OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK was a musical prodigy born in Adana, Turkey to a musical family who nurtured his precocious talents. At the age of eight, he began his musical career playing the kaval, a small diatonic flute.
 At the same time, he studied religion with thoughts of becoming a cleric, or Imam. His musical interests were nurtured by his older brother and by a sympathetic uncle who owned a music store and who provided lessons. “He had a music store, and he also had another job during the day. So he told me to come after school, open the store, and, in exchange, he gave me lessons.” While working in the store, Omar Faruk learned the intricate rhythms of Turkish music, how to read scales, and other rudiments. He was trained on and eventually mastered several instruments: ney (bamboo flute); zurna (double-reed oboe like instrument with buzzing tone); the baglama (long-necked lute); the oud (the classic lute), as well as percussion.

By the age of twelve Omar Faruk began performing professionally at local hot spots. In 1967, upon turning sixteen, he moved to Istanbul where he and his brother spent the following decade as successful session musicians.  In Istanbul he also met the Mevlevi Dervishes, the ancient Sufi order of Turkey.  He did not join the order, but the head Neyzen (ney player), Aka Gunduz Kutbay, became another source of inspiration.  Omar Faruk was profoundly influenced by their mystical approach and fusion of sound and spirit.

While in Istanbul, Omar Faruk played with some of the leading Turkish musicians of the day, including Orhan Gencebay, flute and saxophone player Ismet Siral, percussionist Burhan Tonguc and singers Ahmet Sezgin, Nuri Sesiguzel, Mine Kosan and Huri Sapan.

After establishing himself as a top session musician in Turkey, he began touring Europe and Australia. At the age of 20, he made his first tour of the United States as a member of a Turkish classical/folk ensemble. It was while touring in the US that he met his future wife, Suzan, and in 1976 he relocated to upstate New York to marry her.  Finding very few options for a Turkish musician in the US, he formed a band called The Sultans with an Egyptian keyboardist, a Greek bouzouki player, and his brother-in-law on percussion.  It started as a pop band but very quickly turned into a sort of pan-Near Eastern ensemble, which began to attract some attention within the circle of Middle Eastern dance fans.

The group recorded five albums, but Omar Faruk was still unknown outside his local musical community. 

This all changed with the fateful meeting with Brian Keane in 1988.  In the following years, he and Keane would produce six recordings together, launching Omar Faruk boldly into the world music scene.

Omar Faruk Tekbilekhas since established himself as one of the world's foremost exponents of Middle Eastern music. A multi-instrumentalist par excellence, he has collaborated with a number of leading musicians of international repute such as jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, keyboard player Karl Berger, ex-Cream rock drummer Ginger Baker, Ofra Haza, Simon Shaheen, Hossam Ramzy, Glen Velez, Bill Laswell, Mike Mainieri, Peter Erskine, Trilok Gurtu, Jai Uttal and Steve Shehan, among others.  He has also contributed to numerous film and TV scores and to many recordings, and has toured extensively throughout the Middle East, Europe, Australia, North and South America.