La începutul anilor 90, într-o perioadă în care muzica asiatică era considerată mult prea exotică, dub şi reggae, o muzică moartă, drum and bass de neimaginat, iar oricine cânta o muzică dance la orice alt tempo decât 100bpm era desființat, a apărut un line-up inedit de DJ, producători şi muzicieni din toate tipurile de medii şi culturi, care au decis să schimbe scena muzicală. De atunci, TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND au devenit celebri pentru faptul că mixează stiluri şi ritmuri muzicale, fără a ţine cont de genuri, bariere tehnologice sau normalitate muzicală. FANFARA TIRANA a fost formată, în 2002, din membri ai fanfarei armatei albaneze, care au decis să formeze împreună o orchestră. Din repertoriul lor fac parte cântece de nuntă şi cântece din tradiția kaba, care îşi au rădăcinile în Albania de sud şi sunt interpretate la clarinet şi vioară, cu accentul pus pe interpretare individuală şi improvizație. La Balkanik Festival, Transglobal Underground și Fanfara Tirana își unesc forțele pe aceeași scenă într-un spectacol despre care veți dori să le povestiți și nepoților.

TRANSGLOBAL UNDERGROUND: Back in the early nineties drum and bass were two separate things, Asian music was still bracketed as exotic, dub and reggae as dead and anyone playing dance music at any tempo than 100bpm was taken out and shot. Into this sad epoch emerged an ever changing line-up of DJ’s, producers and musicians of all sorts of backgrounds and cultures, linked by a refusal to be straight jacketed into one style and a belief that mixing musical genres didn’t have to be some sort of obscure artistic statement.

Sine then, Trans-Global Underground have become notorious for mixing musical styles and rhythms with a total disregard for musical genres, technological barriers and common sense. Sometimes they’ve been right in the public eye, sometimes behind the screen, but they’ve never stopped being influential. Their mix whatever would have been unthinkable if they hadn’t thought of it first; now that sort of cultural mash-up is commonplace. But they’ve long moved on…

A little history: Their first single ‘Temple Head’ was a statement of intention and gained the status of a club anthem despite operating at a slow funk tempo with Indian classical rhythms, Brazilian percussion and guitar solos. It took a while for the rest the world to catch up, but by the mid-nineties the growth of ambient and trance styles had created a hunger for new ideas and Trans-Global Underground had plenty. By now an acclaimed live act featuring Arabesque vocals, Nepalese temple guardians and a multitude of rappers and percussionists, their first album, ‘Dream of 100 Nations’ reached the top fifty, got ecstatic reviews and topped the indie charts… the record company, Nation Records was totally independent at the time. The second album, ‘International Times’ went top forty and launched the group into Europe.

FANFARA TIRANA: On 2002, the group was started by members of the Albanian Army band who decided to start a brass band and let the chips fall where they may. The repertoire included the songs they played while moonlighting at weddings and songs from the kaba tradition, which has roots in south Albania and is primarily played on clarinet and violin with an emphasis on individual interpretation and improvisation. They also got in touch with the Albanian most famous folk singer Hysni Zela, who performed for more than 30 years with the Albanian National Folk Song and Dance Ensemble, and lured him out of retirement to come and sing with them.

Their basic repertoire comes from Albanian traditional music but the arrangements add other Balkan rhythms to create a unique fusion of styles from all over the country, the region, and the world. They use elements borrowed from dub reggae, jazz and what sounds like Balkan funk to get people up and dancing. They've become a hot attraction on the European festival and world music circuit. Their debut album Albanian Wedding, was released internationally on the German Piranha label in 2008.

During the past 10 years Fanfara Tirana has performed on the biggest European festivals as WOMAD, ROSKILDE, SZIGET, VENICE CARNIVAL and has been selected on WOMEX, MEDIMEX and others.