Rasta Baba, a German-born hip-hop artist who commutes between Turkey and Germany, is considered one of the most innovative Turkish musicians and hip-hop producers in Turkey. His debut album Saygı Değer Şarkılar, released in 2003, was praised by the newspaper Hürriyet as the best hip-hop album ever produced in Turkey. A Turk who grew up in Germany, Baba knows the difficulties of dual identity and how to report on them with esprit, but also with anger and despair. He succeeds, moreover, in using this diversity musically: oriental scales are superimposed on electronic beats and the whole is enriched with a mixture of funk and jazz, reggae and ragga. In addition to Public Enemy’s breaks, the repertoire of Baba’s texts includes the philosophical teachings of the Sufi mystics. Rasta Baba has worked with greats like Selda Bağcan (the “Turkish Joan Baez,” according to The Guardian), Özay Fecht (40 sqm Germany), Eastenders, Bandista, Selim Sesler and many other celebrated musicians. He and his live band have played at almost all the major festivals and clubs in Europe.
 
Rasta Baba aka Sultan Tunc was a resident at Tarabya Cultural Academy from May to August 2019.