Roma Muscians from Kotel, Bulgaria - Mladen Malakov

[Jaap van Beelen]

Here an audio example of the great master on clarinet Mladen Malakov form Kotel, recorded by me (Jaap van Beelen) in 2012. I made it my ringtone :-)

(Sorry to be only a fragment as files cannot be larger than 5 MB.)

[Stoimen]

Dear Jaap,

In 2012 we prepared an application for funds from the EU, it was called "Face the Music", a saying with a double meaning. What we planned, were concerts all over Europe, to prove the huge contribution of Roma to its (Europe's) music: Jazz, classic, Flamenco, traditional, pop...

Our application was not awarded, non of the 26 awarded projects was a project done by Roma, though we delt with the officials of a Commissioner who has Roma issues in her portfolio.

Many composers (Liszt, Bartok, Brahms etc.) have been inspired by Roma. Django Reinhardt's influence can be experienced everywhere. Flamenco is on the list of Unesco. But no one talks about the people who created the music.

One day, however, Europe will face the music!

Els