1. After the departure of Sol Faur and Hupogrammos, Negura Bunget has a couple of new members. Who they are? Could you please introduce them shortly?

Corb – vocals and guitars. He’s a good friend of mine. We worked with him in our studio for a few years, and he also performed some acoustic guitars and vocals for the Negura Bunget live DVD we recorded last year (which will be released soon on Prophecy Productions). Beside working with me on Din Brad project, he’s also leading the Syn Ze Sase Tri band (their debut album will be released on Negura Music later this year).

Spin – guitars. He is also playing guitars in Syn Ze Sase Tri.

Gadinet – bass. He’s an old friend as well. He was supposed to join Negura Bunget some years ago, but for different reasons it didn’t happened then.

Inia Dinia – keyboards. She was playing live in the band for 3 years already.

Ageru – vocals / percussions / pipe / xylophone / dulcimer. He also played live in Negura Bunget for almost 6 years.

2. Yes, Inia and Ageru have played live with Negura for a long time. I think they will be gladly a part of the process of creation, not only live reproduction, won’t they?

We together as a group feel we now have a new chance and an opportunity to do something meaningful in our lives, and I’m sure all (and especially Inia and Ageru) feel eager to meet the challenges ahead.

3. Do you think that all of the newcomers will adequately substitute both leaving members?

You can never substitute entirely a person with another one, that’s for sure. So the idea we started with is not that. We always looked in Negura Bunget for members that have the necessary ability and the will to dedicate totally to the band. And all the members in the present line-up meet these standards.

4. To be honest, I am pretty curious about the voice color of your new vocalist. Hupogrammos has a very characteristic way of singing.

There will be two vocalists. One is Ageru, which was doing live vocals in the band for quite a while, and the new guitarist Corb as well. I think they can handle together what there was composed already, and even bring new elements for the new materials. But you will have to judge that on your own.


5. Brutal Assault gives me this kind of opportunity. You are going back after couple of years, looking forward?

Yes, the first time we played at Brutal Assault is a memorable time for me. I had broken leg back then, so I had to play with a restrain. It was pretty crazy. So sure, we are now looking forward to come back there and present our music in the new lineup. We are preparing a lot of surprises.

6. Did you have to adjust your songs for the newcomers because of live performances?

We haven’t done any adjustments on the already composed songs. All the old songs will be performed just the way they were composed. We’ll also use all the traditional instruments we used in the past, and even bring new ones on the songs composed now.

7. Which are those new ones?

Some more percussion, a dulcimer, different pipes and traditional guitarlike instruments…

8. Negura Bunget was in the preparation of the new album in the period, when Sol Faur and Hupogrammos were in the band. Where is this process now?

Yes, we were working on a new album back then. But we were not advanced at all, and there were no recordings done yet. We started of course everything from zero with the new line-up, and we already have new materials composed. On the upcoming festivals we’ll play some of the new tracks, and if all goes well, the new album will be released before the end of the year, just as initially planned.

9. Should we expect some changes in the musical style of Negura Bunget on this album? Both ex-guitarist had probably a big influence in the creation process.

Yes, of course there will be some changes. Even in the past, there was always an evolution between our albums. And now, under these circumstances, things will probably be even more obvious. I’m confident though we will be able to continue the same natural line started 15 years ago.

10. I saw a video from Infermo Festival catching you performing one of that mentioned new songs. It sounded much more progressive than your previous works. Is this the path you want to take with your new line-up?

The song performed at Inferno was the only song composed in the old line-up after the release of the OM album. We won’t use that song anymore though in the new line-up. As for the other work, for the moment it’s a bit too early to say how the outcome will turn out.


11. What about your project Din Brad? In our last interview, you mentioned that debut should have been released earlier this year, but nothing has happened up until now.

There were some delays with the plans for the album, and now we hope to have it released as well before the end of the year. I can say already the album will be entitled Dor. Dor is an unique Romanian word concept describing a fundamental characteristic of the local spirit. Dor is your heart longing for something you had and lost, longing for something you wished yet never had, longing for a person, a place, a time... Dor reflects a Romanian mythical time. The albums will be composed from two distinct elements. On one side there are authentic Romanian traditional songs, sung by local performers and recorded in their original environment. On the other side there are some personal visions and reinterpretations of Romanian traditional musics, performed and recorded on the studio.

12. Did you listen to Kvitrafn’s Wardruna? Is it going to be something similar?

Yes, I listen to Wardruna. It is somehow a similar approach with Din Brad, in the way that both deal with traditional influences, but musically speaking it will be very different. That’s because the Romanian Folklore and spirituality is also different from the Norse one. Even if they reflect or represent similar elements sometimes, the actual creations expressing them are different.