The instrumentalists we present to you today are renowned musicians who find inspiration in traditional Bulgarian music. For them last year was a year of international projects, concerts, new albums and new friends and fans across the world.
We begin with Open Mood, a piece from the album of the same name released by Theodosii Spassov. Open Mood: Theodosii Spassov, shepherd’s flute, Rumen Tiskov – piano and Hristo Yotsov – percussions. “I am happy to have been able to release this album jointly with my trio and with guest performers. Unfortunately Rumen Toskov left this world too early. The album Open Mood is apart from other things, a memory of this great friend and musician”, Theodosii Spassov said. In 2011 he released an album jointly with Heavenly Strings, a classical quartet of young female instrumentalists. The program was presented at the Balkan Fever Festival in Vienna. In Holland and in a few other European countries Theodosii was on stage as part of GAP, a project for which he teamed up with pianist Mitko Bodurov, folk singer Galina Durmushliyska, vocalist Claron McFadden, rebec player Peyo Peev and a small ballet company from Holland.
Bulgarian rhythmic patterns and melodies are easily detected in the music of the Wladigeroff brothers. Born in Sofia, they have for years been living in Vienna. Alexander is a trumpeter and Konstantin, a pianist. Their latest album, For the Greatest and Little Things was presented in the Austrian capital on 6 June. A week later Bulgarian audiences could enjoy some of the tracks in the album. You will hear next the piece Lyutenichka meaning chutney, a classical Bulgarian recipe including tomato puree, roasted red peppers, some carrots and garlic.
Despite his busy schedule of concerts and projects, shepherd’s flute player Nedialko Nedialkov has dedicated some time to recording. He works for a couple of international bands. Listen next to one of them, Fraser Field Band. The music that it presents is composed by the band’s leader Fraser Field. The pieces are based on melody patterns from folklore region Trakiya in Southern Bulgaria. Listen now to the Fraser Field Band with the song Nedial’s.
In all of his international appearances, Vladimir Karparov’s music is unmistakably Bulgarian. The saxophonist lives in Germany and holds concerts, joins festivals and plays in clubs with the Vladimir Karparov Quartet and with a few other bands. It seems that while working with Vlado, his colleagues have been “infected” with the bug of Bulgarians folklore-based music. Listen to a track from the project For Free Hands by Andreas Brunn, guitarist of the band, and also featuring Dimitris Kristidis, percussions, Jonathan Robinson, bass, and Vladimir Karparov, saxophone.
Vlado Karparov is on the lineup of Jazzta Prasta Band led by Martin Lubenov, an accordion virtuoso. He was born in Sofia and lives in Vienna. Jazzta Prasta is a jocular Bulgarian phrase meaning a hasty and sloppy job. The choice of this name for the band is an expression of its members’ sense of humor, an opposite to the sophistication and perfection that they display in their works. The band often uses Bulgarian folklore themes for its music, as is the case with Vesselina.
Translated by Daniela Konstantinova
