Foltin | |
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Background information | |
Origin | Bitola, North Macedonia |
Genres | Art pop, indie rock, world music, electro acoustic, alternative rock, balkan music, experimental |
Years active | 1995–present |
Website | https://www.facebook.com/foltin.band/ |
Foltin (Macedonian: Фолтин) is a Macedonian band active since 1995. Their name comes from Karel Čapek's last novel Life and Work of the Composer Foltýn.[1]
Their music is a blend of many genres which include Indie, Alternative, World music, Funk, Electroacoustic, Jazz and other. Foltin's live performances are theatrical and in a "pseudo-immigrant" cabaret style.[2][3][4] Journalist Nenad Georgievski describes their music as gravity defying and "dynamic, full of surprises, and humorous—and they blend all sorts of influences together: jazz, improv music, funk, bossa nova, chalgia, klezmer, ambient, and film music."[5] Although rooted in jazz, he states, their music "is not strictly jazz per se, as Foltin frequently blur genre lines, experimenting with a variety of styles and sounds."[6] Singer Branislav Nikolov in a 2009 claimed that his mayor musical influences were Björk, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits.
They have also worked on theatre and film music productions since 1998/1999,[1] including the score for the 92nd Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film and Sundance 2019 awards winner Honeyland.[7] The lyrics of the band's first three albums are a mixture of phonetic imitations of languages including Macedonian, Spanish, French, Romanian, and Portuguese. Over the years, it became a blend of Macedonian and English.[2][1]
The band has appeared at music and theatre festivals in Macedonia, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Belgium, England, Germany, Russia, Lebanon, Turkey, the Netherlands, and France.[8]