Merdan Zirav is a Cologne-based musician, guitarist, composer, arranger and producer. Since the early 1990s he has worked on stage, in studios and for television in Kurdistan, Turkey and Germany, and is known for arrangements that blend folk melodies with European-style harmony.

Over the years he has taken part in hundreds of projects – as a guitarist and musical director on stage, and as a recording / mixing engineer in the studio. He has produced albums for artists and bands, as well as live concert recordings. In 2021 he completed the state-level “Landesmusik Musikpädagogik” training programme in music education. In February 2026 he began a two-year retraining as “Mediengestalter Bild & Ton” (image & sound) at BM – Medienberufe in Cologne, which will run until February 2028. In his own studio he has built a hybrid workflow: the warmth of analog, with the flexibility of digital tools.

Recently his focus has shifted more towards Kurdish and multilingual repertoire, long-form storytelling and meditative soundscapes. Through projects like 5Ton.art, nota.merdanzirav.com and the Rotinda Yetkiner Songbook he shares both digital and printed work with listeners and fellow musicians.