Ozan Ata Canani Ozan Ata Canani was born in 1963 in Maraş, in the southeastern part of Türkiye, and moved to Germany in 1975. As a child prodigy on the Bağlama (Saz), Ata Canani single-handedly invented Turkish Rock’n’Roll, sung in German, in the late 1970s. In his most important song Deutsche Freunde, the musician addresses the discrimination and harsh living conditions faced by Turkish “guest workers” in Germany. Through this, he reached the hearts many people who found themselves in this realty of life. In 1979, Canani won the singer-songwriter competition Kleiner Mann, was tun? in collaboration with the WDR. After several cassette releases in Turkish, he recorded three songs in both German and Turkish for WDR 3. Ata was also a long-time member of the influential band “Die Kanaken“, which included Anadolu Rock originator Cem Karaca, who was living in exile in Cologne at the time. After a long hiatus and a career spanning nearly 45 years, Ata’s debut album Warte mein Land, warte was released in May 2021. Ata Canani’s new second album Die Demokratie will be released in spring 2025 by the Berlin label Fun In The Church.