Oleg Andreev

The flamboyant multicultural Swedish dance-pop group Army of Lovers formed in 1987, the brainchild of composer and producer Alexander Bard. Five years earlier Bard first emerged as a member of the short-lived trio Baard, best known for the single "Life in a Goldfish Bowl." In 1985 – in drag, no less – he led Barbie, a band also comprised of hairdresser Jean-Pierre Barda (alias Farouk), Yazmina Chantal, and model Camilla Henemark (aka Katanga); two years later, Bard, Barda, and Henemark (now performing under the name La Camilla) founded Army of Lovers, taking the name in honor of the 1970s cult movie Armee der Liebenden.

The InFusion album, compiled by Theodosii Spassov (kaval) and Ivan Shopov (programming and guitar) from 2016 under the same name, contains 10 tracks. All of them bear the multi-man spirit of the live concerts that the two musicians have been doing during the last two years in Bulgaria and abroad. The minimalist jazz, immersed in an electronic atmosphere and combined with folklore elements that both perform, has undergone substantial evolution in the studio version. The most significant novelty is that all artists' compositions include guest musicians from several continents, each of which is an institution in the world of ethno jazz and world music.

More than a hundred years ago, the world discovered the sound of the Russian balalaika. By the efforts of the virtuoso enthusiast Vasily Andreev, "a poor, seemingly imperfect instrument" (in his own words) has acquired European charm and has become a genuine exponent of the Russian folk spirit in instrumental music.But today, in the XXI century, the repertoire for the balalaika has gone beyond the "folklore" limits. Alexander Nikolaichuk writes about this in the booklet to his CD. A virtuoso artist of a new generation, winner of more than 20 All-Russian and international competitions, soloist of the National Academic Orchestra of Folk Instruments of Russia named after N.P. Osipova, Alexander Nikolaichuk successfully presents the art of playing the balalaika at the best concert venues in the world.