The Bigbanda project joins the energy and creativity of musicians and visual artists, determined to create their art – free and independent. They organize concerts, produce and record and also seek new talents.

Two years after the establishment of Bigbanda it is already famous with its provocations to the audience, as well as with its multimedia parties at untypical spots. The initial two compilations are ready – People of Bigbanda, each with 16 tracks with renditions of the label musicians. The official promotion was on 30 January at Sofia Life Club. Two of the major bands of the organization – Popara and Space Dub Jammers stepped onstage of the Release Party. World beatbox champion SkilleR had a live performance as well. DJ Ramzi Hercules was the exclusive guest.

The first two CDs of the Bigbanda are the only ones that present young and unknown musicians from the label. It is open, it looks for and invites new artists, who have a taste to experiment. The organization consists of 36 people – DJs, artists, gaffers etc. Stefan Hristov – Mr. Smiff explains how so many people are getting along in their work:

“Bigbanda is a big organization. We don’t have a leader or a manager, we act democratically – we take decisions together by voting. The good thing is that we have two persons, experienced in social games and NGO management. They help us coordinate our meetings. It is fun to work with us. We are all united by one thing: to produce music of good quality, remaining free at the same time. We work, in order to expand, to support young artists, to participate in festivals, to have our own editions… Our program envisages the recording of an album for each and every one of us and the compilations will be ongoing. It’s not easy to finish a CD of this kind, we collect pieces till the last moment. Some of us work at home, but we also have a big studio. We accentuate on improvisation and instrumental music-making. It is a common thing at a concert to see 4 – 5 people stepping together onstage for a first time, pulling together at once. We use the whole range of tools from the styles we know: funk, dub, dub step, drum&bass, jungle, house, reggae… Our long experience onstage helps us.”

Bigbanda distributed its first CDs at its concerts and at Dyukyan Meloman music store, also online. The musicians had also concerts in Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora and Veliko Tarnovo. “We also tour abroad,” Mr. Smiff says. He has been recently to Germany and says that this type of music is really well-accepted there. “There is something in the air at live performances with improvisations. People feel it and recharge,” the musician explains. The Bigbanda concerts have no scenarios or restrictions in style, the performers have their artistic freedom. “We get surprised each time with where the music takes us, along with the spirit of the audience,” Mr. Smiff says. We end up with a composition, included in the first compilation CD of Bigbanda. The rendition belongs to Mr. Smiff and Genda.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev