Балканджи: Булгар фолк-метал тобының тарихы мен ерекшеліктері

Folk metal band from Bulgaria

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 guitar 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.

The general meaning of the word Balkandji (spelled Балканджи in Bulgarian) 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 who were hiding in Stara Planina while Bulgaria was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, hence a brave and patriotic young man.

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.

On 22 September 2004 Barovsky was arrested in Greece. 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 to the band in early 2006 although he had not played the keyboards for more than a year.