Pop and rock formations have been mushrooming in Bulgaria of late, yet the public never seems to tire of old-time bands, the bands the “middle generation” remember from their younger years and is always glad to hear of a rock band comeback. Like so many others, Tangra is back.

Tangra was founded in 1976, and to begin with its members were: Alexander Petrounov – vocals, Konstantin Markov – bass guitar, Iliya Karayanev – guitar and Anton Boubev – percussion. By the end of the following year they had been joined by Tenko Slavov. In 1979 Alexander Petrounov a.k.a Sasho the Bangle emigrated and his place as vocalist was taken by Villy Kavaldjiev. There is one more name that has contributed a great deal to Tangra’s immense popularity – singer Tsvetan “Chocho” Vladovski. The band’s first hit was called Our town, the music is by Boris Karadimchev.

Tangra’s next hit was Wealth, again with Choco Vladovski as singer and in 1982 the band released their debut album, entitled Our town. In 1983 Tangra veered from melodic rock to new wave that was all the rage then. New members were invited to the band – Yordan Ganchev – keyboards, Valery Milovansky – guitar and vocalist Stanislav “Stanley” Slanev and the band won more and more awards and released a new album. The hits from that album are Toy soldier, Juliette, Be as you are. In the period from 1986 until 1990, the musicians mostly played at clubs abroad – in Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany. In 1990 the band fell apart – some of its members settled in Western Europe while Konstantin Markov returned to Bulgaria.

The big comeback concert will be on 1 December in Hall No. 1 of the National Palace of Culture. But why did Tangra decide to make their comeback? Where and when can fans see them live? Konstantin Markov:

“Twenty-eight musicians or so have been members of Tangra through the years, most of them top-notch musicians. The idea to come together again came up last summer, but as only myself and Stanley are in Bulgaria, the others live abroad, it was difficult to coordinate all of our plans. When Danny Ganchev returned to Sofia, we invited two guest musicians from Gravity Co. They accepted readily and said afterwards that even in their wildest dreams they had never imagined they would ever be playing with Tangra. But that does not mean we have given up on Emil Gerassimov or Valery Gradinarski – they are always welcome if they ever decide to join us.”

A great deal of what Tangra is all about is the poetry by Alexander Petrov. “He is an invisible part of the band, standing in the shadows, but he is a very important part of the message Tangra wants to convey, the message we and the audience have carried in our hearts all these years,” says Konstantin Markov.

The musicians are currently working on their new album but also on their big concert on 1 December in Hall No. 1 of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.