Alter Ethno

Bulgarian fusion band Oratnitza are of a generation that grew up not only familiar with local folk music, but who could travel easily abroad, and therefore also became familiar with such global popular music forms as hip-hop and multiple forms of EDM. The band are three instrumentalists and three singers (one male and two females), are equally at home with more esoteric styles such as Australian indigenous music, in the form of haunting didgeridoo drones, and Ethiopian popular music, represented by its unusual pentatonic ambassel scale, which mingle with traditional Bulgarian men's singing from the Pirin mountains, and the sound of the kaval (flute).

The ease with which they handle all these disparate elements allows them to extend their experiments even further, with the seamless incorporation of post-Coltrane modal jazz and breakbeats from guest musicians. Their native command of both Bulgarian and worldwide styles means that they can combine both without compromise – the traditional singing and kaval playing are gorgeous but so too are the complex rhythmic frameworks and saxophone solos. The band have learned to arrange and layer them in such a way that each current joining the flow retains its purity, coming together to form a combination with its own deeply felt identity.