MaNga

Manga (also stylized as maNga) is a Turkish rock band whose music is mainly a fusion of Anatolian melodies with electronic elements. In 2009, they won both the Best Turkish Act award from MTV Turkey and consequently the Best European Act award from MTV Networks Europe in MTV Europe Music Awards 2009. They represented Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "We Could Be the Same" and took second place. Manga was formed in the year 2001, being named after the word for 'cool man', 'Manga'. Initially, they were mostly underground, playing covers of other rock and metal bands. They came into the public spotlight after finishing runner-up at the Sing your song' music contest. This caught the attention of artist manager Hadi Elazzi (GRGDN), who immediately promoted the band to Sony Music, which resulted in their first, self-titled album being published in 2004, becoming a mass hit. Following this, they performed at various music festivals and have worked with such famous Turkish singers as Koray Candemir (of Kargo fame), Vega and Göksel. Most of their songs are written by the group members. The genre of their music was described by Yagmur, the author of most of the songs, as having a touch on nu metal, hip hop and mixing these all in a "pot" with melodies of Anatolia. Manga's duet with Göksel is included in one of the most successful (with almost a million viewers) Turkish films, Sinav (featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme). Their song Bir kadin çizeceksin was featured among the music of the FIFA 06 game. The band is considered a headliner for several Turkish music festivals, including Saklifest, Patlican, Rokofest and Rock'n Coke. Manga took to the stage at the Wembley Arena in London, together with Tarkan on 13 April 2008, but was then cancelled because of the technical problems. They then again took to the stage in London at the O2 Academy, Islington on 4 December 2009. On 12 January 2010 the Turkish broadcaster TRT announced that maNga would be the Turkish representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. They came second with 170 points, behind Germany.