Translated into English as “the Black Shirts,” this force of rock and roll was one of the first things I found out about in Preslav, way back during my site visit in PST. The good people from the orphanage brought along an English translator while showing me around town and what I would be doing for the next two years. Turns out that the English translator (now my Bulgarian tutor) is the keyboardist in an awesome local band. They blew my socks off the first time I saw them, and I go back to check out their practices every once in a while, a few times a month.
Included in their repertoire are a number of Bulgarian rock songs (yes, they exist), as well as a surprising number of English songs (incl. "I Want to Break Free" and "Soldier of Fortune"). I’ve noticed that a lot of their songs are covers of a band here in Bulgaria called the Mary Boys Band (check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRFwv9dw7N0&feature=related - "Идва Ноща" or "The Night is Coming" for an idea). The lead singer flies through the songs with passion, while the drummer keeps time on either his electric drumset or a traditional one, and tosses in some creative fills. And of course, the keyboardist brings everything together, adding that extra layer of harmony to the sound.
The bassist is really good, and along with the lead guitarist, there is a lot of potential evident in the group. In between songs, the guitarist throws down metal riffs and Nirvana songs. The bassist thumbs through tabs, trying to get each song technically perfect...
Since I've been here, I've only seen them perform once outside of practices and that was at the obshtina's big annual Christmas concert, at which they performed a holiday song that I hadn't heard before. I want to see them put on more live shows, but really just hanging out in the chitalishte after tutoring is great too. Hey… I’m not complaining; it's a good time.
Until next time…
No comments:
Post a Comment