VA – bigbanda BB01
Bigbanda presents their 16 tracks compilaction of experimental artists based in Sofia, Bulgaria
Bigbanda is the name of a family of contemporary audio and visual artists based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The informal organization for experimentation, sharing and development of creative practices emerged spontaneously as more and more artists started experimenting in the realm of musical improvisation, combining both classical outlets and new technologies in the process. Bigbanda collective consists of amazing artists such as Pavel Terziyski (PavelClave), Stefan Hristov (Mr. Smiff), and the famous beatboxer Alexander Deyanov (SkilleR), among many others.
The first sampler of bigbanda’s artists released in the beginning of 2015 features 16 tracks of musical experimentation ranging from beatbox, hip-hop, dub, free jazz, etno, electroacoustic to completely digital ambient and noise soundscapes. Among the artists we could hear the solo works of acts such as PavelClave, Mr. Smiff, Genda, Halojo, Johxny Chep to their extended collaborations in bands such as Popara (one of my favorite Bulgarian live bands), Space Dub Jammers, Trohi, VoxBox (Pavel + SkilleR’s beatbox madness), Cheaptrix, etc.
As the bigbanda artists state about the work they do, their role is to create and add up to a new paradigm of a post-digtal world, where digital and physical elements are blended together and high technologies are no longer fascinating to be used as an artistic expression, but used as a bridge between digital space and reality instead.
Unlike most of the compilations and samplers you’ll hear from labels releasing artists in a particular musical genre, here we have a complete set of sound bites based on the idea of free improvisation and shared skills beyond any genre definition. The most fulfilling sense of being involved in the contemporary underground music scene shouldn’t be about following established patterns but recognizing your ability of seeing the reality in a new way, the fact that every artist sees the universe differently… and everyone who’s willing to escape from the predetermined reality of mass culture is able to create their own universe in a hundred different ways, through the use of their own voice or countless of analogue and digital tools.
