Mystic Sounds: Irfan

The Bulgarian band Irfan is a great Ethereal band, with a sound reminiscent of Qntal and Dead Can Dance. Using instruments traditional to the music of Turkey, Egypt, Greece and the Balkans, Irfan’s sound is a blend of the Eastern, the Medieval and the Modern.

Talking about the band's mysterious and dark sound, vocalist Denitza Seraphimova said that “We believe that music is an act of the spirit… The vibration of the sound and the music has the "magic" power to create new worlds, to open gates to other space and dimensions. But this is also very dangerous because creating spiritual music is a big responsibility that needs a clear mind, intention and pure heart.” [1]

This concept begins in the band’s name. Irfan is a Sufi term from Persian and Arabian, which means gnosis, mystic knowledge and revelation.

The musicians of Irfan, Denitza, plus Ivailo, Kalin and Kiril joined together in 2002, and had their first album released in 2003, with the band’s name, and their second in 2007, named Seraphim. The line-up is made of Denitza Seraphimova vocals, Ivailo Petrov - programming, strings, Kalin Yordanov - vocals, percussion, Peter Todorov – percussion and Yasen Lazarov - keyboards, woodwind.

They have already done soundtracks for a Bulgarian documentary and a movie, and they have played all over Europe.

One of the interesting things about the Irfan musicians is that all of them work with archeology, history and culture, and have side projects as musicians. They also like to experiment with old folklore music and instruments like the daz, bodhran and tamboura.

As for the vocals, the songs seldom have any lyrics, they prefer to vocalize sounds in a Cocteau Twins-like way. When they do, the lyrics are in Church Slavonic, Latin and Medieval Spanish.

Their process of composition is very democratic. Denitza described it as “It is a common and collective process. In the beginning one of us (mainly Ivailo and Kiril) brings a primary idea and then all of us work in the building of the composition.” [1]

Throughout Europe they often play in Goth Festivals like Summer Darkness, and also Folk Festivals. Talking about the way their music seems to attract people from so many different cultural backgrouns, Denitza said: “We believe that the message of our music is universal and that it is for everyone who could understand it with his heart nevertheless his language, color, religion or music stream and preferences.” [2]

Check the videos below for samples of their fascinating music.

Source: Wikipedia Irfan # Irfan MySpace Profile