Theodosii Spassov & Hemus Collective

• Theodosii Spassov, Bulgaria (kaval, vocal)
•  Bojan Z, Serbia (piano)
•  Martin Gjakonovski, Macedonia (piano)
•  Kostas Anastasiadis, Greece (drums)

The musician Theodosii Spassov has long been considered “kaval player of the planet”. So it should be of no surprise that he has become inspired with renewed ambition to seek out new possibilities for performance. His fans too have been following his new and original ideas with great interest and Theodosii has gathered a new diverse group of musicians to achieve this aim. Newsweek refers to it as the “new musical genre which he is creating”, based on a mixture of folk music with elements of jazz and classics, and it is already attracting more and more followers all around the world.

Theodosii’s latest project the HEMUS COLECTIV, presents jazz on a world level with Balkan roots. To this end he has invited proven musicians from neighbouring countries, such as the pianist Bojan Zulfikarpašić, better known as Bojan Z, considered to the be the “best jazz musician in Europe” (2005), the “best jazz musician in France” (2012), Martin Gjakonovski on the double bass, whose musical biography includes more than 80 album recordings with some of the greatest names of modern music, as well as Kostas Anastasiadis on drums, whose revolutionary method in percussion instruments led to the creation of the special prize in his name at the Musical Institute in Hollywood.

“The idea of creating the “Hemus Colectiv” was to bring together Balkan musicians who have become established names outside their country of birth. Boyan has mixed blood – Bosnian and Serbian, he studies in Paris and still lives there. Martin is from Skopje, but lives in Cologne, while Kostas was born in Kilkis (Kukus). He graduated in California and now lives in Greece. Their musical skills are universal, freely and gracefully mixing with the styles of world musical culture”, said Theodosii Spassov. “An import detail is that the musicians love to play both jazz music and Balkan music. This gives a cultural uniqueness to the project and provokes subsequent generations of young musicians to follow this path of world musical integration, while retaining the original view point of their origins. The album is entitled “FLIGHT FROM REALITY” since music and art both provide a flight from reality and when we as people are more spiritually enlightened, we can tolerate the harshness of daily life more easily. Our ambition is to show how we as musicians from different nationalities through the language of music can turn our back on mundanity and vulgarity, while looking for vitality and perfection in human communication”.