Rana, where orient meets cool and urban pop is made in London. Exotic intruments like saz, ud and darabuka invoke images of enjoying a sweet and strong mocca by the Bosporus.

Rana's album "Circle of Gold" is miles away from conventional Turkish pop. Born in istanbul, little Rana soon started touring Europe with her parents, both established musicians in Turkey. The family settled in Munich where Rana went to school. After a soul-searching year in New York, Rana moved to London.

"...London was imperative since I was mainly influenced by British pop, yet I wanted to mix my Turkish roots with a distinct, international sound..."

so Rana collaborated with producer Martyn Phillips (Erasure, Londonbeat, Jesus Jones) on her debut album. She was soon to be playing gigs at London's Kashmir club where she was spotted by songwriter Tom Nichols (All Saints, Kylie Minogue).

"...Tom and I worked in a very unconventional way, he would turn up mid day and ask me what I felt like writing about. One day it was PMS which spawned "Human Nature", another day we would write an hommage to my therapist. Tom is very sensitive and has got a great sense of humour, I just loved working with him..."

Bilingual Rana cowrote "Bir Kez Daha" with her mother, to whom the album is also dedicated. Performed in Turkish, it accentuates Rana's gentle voice. "Unforgiven" is a collaboration with soul singer Roachford.