Barbelfish Balkan Band @ Muse Performance

Barbelfish Balkan Band plays soul-stirring music from Eastern Europe and beyond, especially traditional music from Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. Village and urban music from the Balkans offers some of the most exquisite melodies, soaring harmonies and driving rhythms on the planet and Barbelfish expertly delivers them.

The group combines vocal harmonies with instrumental virtuosity on Western instruments such as cello, guitar, mandolin, and clarinet, as well as folk instruments such as gadulka (Bulgarian folk fiddle), tambura (Bulgarian long-necked lute), kaval (Bulgarian wooden flute), bouzouki (Greek long-necked lute), and tapan (bass drum).

Barbelfish formed in 2003; some of its members have been playing together in various configurations since the mid-1990s, captivated by these musical styles. The members have roots, current or past, in such ensembles as Sherefe, Planina, Rim of the Well, Trio Ojaleo, Laughing Hands, New Land Balkan Band, and the Boulder Klezmer Consort.

Barbelfish has appeared in concerts presented by the Mizel Museum, Longmont Museum, Nevei Kodesh, Alex Wilson Folk Arts Series, and others, and often plays for folk dancing in Boulder or Fort Collins.

James Hoskins – bouzouki, cello, gadulka, zurna, vocals
Julie Lancaster – accordion, tambura, vocals
Jesse Manno – doumbek, tapan, daire, vocals
Steve Mullins – bouzouki, guitar, mandolin, tambura
Amy Self – clarinet, guitar, kaval, mandolin, vocals
Loren Uecker – percussion, vocals