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

Qntal: Neofolk With An Electronic Beat

Qntal is German Neofolk band, with both Gothic and Industrial influences, that has been around since 1991. Their singer Syrah (Sigrid Hausen) has a very beautiful voice, and the songs are entrancing with their medieval sounds and electronic beats, similar to another great German group, Faun.

About their music, the instrumentist Michael Popp said that it "does have a serious element to it, but I don't think of it as educating anyone. I think that could be a result of our German education and of our classical training. I personally never listen to any kind of "normal" pop music. I hate MTV and things like that… but I love experimental underground music: the weirder, the better."

While Popp plays several medieval and eastern woodwind and string instruments, Qntal's other member, Fil (Philipp Groth) plays guitar and keyboards.

Curiosities: Qntal's strange name is a made-up word that appeared in a dream Syrah had, and the band's albums are all numbered instead of named, because according to Popp "Qntal is in a permanent state of flow. The CDs are just snapshots of our work at a particular moment in time. They are not the most important thing for us. You can imagine what our record company thinks about this opinion." [1]

Below is one of their videos. Visit their site and Myspace for more information.

site: Official Site MySpace Profile

Cécile Corbel: Celtic Songs from Brittany

Cécile Corbel is a French harpist, born in the Brittany region in 1980. Her style is reminiscent of Loreena McKennitt, but a little darker.

Cécile Corbel was originally a student of Archeology, who left Pont-Croix dans le Finistère for Paris to study, and ended up playing the harp and singing in pubs and as a busker. In 2008, she played in Rangoon, Burma and donated a portion of her pay to Info Birmanie, a local French institution that fights for human rights. Besides her shows and workshops, Cecile has a part in the musical Anne de Bretagne, where she performs the main character.

She has released 3 albums to date, and is scheduled to release a new one next year. Cécile Corbel’s first album had a mixture of several different musical influences such as jazz, folk and pop.

Then the second album was more introspective, and Cécile commented about it that “Song Book (released Nov 2008) is more personal: I composed most of the songs and wrote most of the lyrics. It reflects who I really am, and my influences: Celtic music of course but also medieval, baroque, rock and pop/folk music. I loved the songwriting and the possibility to tell stories with my songs.” [1]

She told that her music “keeps an acoustic spirit, rooted in the imagination and legends of the Celts, but with a sound and arrangements, which I hope are modern.” [2]

Below are two videos. Visit Cécile Corbel’s site for more.

Cécile Corbel official site: http://www.cecile-corbel.com/