Koray Ergunay was born in April 1973 and has been playing electric basse guitar since 1987. He was elected to the high school band’s basse chair in 1988. The band also won three prizes at national high school band contests, in 1990 and 1991. The high school band became “Continuum”, a group which played compositions by fusion legends such as Weather Report, Return to Forever and Chick Corea Electric Band. In the early 1990s. In the mid- to late 1990s, he recorded and performed with several jazz-fusion groups, including Jazz Without Fear (with Burak Bacan on electric guitar, Meric Decmirkol on saxophone, and Gurcan Konanc playing drums), and Retrofusion Trio, which featured Gokhan Yilmaz, Arda Baykurt, and Meric Demirkol, on electric guitar. Both bands performed at various Ankara venues and university festivals. GKG was formed in 2001 with Gurcan Konanc and Gokhan Yilmaz. This album also featured original compositions from 2000. Informal jams with Sinasi Celayiroglu, the guitarist, were started in 2001. This eventually led to the formation the group “Giz”, which was later renamed “Trio Topia” and the drummer Can Dekak. Burak Yucesoy joined the group in 2004 and was formally introduced. TrioTopia/Ida Terra played regularly at the Tenedos Cafe, Ankara, from 2005 to 2006. They also performed at Istanbul Jazz Festival (2004) and Ankara Jazz Festival (2006), and at Eskisehir Amateur Jazz Musicians’ Festival (2004) and 2005. Koray began working on a number of solo fretless bass songs using live electronics and loops in 2002. Some of these songs were recorded in Gokhan Yilmaz’s home studio in 2002. In 2006, his solo bass song “Kemikkiran”, was awarded the No.1 prize at a national solo-bass competition. Numerous workshops on recording and improvisation in Ankara, Eskisehir and other cities followed. 2008 saw the creation of OSO Project and TriBass, two new bands that performed at the Ankara International Jazz Festival. TriBass, a unique band that consists of three bass players from different styles, is unusual. He performed again with MCNKY in 2009 at the Eskisehir Amateur jazz musicians’ festival. Koray, a long-time fan of progressive/heavy rock music from his teens, also got involved in rock-based projects. Knightmare is an Ankara-based heavy metal band that was founded by a high school friend. He was a part of the band’s self-titled album, which will be released in 2010, and performed a variety of shows between 2004 and 2008. In addition, he also played a title on a tribute album that was distributed throughout Europe. Koray began work on a solo album in 2009 after adapting a right-hand technique using extended range bass guitars. In December, the recording sessions were finished with Ozan Dundar playing electric piano and organ, Kuzey Yilmaz on drums and tabla, and Ozan Guven on tabla and ghatam. N.Emin Guven, his longtime friend, was also included. He is currently practicing with Volkan Yirtici Project as well as his own band in preparation for the release of “Inner Circle”, his solo album. from http://www.korayergunay.com
