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Young Bulgarian pianist Ivan Garbachev releases his first album Time Lapse


Time-lapse photography is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (also known as frame rate) is much more spread out than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. Thus, processes that would normally appear subtle or slow to the human eye are sped up due to the time lapse technique. However, one should have a special technical equipment and knowledge in order to film such a movie. However, time lapse in music requires inventiveness developed in a good company.


Time Lapse is the name of the first author’s album of Bulgarian pianist Ivan Garbachev. He recorded the album together with Alexander Lekov (bass guitar), Nikolay Karageorgiev (guitar) and Nacho Gospodinov (percussions). The pieces of Ivan Garbachev’s album sounded in November within the frameworks of the 2018 Plovdiv Jazz Fest at the Bee Bop Café. Ivan Garbcahev was born in the town of Kazanlak (Central South Bulgaria). He started to play on the piano when he was still a little child. Later, he studied classical music at the Academy of Music and Dance Art in Plovdiv in the classes of Professor Georgi Kanev.  My passion for jazz came when I joined the classes of Miroslav Turiyski. Miroslav is also a very good friend of mine, Ivan told Radio Bulgaria and added:

The Time-Lapse album was recorded in Plovdiv in Alexander Lekov’s studio. All pieces were recorded live from the first attempt. Although the recordings were made in a studio, we did not record the pieces separately. We presented these pieces for the first time on May 24 last year. Later, we performed the music programme again to the audience at Plovdiv Jazz Fest. I like this music festival a lot. The spirit of this millennial city cannot be described with words only. One must attend the event in order to feel its true spirit. The atmosphere is wonderful and the festival is held at a very romantic and peaceful place. The venue is filled with a lot of energy and everyone feels that energy his own way. Concert life in Bulgaria has been developing in the recent years and musicians can perform at various music events. Plovdiv Jazz Fest, which has turned into one of Bulgaria’s best festivals attended by many internationally-acclaimed musicians, also contributes to this process a lot.  I would rather call my music style experimental jazz or fusion. I am trying to reach a different sounding, different music nuance and find myself through my music. I recorded the album with an electric piano. I prefer the acoustic instrument, especially the grand piano, but it is very difficult to find high-quality piano outside the concert halls, because we play most often in music clubs. I wrote the whole music for Time Lapse album, but all my colleagues took part in the arrangement.

The young Bulgarian musician also told Radio Bulgaria that he included eight pieces in his first album, although he initially prepared twice as much. The other members of the music quartet helped him select the pieces for his album. Time Lapse circulates mainly on the CD Baby platform. Ivan Garbachev is also a member of the restored Zamunda Banana Band which was founded in the 1990’s. The band performs humorous pieces which have usually pop sounding and are very different from the pianist’s author’s pieces. Ivan also takes part in several other music formations. He has many new ideas and is looking towards his next author’s project. He is planning to record his next album with more musicians.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

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