Boyana is born in Sofia, but went to the USA at a very early age. That was where she received her education and that was where she found the path to music or in her case – the path to New Orleans. Boyana is a drum player who now lives in the Mecca of Jazz, actively working with different formations. She usually comes to Bulgaria on a holiday only, but without missing any options for festival or club concerts.

Over the last holidays here she studied thoroughly Bulgarian folk music and gathered impressions and recordings. She found it as a surprise to realize that despite of having grown up in a different sound environment our folklore brings energy to her and inspiration. In 2014 she collected 9 folk pieces and named the album Mahala /Neighborhood/. “I wanted Bulgarian and Balkan music to sound in New Orleans, as they had never heard it before,” she says.

Accordion player Matthew Schreiber and guitarist Georgi Petrov are the other two in the trio that recorded the music for Mahala. “We provoked great interest among colleagues and the audience. People overseas really like Bulgarian folk music,” Boyana says.

Boyana is also the organizational leader of the One Love Brass Band formation and saxophone player Kyle Cripps is the music director. The band was established recently but it managed to release an album, presented by Boyana to RB. “We play at festivals, in clubs, at private parties etc. In New Orleans there is always this strong demand for music and we can go into different styles,” Boyana says and then presents the band and its new album: (Full interview and music are featured in the audio file)

English version: Zhivko Stanchev