Lot Lorien

Lot Lorien is a contemporary music band from Bulgaria, combining bulgarian and foreign folklore traditions, classical music and modern jazz and progressive rock.
Critics say the style is ethno-jazz/world-fussion, but the band itself attracts fans of many different kinds of music - jazz, blues, classical, folklore, progressive rock, folk and heavy metal. The band members are huge fans of John R. R. Tolkien's books about Middle Earth (Lord of the rings, Hobbit, etc.) - so came the name of the band. Lothlorien is the magic wooden realm of the Galadrim elves - where the time is likely stopped and the stranger forgets about troubles and threats. So are Lot Lorien (they decided to write the name separately) creating music that provokes your imagination and makes you forget about the daily round.
The band is formed in 1996 by Kiril Georgiev, Zlatomir Valchev and Petar Pavlov. At the beginning it's name is Alien Shore and the style is more progressive-rock, then some experiments begin - Bora Petkova joins the band and by this time the lineup is 9 members - drums, bass, 2 guitars, 2 female vocals, 2 keyboards and cello (Neli Gancheva, who is part of the band, during it's first big concerts in Bulgaria). In 1998 Galina Koycheva joins the band, so the final lineup is formed. By this time Alexander Kinov also joins Lot Lorien - first he is a fan, technician and unofficial member, then he becomes integral part of the band - sound engineer and keyboard player. In time specific sound and style are created - thanks to Kiril's composition and the non-standard combination of instruments - guitar, violin, female voice, succesfully combined with synthesizer, bass guitar and drums and also all kind of folklore isntruments like tapan, darbouka, djembe, pandore, etc. Sometime the band uses unique handmade instruments created by it's members.
In 2000 are the first concerts abroad, and Lot Lorien get very warm welcome. After some succesfull appearances and demo recordings (some of them broadcasted in Bulgarian radio and TV stations), the band finally goes into studio. In the summer of 2002 the first album "Eastern Wind" is recorded in "Balkanton" - legendary bulgarian studio, well known in the past with it's vintage equipment, classic tube microphones and recorders. Deyan Timnev - legendary soundengineer in the past, is responsible for the good sound of the album. The young and famous opera singer Ina Kancheva makes guest appearance in the song "Dreaming you".
Other new songs and appearances come after that. In the beginning Lot Lorien have strong influences from classical music and english folklore, then come other influences - jazz, progressive rock and especially bulgarian folklore. So one of the most interesting collaboration is born - in 2003 a project is created together with the great musician Theodosii Spassov - most Lot Lorien songs are rearranged by including his playing on the folklore wind instrument-kaval. The first appearance is at the "Mobimak Balkan Square 2003" festival in Ohrid/Macedonia - it is absolute success and part of it is released later - "Live in Ohrid" is the second album of Lot Lorien.
The band also becomes IOV member in 2003. (IOV is an UNESCO affiliated international organisation of folk art).
In time Lot Lorien start to go abroad more and more, playing succesfully their own compositions - based on both Kiril's ideas and bulgarian folklore music.
At the end of 2005 a new ambitious project begins. It's work name is "Lot Lorien and friends". The musicians buy professional equipment and their rehearsal room is transformed into recording studio. It gives the band freedom and possibility for experiments and inviting other musicians. At the end of 2006 12 songs are recorded and mixed, with the guest appearance of many friends of Lot Lorien - people who they met during the years in Bulgaria and abroad: Roman Stolyar (Russia) - flute, Latif Bolat (Turkey, USA) - vocal, Nikolay Yordanov (Bulgaria) - flute, Dragni Dragnev - bagpipe and kaval, Petya Dragneva - folklore singing, Maryana Cvetanova-Milanova - violin, Dilyana Cvetanova - violin, Christian Nedelchev - rebec, Snajen Kovachev - vocal, Kiro Dikov (84 old) - authentic folklore singing. Lyrics from Georgi Konstatinov and Luis Reinoso Gonsales are used. At the beginning of 2007 the album is released with the title "Lot Lorien". One of the most interesting collaborations in this album is the song "Ballad for the lost", which is created during studio sessions and experiments. Slowly developed, the song starts with some piano and guitar ideas, but finally more and more instruments are added - violin trio, bagpipe, tabla (used for the first time in Lot Lorien's composition) and the highlight of the song is Latif Bolat - well known turkish composer and musician, who lives in USA and is collaborating with George Lukas for creating "The adventures of young Indiana Jones Chronicles" soundtrack. Latif and Lot Lorien's singer Bora crea