Mehmet Tamdeger learned his art from Mikhail Zilcan, the
grandson of Kerope Zilcan. In the 1950s, at the age of nine, Mehmet
Tamdeger started to work for Mikhail Zilcan in the K. Zilcan factory
in Istanbul. Mikhail Zilcan and Kirkor Kucukyan taught him every
aspect of this ancient Turkish art, based on a history that stems back
to the early 17th century. The Istanbul brand name was adopted in
1984 by a cymbal works established by two cymbalsmiths. At that time, they had over three decades of cymbal making experience. They named
their company after the city that has been home to the epitome of
high quality cymbals for many, many years: Istanbul. These cymbals
were first exported to the U.S. in 1984, originally under the name
Zildjiler, and soon afterwards as Istanbul. Both craftsmen signed
each cymbal and many of these cymbals are now collectors items.
After Agop Tomurcuk s unexpected death in July 1996, Mehmet
decided to continue the production of cymbals under his own name,
Istanbul Mehmet. A lot has changed since then, but his belief in the
richness and character of a handmade cymbal will always remain.
Machines dont have ears. That is why we continue to make our
cymbals according to the ancient tradition - with an open eye towards
the music that is being made now, and in the future.
