Journal
Music, performances and life at the agency.
Articles: 31
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Pamir, Hafiz and the electric guitar: the sound of Daler Nazarov
How a musician from the Pamir tradition set Persian poetry to rock guitar, then spent two decades gathering folklore and rebuilding it with frame drum and tanbur.
Enver Izmaylov: from Fergana weddings to the Lausanne Grand Prix
The guitarist was born in Fergana in 1955, settled in Crimea in the late 1980s and won the European guitar competition in Lausanne in 1995.
Evgeny Fedorov, film composer: from the noir Coma to Cannes
Wild East in 1992, a grim detective soundtrack in 2012, a Cannes prize for a puppet-animation short in 2025: the screen work of the Tequilajazzz frontman.
Jyoti Supernaturel: crystal balls, world instruments and one long album
A French multi-instrumentalist and contact juggler who plays didgeridoo and shehnai, performs on festival stages and released the album Miracle of Balance in 2021.
Kraina Mriy: the festival Oleh Skrypka has run since 2004
Stages, craft alleys and guests from Turkey to Niger: the ethnic music festival Skrypka founded, and the partners who share its stage.
From Franek to Kyiv: how PATSYKI Z FRANEKA began
Three friends from Ivano-Frankivsk wrote rap greetings to order. Today PATSYKI Z FRANEKA live in Kyiv and play festivals.
Dutar, doira and a sampler: how Sevara Nazarkhan's sound is built
A two-stringed lute, a frame drum, loops and beats: how Sevara Nazarkhan set Uzbek tradition against modern production on three different albums.
Celluloid: the Tequilajazzz album the band played in full 23 years on
From the TaMtAm club in 1993 to a Moscow hall in 2021: how the album that made Tequilajazzz widely known kept coming back to the stage.
Vopli Vidopliassova on stage: from a Belfort cassette to a 40th-anniversary tour
A stranger taped their 1991 show at a French festival. Thirty-five years later the band plays a KEXP studio, a Malanka night in Minneapolis and a festival with an orchestra.
Asea Sool: a guitar from the family workshop and a voice that improvises
A bowed guitar with a built-in microphone, a wide-ranging voice and a children's concert where the audience took over the stage.
Daler Nazarov: from a Dushanbe guitar to the cinema screen
A minister's son who left a state ensemble, put Hafiz into a rock arrangement, spent the 1990s in Almaty and scored more than twenty films.
On stage with Enver Izmaylov: duets, orchestras and The Klezmatics
From duets with Ivo Papazov and Burhan Ocal to two June 2025 concerts with The Klezmatics in New York State: the stage partners of a solo guitarist.
Zorge and Optimystica Orchestra: Evgeny Fedorov's other two bands
A spy-fiction art-rock quartet from 2010 and an orchestra in strict suits: how Fedorov's two ensembles besides Tequilajazzz sound and where they played.
Didgeridoo, shehnai, berimbau: the instruments behind Jyoti Supernaturel
A didgeridoo from Australia, a shehnai from India, a berimbau from the capoeira circle and crystal balls with their own history: the sources of Jyoti Supernaturel's sound.
Oleh Skrypka without the band: bayan, orchestra, jazz cabaret
A two-hour one-man show, a retro jazz cabaret, a 60-piece folk orchestra and a Christmas tour of Canada: the formats of Oleh Skrypka's solo work.
On stage: festivals, tours and friends of PATSYKI Z FRANEKA
A storm over Kamianets-Podilskyi, a Toronto request, a Berlin open day: stories from the live shows of PATSYKI Z FRANEKA.
Sevara Nazarkhan: from a Tashkent café to Real World Records
A vocalist's daughter, a surprise set at WOMAD and a debut produced by Hector Zazou. The road of Sevara Nazarkhan from Taxi Blues to the Humo Arena.
Pause, acoustics and Kamni: how Tequilajazzz came back to the studio
In 2010 Fedorov announced the end of the band. Eleven years later Tequilajazzz recorded Kamni in about two weeks. What happened in between.
Tantsi: the Vopli Vidopliassova tape recorded in one night
A 1989 demo copied from hand to hand in Kyiv got its first official release in 2023, with a new mix, a vinyl run and a book.
Asea Sool and the screen: a soundtrack for Nana Jorjadze
The Batumi band performed the music for Nana Jorjadze's My Mermaid, My Lorelei and later released it as an album. A look at the tracks and the festival circuit.
Daler Nazarov live: a small circle of musicians and old friends
A concert in Moscow with a frame drum and a Sufi singer, a duet memory of Batyrkhan Shukenov, a Tashkent hall of two generations and a festival stage in Almaty.
Two hands on the neck: how Enver Izmaylov's guitar sounds
Izmaylov plays electric guitar like a keyboard and borrows from Crimean Tatar, Balkan, Turkish and Uzbek music. A look at the technique and the tricks behind it.
Jyoti Supernaturel on stage: two shows, jam sessions and joint records
A twenty-minute crystal ball programme, a forty-minute card and coin show, and a trail of joint releases with Tetouze, ELENKRIG, Lucid Mantra and others.
Ukrainian garage: the sound and songs of PATSYKI Z FRANEKA
Electronic beats, hip-hop delivery, bandura and sopilka: how the band builds songs and which of them carry its catalogue.
Gabriel, an orchestra and the Humo Arena: Sevara Nazarkhan on stage
An opening slot on Peter Gabriel's tour, backing vocals on Big Blue Ball and three nights with a symphony orchestra in Tashkent: the live side of Sevara Nazarkhan.