Majak Tosikyan - Cenk Taskan

[Aratta-Kingdom]

TURKISH COMPOSER OF ARMENIAN ORIGIN CHANGED NAME TO AVOID CENSORSHIP news.am July 21 2011 Armenia Cenk Taskan, whose real name is Majak Tosikyan, is a significant figure in Turkish music world, Nouvelles d`Armenie informs. He worked with many Turkish famous singers during 40 years of his career. He has recently worked on the album of Sibil Pektorosoglu, which was released in Armenian. He started his career as a guitarist in 1965. Critics consider his album Bir Nefes Gibi (Like One Breath) as one of the best music albums in the history of Turkish pop-music. Before 1990s, he suddenly decided to move to Canada and returned back to Turkey in 1997. "I changed my name to avoid the censorship by Turkish state channel TRT. As my name [of Armenian origin] could make them disapprove our songs," he said in response to the question why the composer decided to change his name. The composer believes that Turkey progressed and currently does not face such problems. No one is interested in the identity now, what is important is the quality of the work.