Orhan Osman was born in Germany in 1976, and is from Greece with Turkish roots. His first instrument was a self-made piece of wood with 4 nails and 2 pieces of clothes lines. When he was 13, he embraced the bouzouki as his main instrument and quickly became known as a wedding and tavern musician, playing all-night sessions in Western Thrace, before moving to Athens, where he played on the main Rebetiko stages. After he settled in Istanbul in 1996, he often went abroad to continue his concert career, traveling to America and Bulgaria and even explored African music intensively.
In 2000 Orhan took the stage with the legendary Turkish accordionist, Muammer Ketençoglu, an event that became a milestone in his career, giving birth to his first Project, “Balkan Express” where he utilized the bouzouki for world music, integrating Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek, Indian and Turkish melodies with his polyphonic group.