Brass orchestras with rich sound, giddy dances and marvelous mood – that is what we expect from the Sofia Live Club in the period February 19 – 22. The occasion – the 4^th edition of the merriest winter festival in the capital city, Brazzobrazzie, created by slide-trombone player Velislav Stoyanov. He is one of the most talented instrumentalists here, who plays with several jazz and ethno music formations. A few years ago he established his Brazz ViliDJ formation.

The idea of Vili Stoyanov is the glory of brass orchestras to be restored in Bulgaria. That cannot happen without the active participation of the brass section. The audience saw in the previous years the huge genre variety, offered in Europe and the Balkan countries. The reason lies in the mixing of jazz, ethno, Roma rhythms, reggae and ska under the tunes of the interesting copper sound. Here is what Vili says on the forthcoming 4^th edition of Brazzobrazzie:

“We can expect once again this year a marvelous festival, devoted to brass and dances. The bands that will bring joy to us are really good and we kicked off on February 19 with Bulgarian ones. It all started with a Varna project that I was invited to participate in – the V.S.O.P. /Varna Swing Orchestra Project/. Its musicians take care of the strong brass presence at the Black Sea capital. The formation takes us back with their music to the golden époque of swing – the 1930s. I believe that their rendition will be liked by the audience. The first night ended up with a concert of the Funky Miracle funk band. In my opinion it is the most successful young band that deserves special attention. It is rapidly progressing, with active new recordings. I am strongly impressed with them.”

Fans of brass music will then go the Mediterranean. Vili Stoyanov explains how:

“The second night will be devoted to two Italian formations – Radio Zastava and Ottoni Animati. I do want real brass orchestras to be always presented at this festival, coming from different parts of Europe. The reason is that such formations have their specific image in any country and a colorful palette of sounds occurs this way. I have invited the two orchestras with the greatest number of participations at festivals.”

Ottoni Animati will take us to Sicily, the birth place of the 11 charming street musicians.

Radio Zastava offers a variety of nationalities: Italians, Austrians, Slovenians and Bosnians. The mixture of so many different cultures at one place results in an eclectic symbiosis of music styles. 

The 4^th edition of Brazzobrazzie will end up noisy for sure, thanks to the Zuralia Orchestra and Fanfare Ciocarlia formations. The first one will have its debut in Bulgaria. It mixes Romanian folklore with traditional Roma music, jazz, reggae and Latin rhythms. Vili Stoyanov tells us more:

“We will dive into the rhythm of Romania during the third and last night. Two very good Balkan orchestras have distinguished themselves recently. One of them is the formation of Marko and Boban Markovic that played at our festival a couple of years ago. We have invited now Fanfare Ciocarlia – the second orchestra that has been advertising ethno music across different continents for years. These people are simply virtuosos…”

The 2015 ambition of Vili Stoyanov is to take the fun of Brazzobrazzie to Burgas and Veliko Tarnovo with the support of his team.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

The audio file contains the pollowing pieces:

.  Blow Your Brainzz Out

.  Canzone Arrabbiata

.  Swing Sagarese performed by Fanfare Ciocarlia