Mesut Özgen came to the attention of the world music community in 1989 when he performed at the International Paco Peña Guitar festival in Cordoba, Spain. Özgen began teaching himself guitar in 1981 while in medical school - and by 1993 had become the first guitarist to win the Dean's Prize at Yale University. Özgen is widely known for creating new contexts for classical guitar performances. 'Pick and Roll,' a performance composed by Benajmin Verdery and staged by Özgen, featured a basketball player in dialogue with a guitar ensemble and utilized spatial elements in the hall. Troubadour represents Özgen's first major release and let's the rest of us (who are not lucky enough to attend one of his multi-sensory performances) in on the secret. Troubadour is aptly named - Özgen's own journey has carried his music from his native Turkey, through Spain, Connecticut and Arizona, to his present home in Santa Cruz. 'Many troubadours traveled for great distances, aiding in the transmission of news and culture from one region to the other,' says Özgen. The opening track, 'Variations on an Anatolian Folk Song' by Domeniconi is based on a Turkish folk song written by Asik Veysel, a renowned 20th century representative of the Asik (troubadour) tradition. 'The Asiks...singing their own or others' poetry and playing saz, has become the voice of common people...' Anthony Newman's work 'Gigue' shows Özgen's fondness for the ecletic and new. Composer Benjamin Verdery describes 'Gigue' as 'writt ATTENTION: please remember that all Blu-Rays are Region A USA and all DVDs Region 1 USA and you will need a multi region Blu-Ray/DVD player to play them.