KARPAROV & BRUNN

Urban world jazz

Our project

Urban World Jazz | Berlin . Sofia | Andreas Brunn (Deutschland) 7 string acoustic guitar / Vladimir Karparov (Bulgarien) soprano & tenor saxophone

The duo KARPAROV & BRUNN plays East-European Jazzand manages a musical fusion of Occident and Orient. Jazzelements, tradition of the Balkans and modern sounds are organically mixed.

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The outstanding Bulgarian saxophonist Vladimir Karparov is skillful with both the musical tradition of the Balkans and modern jazz. He is said to be one of the most promising talents of Bulgarian Jazz and was distinguished for his producing several times: for instance with a prize at the International Competition for Jazzmusicians in Monaco.

Andreas Brunn creates his own style by connecting different musical influences. With his seven string guitar he even replaces a small orchestra. His guitar is a magical instrument which can also be used as drum or bass.

The pick-up is stereo so that bass- and melody-strings act on different chanels and almost sound like two different instruments. That enables a special perception of the sound.

At the German national guitar composition contest, arranged by the professional German magazine “AKUSTIK Gitarre”, Andreas Brunn won the first prize. In 2003 he received a grant from the department of science, research and culture in Berlin, which gave him the opportunity to travel Bulgaria and performing with Stojan Yankoulov (Perc.) and Ateshan Husseinov (Guitar).

New CD

With New Urban World Melodic Grooves, Brunn, Karparov and Rainer take their audience on a special kind of musical journey of discovery. Their compositions, in which Balkan rhythms mix with funk, Latin and world sounds, testify to extraordinary virtuosity and joy in playing. They never sound bulky or deafening, but always fresh, lively and sparkling. As you would expect in a pulsating melting pot.

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Since 2020, the two duos Kaparov & Brunn & 13 Strings have been performing together under the label Doumeeting

The DUOMEETINGEnsemble has just recorded a new CD under corona conditions. The same will be released onLAIKA Recordsin March 2021.

Christian Erber, NDR(radio station): “DUOMEETING– a sound that can only arise in the cultural melting pot of a metropolis like Berlin. Created by three virtuosos on their instruments, to whom cultural boundaries and musical stereotyping are completely alien.

Biography

VLADIMIR KARPAROV was born in Sofia in 1977 and graduated from the French high school in 1995 with a diploma. He started playing the saxophone at the age of 13 and was soon giving concerts with a Bulgarian wind orchestra. He played jazz for the first time as a street musician in Sofia. During this time he performed with big bands as well as with smaller formations and also played rock, soul and ska.

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From 1995 to ’99 his musical home was the State Music Academy “Pantcho Vladigerov” in Sofia – Karparov had chosen jazz and popular music as his main subjects.
In 1999 he began to study jazz at the Hamburg University of Popular Music and successfully completed his studies at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin.

Participation in various festival events, numerous concerts and awards in Europe, India and Japan complete the picture of this versatile musician. He played with Theodosii Spassov, Milcho Leviev, Ivo Papasov, Okay Temis, Yaldaz Ibrahimova, Jiggs Whigham, Martin Lubenov, Gerard Presencer and John Hollenbeck, among others.

ANDREAS BRUNN – born in 1964 in Weimar, has been playing the clarinet since he was six, began to learn the guitar at the age of fourteen and has been a musician in bands of various styles ever since. He studied guitar and music theory at the “Franz Liszt” University of Music in Weimar.

His composition “Two Faces” was awarded 1st prize in the guitar composition competition Open Strings in 1999, announced throughout Germany by the specialized magazine AKUSTIKGitarre.

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The guitarist has given concerts at various European and Asian festivals and has worked with Petri Hakala, Stoyan Yankoulov, Ateshan Husseinov, Uli Bartel, Mack Goldsbury, Ralf Siedhoff, Ferenc Snetberger and has given concerts with a solo program. Andreas Brunn took conga lessons with Topo Gioa and teaches percussion using the Ta-Ke-Ti-Na method.

In 2003 he was a scholarship holder of the Senate Department for Science, Research and Culture, Berlin in Bulgaria and in 2008 also a scholarship holder in Finland.

In the summer of 2004 and 2007 he was the artistic director of the EU-supported project “Young Music Caravan Europe”, which traveled 7,500 km with young musicians from Europe and made guest appearances at renowned festivals in a large number of countries.

Press

ACOUSTIC GUITAR

“The exclusive teamwork between a guitar and a saxophone: The present duo disc recorded in Berlin by the string artist Andreas Brunn and the saxophone master Vladimir Karparov from Sofia is a clever and geographically unorthodox addition to the relatively thin field …” – Stefan Franzen

Jazz podium

“… Andreas Brunn, known for his play in For Free Rands (CD“ Transversal ”), has found a duo partner with the Bulgarian saxophonist Vladimir Karparov, who is the guitarist’s previous efforts for more brotherhood between Western Europe and the Balkans with a delightful and mentally engaging dialogue The crowning glory is the lack of boundaries. You have to listen deeply to the ten-piece dialogue, which is not an East, not a West Side story, but both. In this respect, the song title “East Side Story” is only one half of the range of a thoroughly successful partnership … “- Alexander Schmitz