Hakan Altun

Hakan Altun (born 1972) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and an instrumentalist.

He was born in Istanbul. When he left elementy, he got a place in the academy of music, where he completed his secondary, high and university education, thanks to his grandfather Hafız Zeki Altun. After he had had a BA in music, he continued his studies in music specifically on Traditional Turkish Music. In the second year of his studies, he quit school and began to pursue a career as an instrumentalist in the Edirne State Choir. He played the lute. Before his military service, he performed in the most popular clubs of Istanbul. Then, he went to Ankara for his mandatory military service. Depending on what he has stated in TV interviews, after he was let down by his girlfriend who didn't want to talk to him on the phone, he came to realize that he had this gift of writing songs and he composed his very first song " Hani bekleyecektin" ( you promised you would wait) when he was in the army. His very first album was named after himself and he released a second album called Aglamak yok yuregim ("Never cry, my heart"), followed by a third, Nefesimsim ("You are my breath"). His fourth album was Yaralı bir askın oykusu ("The story of a broken heart") was followed by his fifth one, Hediye ("The gift"), and the sixth album, named Küstüm asklara ("I am cross with loves").

Florin Salam

Florin Stoian (born 1 October 1979, Bucharest), better known under the stage name of Florin Salam and previously Florin Fermecătorul, is a popular Roma singer of manele from Romania.

Early life and first contact with music

Florin Salam was born into a family of lăutari. His parents, Maria and Robert Stoian, observed since his early childhood that Florin is talented and bought him an accordion and so Florin began to practice every day.

During the adolescence, Florin joined his father and uncle at parties to sing together and win some money. Age did not allow his father to sing and so Florin took his place, singing with his uncle under the name of Florin Fermecătorul. Thus, he became a singer highly appreciated by connoisseurs of the genre. In the meantime, Florin befriended with bandleader Dan Bursuc. He helped Florin to record his first single called "Ce gagică șmecherită" (English: Such a picky chick), in 2002. He played an important part when the smash hit "Of, viața mea" (English: Oh, my life) was released in 2000, sung by Adrian Minune and Costi Ioniță. At the end of 2002, Florin changed his stage name from Fermecătorul (English: charming) to the Arabic Salam (English: peace, cf. Hebrew shalom). His first song was a great success, and for this reason he continued to record songs and market them with the help of Dan Bursuc. In this way he released his first album of manele which was surprisingly well received by fans of the genre, the album sold more than 40,000 copies. Likewise, Costi Ioniță recorded one of his albums which enjoyed a high success, album entitled "Doar cu tine" (English: Only with you). The album was recorded in Constanța where Costi Ioniță has his own recording studio.