About

     The Balkans - and not least Bulgaria - is known throughout the world for their amazing folk music. Music that is nuanced, equilibristic, complex, melodious, with an infectious energy and great emotional depth.

     Orfeus Balkan Ensemble consists of five musicians with  Danish and Bulgarian background, who have entered deeply into the secrets of this music and master it on a highly artistic level.

     The repertoire comes from all parts of Bulgaria - and is rooted in the tradition, but also in touch with contemporary folk music, sometimes influenced with f.i. jazz. The repertoire includes new arrangements of old folk songs - and brand new pieces composed by the members of the band.
     Also the instrumentarium combines traditional Bulgarian folk instruments as bagpipe and drum - with modern, accordion, or even synth.

     Orfeus Balkan Ensemble has performed at concerts and music festivals in Denmark, Sweden, Bulgaria and Serbia - and in 2017 they released their first album "Zakachka"!

      The band performs concerts and festive occasions - with the full cast or as as duo or trio.

Video clips

Members

  • Anne Eisensee - vocals
    Has been singing Bulgarian folk music for many years - as a member of "Vokalselskabet Glas" and “Usmifka” in Copenhagen. She has been studying with a number of great capacities; a.o. the famous Bulgarian singer Tsvetanka Varimezova and with the Bisserov sisters. Anne performs with great expressiveness and authenticity in many different styles of Bulgaria's unique vocal tradition.
    www.anneeisensee.com

  • Gergana Maria Ørvad was born in 2010 and has been performing Bulgarian songs since the age of 3! She has won first prize in a number of singing competitions in Bulgaria (S Pesnite na Todor Kozhuharov, Shiroka Laka Sviri, Pee i Tantsuva, Orfeevi Talanti and others.) and appears on several recordings. Gergana sings music in many different genres - but in the Bulgarian repertoire it is the music from Thrace that is closest to her heart and voice.

  • Iordan Mandaliev - gayda (Bulgarian bagpipe)
    Iordan is from Jambol in Bulgaria. As a child he was a pupil of the famous bagpiper Janko Komitov, and later attended both of Bulgaria's folk music grammar schools in Shiroka Laka and Kotel, with gajda as his main instrument. He has won 1st prize in numerous competitions, including Bozhura, Kovachite, Petrova Niva, Balgari and later helped form Orkestar Unison before coming to Denmark.
  • Enis Ahmed - tambura & tapan
    Enis is educated at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Plovdiv. His preferred instrument being the tambura, a Bulgarian plucked string instrument related to the mandoline. He was for several years playing in different folk music ensembles in his native town Haskovo “Zlatna Trakiya”, Trakiyski Ansambal”, Yuzhnyache”. In Denmark he has been performing with “Mizgin” and others.
  • Adam Ørvad - accordion
    Has since his childhood been playing folk music from the Balkans - from where he is now mastering a number of styles like a native. He is educated as a classical accordion soloist at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and has performed all over the globe with everything from baroque to avant-garde - as well as with different world music bands - and now with his own “Orfeus Balkan Ensemble”!
    www.adamorvad.com

    Photos

    • "THE BIGGEST HORO" ENGHAVE PLADS, COPENHAGEN 2022
    • Glostrup Church 2022
    • Amager Bio 2020
    • Amager Bio 2020
    • Den Gamle Biograf, Gørlev 2020
    • Copenhagen World Music Festival, Koncertkirken 2017
    • Gergina, Festival of Vlach Music, Negotin, Serbien 2017
    • Koncert, Haskovo, Bulgarien 2017
    • Koncert, Haskovo, Bulgarien 2017. Med Gergana Ørvad
    • Album releasekoncert, VerdensKulturCentret, København 2017. Med Nikolay & Panka Stoyanovi
    • Palladium, Malmö, Sverige 2016
    • Arne B, Svendborg 2016
    • Tranquebar, København 2016
    • Sankt Jørgensbjerg Kirke 2016
    • Workshop, Emmaus Højskole, Haslev 2016
    • VerdensKulturCentret, Copenhagen World Music Festival 2015
    • Koncert, Metronomen, København 2015
    • Vollsmose Kulturhus 2015
    • Klaverfabrikken, Hillerød 2015

    Calendar/news

    2023:

    27.01 18.00 Trio performance at Mohabet, Copenhagen

    25.05 kl. 11.00. Orfeus plays at "The Biggest Horo", Frederikberg City Square.



    Links and broadcasts:

    Indslag med interview BTV (bulgarsk TV 1) 16.10.17: https://btvnovinite.bg

    Udsendelse med interview på Radio Beograd 2, 02.10.17 - https://www.rts.rs

    Album

    ORFEUS BALKAN ENSEMBLE's first album "Zakachka" ("joke") cam out in the spring 2017, and has been very well received, in Denmark as well as in Bulgaria!
    The album contains folk music from all over Bulgaria - as well as our own compositions.
    Please contact us to purchase a CD - or find the album on digital platforms as Spotify or iTunes.

    album Zakachka

    Tracklist:
    1. Snezhina Rachenitsa - “Balgaro-Datska Zakachka” /
    Snezha’s Rachenitsa - “Bulgarian-Danish Joke” (Filip Filipov)
    2. Nyamalo momtsi za Doina / There were no lads for Doina (trad.)
    3. Sitno Karay Tsigularyu / Run it finely, fiddler (trad.)
    4. Buchimish (trad.)
    5. Shopska Suita / Suite from Shoppe region
    (trad./Filip Filipov/Adam Ørvad)
    6. Brala moma ruzha tsvete / A girl was picking rose flowers (trad.)
    7. Pozdrav za Enis / Greetings for Enis (trad./Filip Filipov)
    8. Kalino, malino / Кalina, raspberry (trad.)
    9. Songs from the land of Orpheus - Suite from Rodopa Mountains (trad.)
    10. Horo za Trakiytsi / Dance for Thracians (Adam Ørvad)
    11. Baino mi sa i lyube le / My brother threatened me, dear (trad.)
    12. Slow melody & Kopanitsa Orfeus (Filip Filipov)

    Material for download

    Press photo 1
    Press photo 2
    Orfeus - press text

    Kontakt/booking
    Adam Ørvad - +45 27 14 12 70 - mail@adamorvad.com
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