The Go Fusion! album is launched on February 26 at Studio 5. All the pieces in the collection are authored by Hristo Yotsov – leader of the band and prominent Bulgarian drummer, composer and arranger. He plays together with guitarist Shibil Benev and contrabass player Dimitar Karamfilov in this formation. Mr. Yotsov has also invited a couple of young musicians – Denis Popstoev, alt saxophone and Bozhidar Vasilev, trombone – both are known as the front persons of the Southweek band. The fusion feature of the title outlines different rhythms and intonations. Hristo Yotsov gives us further details:

“Go Fusion! started as a club project, I wrote the songs exclusively for the younger colleagues from the formation. I wanted to “push” them to a music environment, different from theirs. They liked my ideas, we had a series of concerts and we decided to create the album. The recordings were made in my studio. I have referred to different rhythmic pulsations, to sum up. We have bebop, classical ballads and even a passacaglia, built upon a constantly repeating bass melody. I believe the album will bring joy to the people, who have been following my music efforts over the past years.”

On February 17 Hristo Yotsov turned 55, so one can see the new album as a gift due to the festive occasion. Being born to a family of renowned musicians, Hristo Yotsov has always been linked to art. Next comes the short version of his professional story:

“What I feel while playing onstage cannot be compared to anything else. It is good that I have learnt to combine tutoring with the rest of my activities. To be honest, it was a sort of an obstacle at first, but then I gradually began to discover the pleasure of this contact. These are the three pillars of my life – performing, composing and teaching. The best opportunity I received was to become a student of Prof. Dobri Paliev. That unveiled the path, influencing all my music activities. The two years, spent in the army were also important, as I used to play with Sofia’s Military Brass Orchestra, conducted by Dotso Vatkov. That was my first school in arrangement. Then I spent 7 years with the Big Band of the BNR. We had endless concerts. The Golden Orpheus contest was at its peak back then. There were active recording activities at Studio 1 of the BNR – they recorded movie and theatre soundtracks, also music for kids… When I began teaching at the National Academy of Music, I left the band as an instrumentalist, but I remained there as an arranger. It looks unbelievable to me that I have some 150 manuscript scores, written for that formation. It’s all up to computers now, but it took a lot of time back then. The creation of the Acoustic Version duo /later on turned into a trio/ was perhaps the best thing that has ever happened to me and my friend, pianist Antoni Donchev. This project is still the “saving rope” in our lives.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev