Etno Classic
..........A beautiful surprise from Kosovo.............
........... When I was approached by bass player Flamur Lokaj who came to watch Oniva at Bar Room Bar and he suggested bringing his band Etno Classic to do a few numbers, I did not have the faintest idea what a special and memorable experience I was about to encounter..........
... .. Etno Classic, an eight piece band of superb musicians brought their brand of a unique mix of Classical and Balkan sounds to a surprised but delighted audience at BRB. They have all the qualities of being able to fill massive concert halls in the near future as evident by the immediate crowd rush into the bar when they began to play. Classical themes, Christmas Carols, groovy Balkan sounds and dynamic solos left an impression in China Town that is difficult to forget. Many of the audience were dancing while the the rest were spellbound by the performance and the rapturous applause after every tune could be heard in the whole street. Thank goodness for video because you can now see what you missed or were lucky enough to be there and can now relive the experience.
The band was formed on October 2004 in city of Prishtina - Kosovo and has been growing in popularity both home and abroad and is steadily establishing themselves as one of Kosovo's greatest exports. We were blessed with only a small portion of their repertoire as they have built up a massive and varied selection of music. Also, they were supposed to be guesting on the night but were so good it would of been a crime to cut short their performance.
The members are : Flamur Lokaj (bass& singer), Astrit Stafai (ud & guitar), Festim Fanaj (violin& singer), Adorel Haxhia (cello), Artan Rexhepi (keyboard), Xhengis Begolli (percussion), Muhamed Al Khazali (percussion), Ajvaz (drums)