Jacques Tati eat your heart out. This is a wonderfully absurd and compelling 30-minute video shot, by a true master of the wedding video craft, to VHS/Hi8 of a performance by the undisputed king of Balkan clarinet players, Ivo Papazov. The Bulgarian maestro rips through a 30-minute long jam with his band that sounds more like Gong or Hawkwind than it does any conventional wedding band you may have heard.
But then, this is Bulgaria, a place that takes its music pretty seriously, and Papazov’s choppy time changes probably have more to do with Bulgarian folk traditions than any mimicry of Western jazz/prog styles:
The Bulgarian folk music is known for its “asymmetrical” rhythms ( defined by the famous Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Bela Bartok as “Bulgarian rhythms” ), where the musical time is not split in even beats, but in longer and shorter. Such asymmetrical rhythms may in Europe only be in use in Bulgaria, Norway and Sweden. Wikipedia, Music of Bulgaria.
As well as digging the jazzy, proggy sounds, keep an eye out for some hilarious moments during the video:
- appreciative audience members slapping dollar bills on band members’ foreheads;
- At about 6.00 minutes in, the newlyweds make their round, handing out dosh to the band;
- the newlyweds looking a little perturbed at 12.50 as the band takes a decidedly spacey turn with the music;
- Papazov’s various “WTF are you doing?” looks cast at band members and the sound guy throughout the show;
- at 15.21, the very cool guy in beard and white suit stuffing dollar bills into Papazov’s jacket;
- the ridiculous 80s video kaleidoscope effects from about 21.00 including the bride dancing in all her pink taffeta dress splendour;
- a sweating Papazov becomes king of the kids near the end of the video, as more people get up to dance;
- a big guy who looks like Papazov’s manager gets into a heated discussion with the venue manager (?) about something (maybe the music’s too proggy/weird/spacey?), on finishing the discussion he starts doing a boogie with his equally imposing Rob Reiner lookalike friend, Ivo then comes over and wraps up the whole shebang.
Also check out this excellent clip of Papazov on a late night music TV show from the 80s.
