İskender Paydaş

Born in Istanbul on July 22, 1967, İskender Paydaş is the child of a family whose origins extend to Kosovo, Macedonia and Crimea. His father, Muhittin Paydaş, a musician who conducts orchestras, set up the rehearsal hall of his band called "Muhittin Paydaş and Lordlar" at home, so little Alexander grew up surrounded by music.

The artist, who started playing drums at the age of three, took piano lessons at the age of five and started singing under the pseudonym "Alexander the Great" in the same period; He released two 45-record singles at the ages of five and seven and gave 145 concerts across Türkiye with his father's orchestra. At the age of nine, he enrolled in the piano department of the Istanbul State Conservatory and also took part in the choir; He continued this dilemma until the age of 12, blending classical education and theory with the modern musical approaches he learned at home from his father.

After getting tired of the strict rules of the conservatory and leaving school, he founded his first rock band and completed his education at Şişli College and then Kabataş Boys' High School.

During his university years, he enrolled in different departments more than once, such as Latin language, anthropology, philosophy and economics, but did not finish any of them; This process ended with him meeting Kayahan. Paydaş, who started playing keyboard in Kayahan's orchestra in 1986, accompanied Kayahan, who represented Turkey, in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Zagreb in 1990, on the accordion.

Since that day, he has worked as a producer, arranger and music director in the songs of hundreds of artists, especially Mirkelam, and has continued this extensive experience behind the scenes in many different styles.

As arranger and music director, Nilüfer worked with names such as Nazan Öncel, Harun Kolçak, Aşkın Nur Yengi, Ajda Pekkan, Suat Suna, Kibariye, Orhan Gencebay, Sertab Erener, Mustafa Sandal, Levent Yüksel, Mazhar Fuat Özkan, Özgün, Atiye, Nil Karaibrahimgil, Keremcem, Sıla, Hadise, Deniz Seki, Murat Dalkılıç. has worked; He has also worked as a producer and music manager for artists such as Şebnem Ferah, Emre Altuğ, Ajda Pekkan, Kurban, Mezdeke and İlker Çalışkan. By releasing two albums named Zamansız Şarkılar in 2011 and 2014, he created a repertoire consisting of free interpretations of the songs in these albums and started to give concerts with this repertoire, from time to time with guest artists, and with the orchestra he founded.

In 2020, together with AB Music, he launched the production, music production and entertainment company called PayRec; The company has world-class recording studios in Istanbul and Bodrum. Paydaş, whose father is of Macedonian and Kosovo origin and whose mother is of Crimean Tatar and Thessaloniki origin, married film actress Yaprak Özdemiroğlu in 1993 and divorced in 2000; He married Ilgın Beyazıt in 2009 and gave birth to their son Ömer Alef in 2012.

İskender Paydaş was born on July 22, 1967 in Istanbul, Türkiye.

He was born into a family with roots in Kosovo, Macedonia and Crimea. He grew up surrounded by music because his father, orchestra conductor Muhittin Paydaş, rehearsed Muhittin Paydaş and the Lords group at home. He was introduced to his first instrument, the drum, when he was 3 years old. He started piano lessons at the age of 5 and started singing under the name "Alexander the Great" at that age.

He released two 45 singles at the ages of 5 and 7. He toured Türkiye with his father's orchestra and gave 145 concerts.

At the age of 9, he started the piano department of Istanbul State Conservatory and took part in the conservatory choir. He combined the classical education and theory he received at school until the age of 12 with the modern music and practice he received from his father at home. Paydaş, who later left school because he was tired of the strict guidance of the conservatories, founded his first rock band.

He finished secondary school at Şişli College and high school at Kabataş Boys' High School. Later, he studied at Istanbul University Faculty of Letters, Latin Language Literature, then Anthropology and Philosophy, and then Open Education Economics Departments. His higher education journey ended with meeting Kayahan.

Productions in which he took part

He took part in 5 productions in total; The 4 most well-known ones are listed.

• Kral Türkiye Music Awards (1995) — Presenter
• He's Talking About Talk (1991)
• Blue Extra (2021) — Musician - Producer
• Song of Our Village (2018) — Guest Actor

Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.