The dozen or so tracks included in Don’t Worry, Be Gipsy convey the spirit of life, the emotions and the simple human delights Roma music carries. Though Martin Lyunbenov is himself Roma, he is not a “child of the ghetto”. Born in Sofia, musicians in his family go back several generations. His grandfather played the trumpet with the Royal Orchestra (on the basis of this orchestra the first symphony orchestra was founded), his father was percussionist for Ibro Lolov’s orchestra. Having acquired a sound music education, Martin went on to study in Chicago and Vienna. Today, he is one of the popular and sought-after musicians in the Austrian capital where he has been living for years. In 2005 he received the Austrian World Music award, in 2006 – the French Gus Viseur award for jazz instrumentalists. He took part in Dimitar Dinev’s House of the Judge, staged at the Burgtheatre in Vienna, as composer and musician; he wrote the soundtrack to Dimitar Mitovski’s movie Mission London, and composed some of the music to Alexander Morfov’s TV series Outcasts, based on the play by the patriarch of Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov.

“The recordings I am now giving Radio Bulgaria are from Don’t Worry, Be Gipsy, a brand new Martin Lyubenov Orchestra project; we play mostly Gipsy music,” Martin says. “Together with my trio Jazzta Prasta - Mihail Ivanov, bass and Angel Demirev, guitar - we are now finishing off another album. We play Balkan jazz, ethno, world. I frequently perform with other formations across Europe. As to the musicians from the Martin Lyubenov Orchestra, the list includes musicians from many countries. Harald Tanshek, percussion and Stefan Taller, double bass are from Austria, Alexander Stoich, guitar is from Serbia. There are also musicians from Bulgaria – clarinet player Krassimir Malakov and Petar Yankov, vocals and percussion. I myself chose the title for the collection, because it is very colourful and entirely “me”.

The piece called Mischievous Stefcho is dedicated to the accordion player’s 6-year old son. He says: “My son really is boisterous but he is now getting into music. He will probably continue the family tradition.”

Five years ago, when Martin Lyubenov first returned to Bulgaria after being away for ten years, film director Andrey Slabakov made a movie about the musician. The film is about his visit to one of the poorest Roma communities in the town of Kotel, where he gave talented children music lessons. Where are they now – five years later? And has the film inspired at least some of the young Roma to seek their own road to success?

“To me that was a very interesting experience,” says Martin. “In Kotel I met some really talented children. We have kept in touch to this day. They found me in the social networks and have been asking me questions about music. I try to answer and to give them my support. To my mind music is the best of all “integration approaches”. Though I don’t like the word “integration” for the Roma – I have seen too many speculations, but I won’t go into that. I would like to reiterate – music is what helps people understand one another and accept their differences. Sad or happy, it gives people a positive outlook.”

The lyrics to the songs, written by Martin in the Romani language convey many personal experiences.

The audio file contains the following pieces:

-  Sauerkraut;

-  Mischievous Stefcho; 

-  Sar len – Like a River, soloist Petar Yankov.

English verion: Milena Daynova