Hangar 49, Berlin, Germany22nd November 2018
Irfan - New Release ‘Roots’ Tour Autumn 2018
IRFAN is a Bulgarian band, founded back in 2001, that combines influences of Folk, spherical, sacral and ethereal music in their creations. After three albums since the foundation of the band, they are now on tour through Europe promoting their new album called ‘Roots’ that was just released on time for the tour with stops in Germany, Sweden, at the well-known Castle Fest in the Netherlands for the Winter Edition, in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Poland.
The concert on a Thursday night took place in the cosy Hangar 49, not far at all from the popular Alexanderplatz in Berlin, a location under the urban railroad track bridge. It was a bit hidden from the street, so we didn’t know what to expect inside at all. But when we went inside, we found a really cosy place, dimmed light, nice decoration, many sofas on the sides and a small, beautifully arranged stage. We sat down on one of the sofas and enjoyed a glass of wine while waiting for the show to begin. https://www.facebook.com/Irfantheband
Music & Performance
The venue filled up slowly, but by the start of the concert there was a nice amount of people. It was neither too full, nor did it feel too empty. Just perfect for a cosy concert during the week though a few more guests wouldn’t have been too much yet. The atmosphere was very relaxed inside. Dreadlocks, chilling people, incense sticks aroma and candles on stage and at the merch stand. Coloured lamps. The band came on stage and started with the mystic ‘Peregrinatio’ spreading an oriental touch all over the venue. The second song of the night was ‘Rusa’, the first song released on Bandcamp from the new album ‘Roots’. ‘Roots’ is about coming back to our roots, to what is most important. And so ‘Rusa’ feels very warm, welcoming and literally rooted. The voice of Darina Zlatkova, the female voice of IRFAN casts a spell over everyone in the small Hangar 49 and the voice envelops every single person in the room with all the warmth and feeling of deep security.
During the concert the atmosphere in the audience becomes even more relaxed, people are dancing freely, with their eyes often closed, to assimilate every single sound and emotion that is spread by the musicians. IRFAN use different instruments to create their sounds and the inspiring atmosphere like tambura, kaval, harmonium, duduk, percussion pads and many more. Every single one is used prudent and with a great accuracy. In between Darina Zlatkova and Ivailo Petrov tell little stories about their songs, where they come or are inspired from or what they are about. The musicians seem cautious, but very grateful for a very attentive and welcoming audience. All in the set consists of older, known songs and all the new songs from the new album ‘Roots’. After the main block of eleven songs, the audience is in great mood, celebrating the guests from Bulgaria and gets an encore with two more songs - ‘Hagia Sophia’ and ‘More, ta nali’.
Setlist
01. Peregrinatio
02. Rusa
03. The Cave Of Swimmers
04. In The Gardens Of Armida
05. The Golden Horn
06. Lyube be
07. Burana
08. Return Of Outremer
09. Emeriga
10. The Eternal Return
11. Salamander
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12. Hagia Sophia
13. More, ta nail
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 8
Light: 7
Sound: 9
Total: 8.3 / 10
All Pictures by Nastja Iz
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