Kottarashky
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Kottarashky () (born Nikola Gruev (), 4 September 1979) is a musician and composer who fuses original recordings taken in his native
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, with
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
,
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
,
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and other music genres. He personally defines his style as “Balkan psychedelic”, but critics consider him as part of the "Balkan beat wave". In November 2009 the German label Asphalt Tango Records released Kottarashky’s debut album “Opa Hey”. A few months later he founded the band Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs. In 2012 they released together his second album “Demoni” under the same label.


Biography

Nikola Gruev was born on 4 September 1979 in Sofia, Bulgaria, in an artistic family. He studied architecture in his home city. After his graduation in 2003, Nikola started working in an architectural bureau. His experiments with digital music date back to his student years. Back then he was experimenting in his bedroom at home that was turned into a mini studio (Kottarashky is composing there till today). His specific style started getting shape a few years later, when he decided to integrate into his pieces samples from terrain recordings that he did during his trips throughout Bulgaria. That was how the piece “Opa Hey” was born. Nikola quit his job and concentrated almost all his energy on creating music, making his living as a freelance architect. After putting some of his tracks online in social networks, his compositions were noticed by Henry Ernst, founder of the Berlin-based label Asphalt Tango Records. In a few months Nikola Gruev signed a contract with the company. On 13 November 2009 it released his debut album “Opa Hey” and Nikola acquired the artistic name Kottarashky.


“Opa Hey”

The album “Opa Hey” quickly won the attention of the critics receiving many positive reviews, including in newspapers such as
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
and
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
. It was also acclaimed by world music
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
journalist
Charlie Gillett Charles Thomas Gillett (; 20 February 1942 – 17 March 2010) was a British radio presenter, musicologist, and writer, mainly on rock and roll and other forms of popular music. He was particularly noted for his influential book ''The Sound of t ...
. In December 2009 the album entered the prestigious World Music Charts Europe where it stayed for record-breaking 5 months and reached 3rd position in February 2010. Tracks from the album have been selected for various compilations, released in the UK, Germany and the USA.


Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs

In March 2010 Nikola Gruev (sampling, programming) together with his colleague from the University Hristo Hadzhiganchev (guitar & keyboard), Alexandar Dobrev (clarinet) and Yordan Geshakov (bass) founded Kottarashky Live Band. After some time Atanas Popov (drums) joined them. The band adapted the pieces from “Opa Hey” for live performance with new arrangement and a very specific style. Its first live concert was at the festival Music Meeting in
Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...
,
The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. A month later the band played also in front of its home Bulgarian audience. There followed a number of concerts and tours in Bulgaria and abroad. Parallel to that the band worked on the arrangement of some of Kottarashky’s compositions that had been not released so far and at the end it produced the joint album “Demoni” with which the musicians appeared as Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs. The album was released on 4 May 2012 again by Asphalt Tango Records. The response by the critics was again positive. “Demoni” reached again 3rd position in the World Music Charts Europe. Soon after the premiere of the album, Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs obtained their first professional music video to the single "
Demoni ''Demons'' () is a 1985 Italian horror film directed by Lamberto Bava, produced and co-written by Dario Argento, and starring Urbano Barberini and Natasha Hovey. The plot follows two female university students who, along with a number of rando ...
", created by the world-renowned animator
Theodore Ushev Theodore Asenov Ushev (; born 4 February 1968) is a Bulgarian animator, film director and screenwriter based in Montreal. He is best known for his work at the National Film Board of Canada, including the 2016 animated short '' Blind Vaysha'', w ...
.Noel Murray
"Two inventive animated shorts draw on the traditions of Eastern Europe"
''
The Dissolve ''The Dissolve'' was a film review, news, and commentary website which was operated by Pitchfork and based in Chicago, Illinois. The site was focused on reviews, commentary, interviews, and news about contemporary and classic films.{{cite web, url ...
'', November 2, 2013.
The video won dozens of awards for short animation movie all over the world. The rest of Kottarashky’s music videos have been done by himself. There he applies the same collage approach as in his compositions. The album release was followed by guest-tours in clubs and festivals in Europe and Asia, among which
WOMEX WOMEX (short for Worldwide Music Expo) is an international world music support and development project based in Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany ...
and
Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...
in
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
.


Guest appearances

Two of the songs in “Demoni” are recorded in collaboration with singer Tui Mamaki from the New Zealand band The Mamaku Project. Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs did one single rehearsal with her and a joint concert in Sofia. The recordings for the album were done from distance: the instrumentals were recorded in
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
and the vocals – in
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
.


Reception

In a positive review of the album ''Opa Hey!'', music critic Tim Cumming of ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' wrote, "What you hear feels like a dislocated dream ride through the pungent soundscape of night-time Sofia."Cumming, Tim (January 9, 2010). "Album of the week: Kottarashky: Opa Hey!", ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', p. 20.
Robin Denselow of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' rated the album as 3/5 and wrote, " ch of the 12 pieces here is constructed around a catchy, repeated riff, created not just from electronica, bass or keyboards, but from brass phrases, voices or strings."Denselow, Robin (January 1, 2010).
Jazz, world, folk: CD reviews: Kottarashky: Opa Hey!
, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', p. 10.


Discography


Albums

* ''Opa Hey!'' (2009, Asphalt Tango Records) * ''Demoni'' (2012, Asphalt Tango Records, artist name "Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs") * ''Cats, Dogs and Ghosts'' (2016, Asphalt Tango Records, artist name "Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs") * ''Doghouse'' (2022, Asphalt Tango Records, artist name "Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs")


Film scores

He is a frequent collaborator with Bulgarian-Canadian animator
Theodore Ushev Theodore Asenov Ushev (; born 4 February 1968) is a Bulgarian animator, film director and screenwriter based in Montreal. He is best known for his work at the National Film Board of Canada, including the 2016 animated short '' Blind Vaysha'', w ...
, including on Ushev's 2016 short, ''
Blind Vaysha ''Blind Vaysha'' (French: ''Vaysha l'aveugle'') is a 2016 animated short by Theodore Ushev, produced by Marc Bertrand for the National Film Board of Canada, with the participation of ARTE France. Based on a story by Georgi Gospodinov, the film ...
''


References


External links


Label artist page
{{Authority control Living people Musicians from Sofia 1979 births