[1] Away from his family, Ertel continued to make sculptures, ceramics and paintings under the supervision of leading artists Tamer Başol, Zühtü Müridoğlu, Kuzgun Acar, and Ali Teoman Germaner.

[2] Ertel grew up with intellectuals and revolutionary people of the art world, including Aziz Nesin, Yaşar Kemal, Edip Cansever, and Turgut Uyar, who were his family's closest friends.

[3] Ertel also met younger generation artists by watching the rehearsals of Ahmet Güvenç and his band Bunalım, with whom they were neighbors, next to the house described in Bülent Ortaçgil's song "Suna Abla" on Sağlam Fikir Street.

[5] He was greatly influenced by artists such as Can Yücel, Mehmet Güleryüz, Melih Cevdet Anday, Ara Güler, and Cihat Burak, who constantly came to their house.

Among the musicians, he was most influenced by his uncle's close friend Aşık İhsani and Ruhi Su, who would come to his house throughout his life and play all of his albums from beginning to end for his father to design the covers for him.

He started listening to the records of artists such as Barış Manço, Fikret Kızılok and Cem Karaca, which he heard on the radio, pushing his family to buy them.

Because of his family's passion for art and their artist friends, he spent his life at exhibition openings, theater and cinema premieres, festivals and concerts since his childhood.

Starting from rehearsals to premieres, they have seen most leading theater companies like Dostlar Theatre, Kenterler, Nejat Uygur, Müjdat Gezen, Gülriz Sururi and Engin Cezzar, Haldun Taner and Devekuşu Kabare, Zeki Alasya and Metin Akpınar, Ferhan Şensoy from his childhood.

Since Mengü Ertel was a member and one-time president of Sinematek, he watched cinema classics such as Battleship Potemkin or Rashomon many times at a very strict pace.

As a family, they started going to his uncle İlhan Selçuk's house in Akyaka and going on Blue Cruises by boat with authors such as Azra Erhat and Mîna Urgan.

In the same years, Maçka Art gallery was an environment where the family went two or three days a week, and until the 90s, he spent his youth together with artists and scientists such as Füreya Koral, Can Değer Furtun, Seyhun Topuz, Ömer Uluç, Semiha Berksoy, Komet and Erdal İnönü.

In 1978, he formed a band called İkide Bir (Two of One) with his high school friend Akın Evliyaoğlu and recorded the improvised concept album Nightwalker on a single side of a cassette.

In the early 1980s, he formed a band called Dead Rats with Akın Evliyaoğlu, Bozkurt Bayer and Sinan Uzel and participated in the Milliyet Inter-High School Music Competition.

He studied at the school for two years with teachers such as Lütfi Akad, Süha Arın and Duygu Sağıroğlu, and worked in the laboratory, in the film processing and printing section and in the projection room.

[7] He composed and improvised music in Kadıköy Çatı Studio with musicians such as Murat Çelik from the band Düş Sokağı Sakinleri on vocals and acoustic guitar, İsmail Taşbiçen on drums, and Serdar Karaoğlu on bass.

Shortly after, with Bozkurt Coşkunoğlu (Painted Bird, Exotic Pi Band) taking over the drums, they gave their first concert at Boğaziçi University Taş Oda.

)[8] Bülent Tangay (Maximal Punch Effect) on tenor saxophone and later Serhat Ersöz (2/5 BZ) on keyboard were added to the band and they made the concert album called Cemal with this lineup.

At the first concert, they were accompanied by the actors of the movie Tabutta Rövaşata (Sommersault in the Coffin), Ayşen Aydemir, Tuncel Kurtiz and Ahmet Uğurlu, as well as Selim Sesler on clarinet and Fahrettin Aykut on drums.

Then ZeN's classical lineup consisting of Merih Öztaylan on vocals and electronics, Murat Ertel on vocals, saz and guitar, Levent Akman on percussion, Emre Onel on darbuka percussion and electronics, Bill MacBeath on double bass and bass guitar and Fahri Aykut on drums was established and with this staff, They recorded the album Tanbul(1997) and ZeN at the Bakırköy Mental Hospital.

Apart from the three founding members, this lineup also included today's pop star Göksel on vocals and rhythm guitar, Selim Sesler on clarinet, and Cevdet Erek from Nekropsi on drums.

The song Dep, written about the earthquake and featuring the theremin was included in a compilation album called Floralia vol 4 and was released in Italy.

Apart from the old guests in the album, Okan Yılmaz from the band Fairuz Derinbulut and Kerem Demir Atay, now known as Elektro Hafız, also included İzzet Kızıl on percussion, Hüsnü Şenlendirici on clarinet and Oya Erkaya on bass.

In 2005, he appeared in the movie Crossing the Bridge-the Sound of Istanbul, directed by Fatih Akın, with the BaBa ZuLa group and Alexander Hacke.

Özkan Uğur, Sly & Robbie, Mehmet Güreli and Einstürzende Neubauten band's bassist Alexander Hacke also appeared as guests in the album.

The saz appeared on the cover of the BaBa ZuLa album titled Oto Sanayi, released in 2014, together with Murat Ertel's 1963 Ford Futura brand car.

Artists such as Alexander Hacke, Mad Professor, Sly & Robbie, Brenna MacCrimmon, Melike Şahin, Özkan Uğur and La Yegros also appeared as guests in the album.

He made recordings and/or concerts with dozens of artists such as Easy Star All Stars, İlhan Erşahin, Alexander Hacke, Danielle de Piccioto, Jaki Liebezeit, Drums Off Chaos, Mavi Sakal, Patti Smith, İstanbul Blues Kumpanyası, Schneider TM, Sezen Aksu, Debruit, İslandman, Wax Poetic, Hakan Vreskala, İstanbul Sessions , Sumru Ağıryürüyen, Bulutsuzluk Özlemi, Dreadzone, U Roy, Rosko Gee (Traffic), Kabus Kerim, Sabahat Akkiraz, Black Steel, Otoji Ray, Ahmet Güvenç, Bugge Wesseltoft, Mercan Dede, Okay Temiz, Burhan Öçal, Cem Yıldız, Hans Joachim Irmler(*Faust), Tibet Ağırtan, Pentagram, Alcalica, Sly & Robbie, Özkan Uğur, Mehmet Güreli, Fred Frith, Embryo, Dinar Bandosu, Compro Oro, Jojo Mayer, Mad Professor, etc.

Carefree EP (2022) She took part in the Air Anatolia project with artists such as İslandman, Veyasin, Cahit Berkay, Okay Temiz and Ahmet Güvenç, and sang vocals in two songs, playing electric saz and cura, at the London Jazz Festival and in Istanbul.

(2022) He joined with the Musik Susmayacak Kolektifi (Music wont Stop Collective) and performed and recorded his composition titled Aşıkların Söz Kalır, together with about 70 artists such as Hayko Cepkin, Pentagram, Mercan Dede, Kemal Sahir Gürel, Ayşe Tütüncü, Ayşenur Kolivar, Sabahat Akkiraz and more.

Ertel, who is a founding member of many bands, especially BaBa ZuLa, performs his art on 6 continents in various countries of the world, from India to Brazil, and makes music with artists such as Jaki Liebezeit, Fred Frith, Mad Professor and Semiha Berksoy, whom he was inspired by in his youth.