Belonoga - Through the Eyes of the Sun (2013)

Gergana Dimitrova, a.k.a. BELONOGA, is best known as one of the magnificent singers from ‘Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares’ and ‘Eva Quartet’. While working with Hector Zazou on ‘The Arch,’ Eva Quartet’s last project, she was inspired to realize her own musical ideas. She rediscovered the primordial power of the voice inside her and developed it along with her compositional talent. Due to the variety of her ideas, the process of creating the project was arduous. It required not only a deep knowledge of Bulgarian and global music traditions, but also a rediscovery of the abilities and freedom of her own voice.
Many hours of work were necessary to create an absolutely harmonic relationship between the new musical ideas and the various traditional influences. This happened in the studio between 2009 and 2012, working jointly with sound engineer Alex Nushev under the direction of producer Dimitar Panev. Belonoga’s deep knowledge of Bulgarian folklore and her encounters with the ancient musical cultures of Australian Aborigines and African Pygmies over the years have led to a combination of musical ideas provoked by the primordial and structured by the melodious. Thus, an extraordinary new music, extremely rich in emotions, came into being – a dialogue between the archaic culture of the Aborigines and Pygmies and the melodies of Bulgaria.
The foundation of her work – the human voice – sought the direct connection between them in a new musical world. Belonoga has created a whole musical universe. A key role in the project was also played by Alex Nushev, who helped Belonoga to realize her ideas over years of studio work. The rest of the participants include Kostadin Genchev – one of the best Bulgarian kaval players and founder and director of the groups Bulgara and Wild River; Violeta Petkova – gadulka (rebec); Dimitar Tishev – accordion; Dimitar Hristov – tambura (pandore); and Greek multi-instrumentalist Vangelis Karipis - percussion. Special guests in the project were the magnificent Armenian singer and musician Hayg Yazdzhian (percussion, voice) and jazz doyen Anatoly Vapirov (saxophone). The project was mixed by Peter Walsh (who also worked on ‘The Arch,’ as well as with Peter Gabriel, Pulp, Stevie Wonder, and others) and Alex Nushev.
After working on successful projects such as Ivo Papazov’s album ‘Fairground,’ winner of the World Music Award from the BBC, and ‘The Arch,’ the joint project of Eva Quartet & Hector Zazou, the producer Dimitar Panev brought unconventional ideas to the project, helping create a new musical and sound experience. The emergence of some music is inexplicable, but the music itself speaks strongly of the person who created it. In Belonoga’s music the listener is taken to a new musical world - beautiful, bright, archaic, contemporary and harmonic.