Mission

The Balkan is known mainly by its wars, especially the last and most horrible one. Even the word 'Balkanisation' was invented because of that. Musically, the Balkan is also known by its quirky folk music and dances in predominantly uneven rhythms. Or lately, the Gipsy Balkan scene, by its mind-blowing Brass orchestras who share the same primordial energy as the British Punk music.

But the Balkan has also another side, in its culture, way of life and its music: it's the meekness, the gentleness, the deep and honest humanity and love for the being, be it a human or an animal.
Musically, this characteristic is expressed in the Bosnian Sevdah (Севдах) style for example – a unique blend of  Christian and Islamic music; in the Greek Kathistika (καθιστικά τραγούδια) – songs for listening while sited; by the ethereal & sweet Macedonian rubato songs that seem not to have an end...

And this is the aspect of the Balkan culture and music which Valkania explores.  Our songs are more like whispering with a quiet voice, rather than loudly and firmly crying. We are aiming to add the Balkan values to the pool of beautiful things that Humanity can produce.

Hence Rob, our piano player. He is a jazz pianist, inspired chiefly by the Modal Jazz. As  our music is quite modal as well, he adds a stardust of Western sophistication, quietly and undisturbingly. His modal kingship is in every song, one has only to listen and recognise it.

Mariana is our voice. Being Bulgarian, she can easily sing in Macedonian, Serbian and of course English (besides her native tongue); she studied in Greece, so she sings with conviction our Greek songs; she wont sing a song if she doesn't feel the lyrics from deep down inside.

Viktor writes the music, the whole band arranges it. Having lived half of his life on the Balkans and the other half in Western Europe, his music writing bears the layers of these two seemingly different cultures. He plays the Greek Bouzouki, Macedonian Tamboura, Baglamas, Guitars.

We play in uneven rhythms. Also 'uneven' scales (Balkan and Oriental modes). It feels like swimming against the current, having in mind the industrialisation (machine-sation) of the popular music in the last few decades. But that's a good sign, to me it means we are on the right path.

There are two parallel styles in our music: one is the 'traditional' one, where the songs sound as they come straight from the Balkan folk; it's pure escapism, really.
The second style is the urban, eclectic; influenced by the London reality and music scene, but still having Balkan elements.