Biography

Istanbul born Turkish singer songwriter Goksenin, picked up the guitar at the age of sixteen and it was at this time that she began singing at open mic venues. She also took piano and singing lessons from time to time.

In 2008, Goksenin quit her full-time job in the pharmaceutical industry to devote much more of her time to music; consequently increased the number of her stage performances and original compositions.

From 2009 to 2017 she recorded two rock albums and two singles additional to her portfolio of radio jingles and compositions for children's theater.

Goksenin has been performing music for almost twenty years mainly in Istanbul, a city that is well known around the world for its lively night life, where she performed many classic rock staples in addition to her original songs and blues interpretations. Nevertheless her proudest moment came when she traveled to Cizre, a small town in the south east of Turkey right next to Syrian border, where blues is scarcely known. The audience of this first blues-rock concert held in Cizre welcomed her with open arms and curiosity about rock, blues and the western musical traditions.

Being a female musician, Goksenin came to realize that the legacy of the great American female blues singers were largely being ignored in live music everywhere. Around 2015, she shifted her focus to preserving and bringing female blues tradition to the contemporary and future audiences. Since then, in a series of performances she calls "Woman Blues with Goksenin” she performs the songs of the likes of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Koko Taylor and etc. next to her own brand new blues compositions. The project attracts a lot of attention as she not only performs such repertoire but also tells stories of blues history interpreted/written by women.
As a natural culmination of this project, Goksenin’s "Women’s Blues" album has been released in December 2020.

First video clip "The Dream" won the 2nd prize in International Women's Freedom Song Contest Music Video Category!

In his review in Blues Blast Magazine Steven Ovadia wrote: "the fun of singer/guitarist Göksenin’s Women’s Blues is in how she mixes her Turkish roots into a few of the album’s tracks, creating a personal sound that’s a clever twist on the blues."
"...blues/Turkish mash-ups are the album’s strongest moments, with Göksenin unearthing new ground that allows her to internalize the blues, rather than interpret it from a distance, both geographic and emotional."
"Göksenin initially came to the blues as a proselytizer, trying to teach her compatriots about American artists who weren’t well-known in Turkey (and to be fair, they’re not nearly well-known enough here in the United States). Somewhere along the way, she began to integrate her own experiences, sounds, and time signatures into the music, creating something new, and those fresh moments are the album’s strongest, Göksenin singing her own blues. Turkish blues might not be its own subgenre, but it’s one we should consider adding."

In his article for "Blues in Britain" Magazine Graham Munn wrote:
"...Not only is Göksenin revisiting the female suffering embedded in blues history, but also draws attention to today, who still struggle to find their identity, throughout the world."
"...a fascinating artist, who flies the Blues flag in her Turkish homeland."


Goksenin is also the founder and the president of the board of Turkey’s first and only Blues Association. Since its foundation in 2018, Blues Association’s membership went from the original seven members up to almost four hundred and continues to grow.

contact: gokseninmanager@gmail.com