Balkandji
Encyclopedia
Balkandji is a folk metal
band from Bulgaria
. They freely mix traditional Bulgarian music
with hard rock
and heavy metal
. As Bulgarian folk music is very complex, in Balkandji songs odd time signatures and constant time signature changing are very common. They create a characteristic blend of melodies taken from the Bulgarian folklore with heavy guitars riffs.
The lyrical themes are also borrowed from the Bulgarian folklore. Their lyrics are mainly about love, the loved one, magic and the love of the native land. All of the songs draw a beautiful lyrical picture that can be very touching. They are mainly written in Bulgarian. It's impossible to represent the spirit of the songs in a foreign language. They use the poetics and the vocal melodies and harmonies that are typical for the traditional music. Archaic words that are now rarely used are not uncommon.
Besides guitars, keyboards and drums Balkandji use traditional Bulgarian instruments, such as tambura, kaval
and tǔpan
.
) is “a man of the Balkans
”. As the Stara Planina mountain range used to be called “The Balkan” in Bulgaria, it also means “a man from the mountains”, mainly referring to the revolutionaries and people that were hiding in Stara Planina while Bulgaria was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire
, hence a brave and patriotic young man.
Rock band Balkandji was formed in 1999 by Kiril Yanev on guitar and Nikolay Barovsky on keyboards. At that time they were playing together with Alexander Stoyanov in the brass band of the First English Language School
, Sofia
. They used to play a lot of folk pieces with the brass band, which gave Barovsky the idea to try and introduce some folklore motives in their music. After a lot of experimentation, a distinctive style emerged from the band which mixed folk music, rock and other musical styles.
Balkandji's first song was called Az tebe, libe, sum zaljubil. It was written to lyrics by the poet Konstantin Nikolov, who invited Balkandji to write the music for his poetry. They entered Horizont - Spring 2000, a national radio contest, with this song. Meanwhile, they also wrote the music to Vyatura (The Wind) and Stariya prizrak (The Old Ghost) with which Yanev's 9 year old sister participated in the Parad na detskata pesen children's song contest. The songs won first and second place.
Alexander Stoyanov, on drums, and Vladimir Leviev, on bass, joined Balkandji to work on their debut album. In the spring of 2001, they again participated in national radio contest with the song Krali Marko, which won first place. The same year, their song Kam taz zemia won second place in the "My Reason To Stay in Bulgaria" contest. Later in the autumn, a side-project of the band, which again incorporated folklore elements, won a contest for electronic music
.
In November Balkandji was joined by the female opera singer Inna Zamfirova. Meanwhile, the demo recording of the album Probujdane was completed. Their first live performance soon followed, featuring Spas Dimitrov on guitar, Nikolay Trajkov on drums and Hristo Pashov on bass. Stoyanov and Leviev were students abroad at that time. In 2002 the band decided to record and release the album by themselves, because of the lack of interest from musical labels. Since then Balkadji has staged many live performances and, in 2003 became part of the regular program of certain nightclubs such as O!Shipka.
In 2003 the band wrote the song Oi, mari, Yano, which was included in a compilation produced by the club, O!Shipka, and Toxity Records. At this time the band began working on their second album. In 2004 they released the single Zvezdica
.
Balkandji is currently in the process of writing more material for their upcoming album, Zmej.
. Counterfeit foreign money was found in the luggage he was carrying. The band continued their tour, however, using Iavor Pachovski as a temporary replacement keyboardist. Barovsky was held in prison until the trial on 11 January 2006, when he was acquitted. Barovsky returned in the band early in 2006 although he had not played the keyboards for more than a year.
Folk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
band from Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. They freely mix traditional Bulgarian music
Music of Bulgaria
The music of Bulgaria refers to all forms of music associated with Bulgaria like classical, folk, popular music, etc. Bulgarian music is part of the Balkan tradition, which stretches across Southeastern Europe, and has its own distinctive sound...
with hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. As Bulgarian folk music is very complex, in Balkandji songs odd time signatures and constant time signature changing are very common. They create a characteristic blend of melodies taken from the Bulgarian folklore with heavy guitars riffs.
The lyrical themes are also borrowed from the Bulgarian folklore. Their lyrics are mainly about love, the loved one, magic and the love of the native land. All of the songs draw a beautiful lyrical picture that can be very touching. They are mainly written in Bulgarian. It's impossible to represent the spirit of the songs in a foreign language. They use the poetics and the vocal melodies and harmonies that are typical for the traditional music. Archaic words that are now rarely used are not uncommon.
Besides guitars, keyboards and drums Balkandji use traditional Bulgarian instruments, such as tambura, kaval
Kaval
The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout Azerbaijan, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, southern Serbia , northern Greece , Romania , and Armenia...
and tǔpan
Tapan
Tapan can refer to:* Tapan, Azerbaijan* Tapan , an administrative district in West Bengal, India* Tapan, Homalin, Burma* Geghasar, Armenia, formerly known as Tapan...
.
The name
The general meaning of the word Balkandji (spelled Балканджи in BulgarianBulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
) is “a man of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
”. As the Stara Planina mountain range used to be called “The Balkan” in Bulgaria, it also means “a man from the mountains”, mainly referring to the revolutionaries and people that were hiding in Stara Planina while Bulgaria was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, hence a brave and patriotic young man.
