOUR MUSIC."
I was about to graduate from high school and got an offer from Istanbul. I finished school and went to Istanbul immediately. The day I set foot in this new city was the day I was reborn. I was a DJ in Istanbul. However, being a DJ was not enough, so I thought I needed to stand out among others. At the place I was working, I made an effort every day, never gave up and learned to create songs. I was looking for inspiration everywhere and trying to create new sounds. My first song came and then another, and I met Sena Şener. She was the biggest gift Istanbul had ever given me, along with Aslıhan Batur who played the violin. Our friendship gave birth to “Feel” in 2016. Eventually, we signed a contract with one of the world’s biggest record companies and hit the road with our hit song, which has reached half a billion listeners. I had kept the promise I made to my mother and started making a name for myself as Mahmut Orhan. Concert offers came rushing from all across the world and I managed to remain passionately creative because I had come to realise that music was the heart of the matter. This journey of mine continued in 75 cities around the world and at the most prominent electronic music festivals. Every time I stand before tens of thousands of people, I feel the reason for my existence again and again. As someone who has kept creating, moving forward, and showing ambition at every opportunity and has believed in artistic fertility, my story has evolved into a global brand out of Bursa, with over millions of monthly streams. Today, after two challenging years due to the pandemic, I pursue the same passion without losing momentum in the world of entertainment that has begun to show signs of rebirth. Who knows - maybe I will be born again sometime soon, in a new land.