Biography
| Songs from Probuzhdane Probuzhdane -Track listing:-Personnel:*Nikolay Barovsky - Keyboards, kaval, vocals*Vladimir Leviev - Bass, vocals*Kiril Yanev - Vocals, guitar... : |
|---|
Rock band Balkandji was formed in 1999 by Kiril Yanev on guitar and Nikolay Barovsky on keyboards. At that time they were playing together with Alexander Stoyanov in the brass band of the First English Language School
First english language school
First English Language School was founded in 1958 in Sofia, Bulgaria as a specialized high school for education of English language as a foreign language to Bulgarian high school students. The school has occupied its current location at 60 Dondukov Street since 1960 and shares it with the 112th...
, Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
. They used to play a lot of folk pieces with the brass band, which gave Barovsky the idea to try and introduce some folklore motives in their music. After a lot of experimentation, a distinctive style emerged from the band which mixed folk music, rock and other musical styles.
Balkandji's first song was called Az tebe, libe, sum zaljubil. It was written to lyrics by the poet Konstantin Nikolov, who invited Balkandji to write the music for his poetry. They entered Horizont - Spring 2000, a national radio contest, with this song. Meanwhile, they also wrote the music to Vyatura (The Wind) and Stariya prizrak (The Old Ghost) with which Yanev's 9 year old sister participated in the Parad na detskata pesen children's song contest. The songs won first and second place.
Alexander Stoyanov, on drums, and Vladimir Leviev, on bass, joined Balkandji to work on their debut album. In the spring of 2001, they again participated in national radio contest with the song Krali Marko, which won first place. The same year, their song Kam taz zemia won second place in the "My Reason To Stay in Bulgaria" contest. Later in the autumn, a side-project of the band, which again incorporated folklore elements, won a contest for electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
.
In November Balkandji was joined by the female opera singer Inna Zamfirova. Meanwhile, the demo recording of the album Probujdane was completed. Their first live performance soon followed, featuring Spas Dimitrov on guitar, Nikolay Trajkov on drums and Hristo Pashov on bass. Stoyanov and Leviev were students abroad at that time. In 2002 the band decided to record and release the album by themselves, because of the lack of interest from musical labels. Since then Balkadji has staged many live performances and, in 2003 became part of the regular program of certain nightclubs such as O!Shipka.
In 2003 the band wrote the song Oi, mari, Yano, which was included in a compilation produced by the club, O!Shipka, and Toxity Records. At this time the band began working on their second album. In 2004 they released the single Zvezdica
Zvezdica
“Zvezdica” is the second album by Balkandji. The name is a diminutive form of the word “star”. It features the song of the same name, plus three instrumentals and a live rendition of “Libe”...
.
Balkandji is currently in the process of writing more material for their upcoming album, Zmej.
Live performances
Balkandji concerts are well attended by people attracted to the band's style and ideas. The band tends to improvise a lot on their old songs, some of them being played quite differently from the original album versions. They also play many unreleased songs from forthcoming albums at their live performances.Barovsky arrest
On 22 September 2004 Barovsky was arrested in GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Counterfeit foreign money was found in the luggage he was carrying. The band continued their tour, however, using Iavor Pachovski as a temporary replacement keyboardist. Barovsky was held in prison until the trial on 11 January 2006, when he was acquitted. Barovsky returned in the band early in 2006 although he had not played the keyboards for more than a year.
Band members
- Kiril Yanev (Кирил Янев) - Vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Nikolay Barovsky (Николай Баровски) - KeyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, kavalKavalThe kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout Azerbaijan, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, southern Serbia , northern Greece , Romania , and Armenia... - Alexander Stoyanov (Александър Стоянов) - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Vladimir Leviev (Владимир Левиев) - BassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Spas Dimitrov (Спас Димитров) - Acoustic guitar, tambura, vocals
- Kalin Hristov - Katsko (Калин Христов - Кацко) - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, tǔpanTupanTupan can mean several things:* Another spelling of tapan, a drum used in Balkan and Turkish music. See davul.* The provincial governor in some areas of China in the first half of the 20th Century.* The thunder god of the Tupi and Guaraní people of Brazil....
, percussionsPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Valentin Monovski (Валентин Моновски) - Tambura, vocals, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Iavor Pachovski (Явор Пачовски) - KeyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- Tedi Todorova (Теди Тодорова) - TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, vocals
- Yana Shishkova-Dimitrova (Яна Шишкова-Димитрова) - Vocals
- Raya Hadzhieva (Рая Хаджиева) - TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Nikolay Trajkov (Николай Трайков) - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Hristo Pashov (Христо Пашов) - BassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Inna Zamfirova (Инна Замфирова) - Vocals
Albums and singles
- ProbuzhdaneProbuzhdane-Track listing:-Personnel:*Nikolay Barovsky - Keyboards, kaval, vocals*Vladimir Leviev - Bass, vocals*Kiril Yanev - Vocals, guitar...
(2001) - ZvezdicaZvezdica“Zvezdica” is the second album by Balkandji. The name is a diminutive form of the word “star”. It features the song of the same name, plus three instrumentals and a live rendition of “Libe”...
(2004) - Zmej (2008)
External links
- Balkandji Fan Site (in Bulgarian)
- “Free Nikolay Barovsky” support site (mostly in Bulgarian)