Goa trance scene on the Balkan Peninsula

[Richpa]

It's not a big secret to see the constant rising of new artists from the Balkans area in recent years. For sure this part of Europe played a significant role in the general psytrance scene during the last decade, offering many great artists in psytrance and progressive trance genres, but in the last couple of years, the sound of Goa trance is slowly rising and we're seeing more and more gatherings, new artists and music coming from this area of very steep mountains surrounded by the Adriatic Sea on the northwest, Ionian Sea on the southwest, the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea on the south and southeast, and the Black Sea on the east and northeast.

 

I'm not gonna writte about the exact origins and influences, but I would rather give my perception of artists and labels coming from this area who are worth checking.

The Balkan Peninsual covers entirely countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, but it also partially covers other countries such as Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey and Romania.

 

There is no dominant influence within Goa trance produced by artists from Balkans, and mostly you can experience various styles such as oldschool influenced Goa trance (Imba, Radical Distortion, Lunar Dawn), melodic Goa trance (Artifact303, Mindsphere, Goasia), full-on/psytrance influenced Goa trance (Nova Fractal, Siam, PsiloCybian), more darker type of Goa trance (E-Mantra, Arronax), and so on.

Due the fact that this part of Europe has been blessed by the many cultural influences from the east through the history, the general sense for melody and especially for the Oriental type of melody (which are a common part of Goa trance music in many examples) has been developed long time ago and it became a huge part of the folklore and the tradition of these countries. The exact number of artists coming from this huge area is impossible to give at this moment, due to my limited knowledge about each and every artist, but I will list some of my favorite examples and you can check them out if you haven't already:

M-Run (Croatia)
Nova Fractal (Croatia)
Liquid Flow (Croatia)
Goasia (Croatia/Serbia)
Lunar Dawn (Croatia)
Omnivox [ex-Vox] (Croatia)

Adrenalin Run (Croatia)
Project Shidartha (Croatia)
PsiloCybian/Screw Loose (Croatia)
Artifact303 (Romania)
E-Mantra (Romania)
Primal Source (Romania)
Suufi Astrolab (Romania)
Radical Distortion (Greece)
Zed Reactor (Greece)
Siam (Greece)
Omegahertz (Greece)
Psychedelic Quest (Greece)
Ion Vader (Greece)
Arronax (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
CoaGoa (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Imba (Serbia)
Hybrid FX (Serbia)
Space Elves (Serbia/Bosnia & Herzegovina/UK)
Oxi (Serbia)
Goasia (Serbia/Croatia)
Chemical Products (Serbia)
Nemesis (Serbia)
Mindsphere (Turkey)
Travma (Turkey)
Boneva (Turkey)
InnerSelf (Macedonia)
Cosmic Dimension (Macedonia)
Celestial Intelligence (Macedonia)
Sirius (Macedonia)
Paramatma (Macedonia)
Astraveta (Albania)

Dhamsuta (Albania)
OGO (Bulgaria)

Record labels specialized in Goa trance sound which are active are Ezel Ebed from Turkey, Neogoa netlabel from Croatia, Underground Alien Factory netlabel and Ultiva Records from Serbia, Goa Galaxy netlabel from Bulgaria, Moonquest from Romania and ElxisDG from Greece.

The party scene also is getting bigger and bigger and often we're seeing parties 100% dedicated to Goa trance music only. This tred for sure will continue to grow in upcoming years thanks to the rising interest in Goa trance music on bigger festivals aswell, to name one of the biggest in this part of Europe - Lost Theory Festival.

I hope you guys liked this short review of Goa trance music present in this area and please feel free to improve my lists and add your own suggestions, or leave a comment! Cheers

[Penzoline]

Curious as to why did it start getting more popular over there in the first place? Many great artists.

 

I also wish there was a total comprehensive list of purely goa artists and their locations, could make an interesting infograph!

[radi6404]

The Balkans, especially Croatia and Serbia, really contribute to goa trance. Greece contributes aswell and has many goa trance fans. Bulgaria is not a country that contributes a lot to goa trance and since I am from Bulgaria and stayed there half year a few months ago. I can tell that Bulgaria is not a goa trance country. There are a few goa trance fans but otherwise the music is very unknown and unpopular. You would not hear goa trance or any other kind of psychedelic music in a nightclub or a disco and I find it really a shame.

[Imba]

The Balkans, especially Croatia and Serbia, really contribute to goa trance. Greece contributes aswell and has many goa trance fans. Bulgaria is not a country that contributes a lot to goa trance and since I am from Bulgaria and stayed there half year a few months ago. I can tell that Bulgaria is not a goa trance country. There are a few goa trance fans but otherwise the music is very unknown and unpopular. You would not hear goa trance or any other kind of psychedelic music in a nightclub or a disco and I find it really a shame.

 

Few months ago there was nitzhonot and goa trance party in Plovdiv

 

And i think they will make more soon.

[technosomy]

little bit one sided so far

don't forget all the proggy kings are from these neck of the woods

ie. nerso lyctum etc, not to mention, am awaiting the nertum project!

don't know what you guys got in the water over there!

[Richpa]

Curious as to why did it start getting more popular over there in the first place? Many great artists.

 

I also wish there was a total comprehensive list of purely goa artists and their locations, could make an interesting infograph!

Well, in Serbia progressive trance and full-on music scene was always very strong, in Croatia general psytrance scene was also OK, the early Underwater Overground festival, also many darkpsytrance gatherings were held later, but the absence of Goa trance music in general on parties must be one of the reasons why in Croatia many producers decided to get involved more into Goa trance. Luckly, now we got decent list of talented artists. It's possible to make such a list but I can't find each and every artist, maybe people can throw their suggestions here

[Shpongled247]

Nice post Richpa, really cool to see how it is growing so much there.

 

No wonder you are having amazing lineups at parties like this http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php/topic/68528-balkan-goa-fanatics-presents-suntrip-records-10-years-anniversary-11121307/ at the moment!

 

Maybe the balkans is the next belgium? haha.

 

Anyway, im interested as to what the goa scene was like in the old days there? ie, was there one at all do you think? or is it something relatively new that has sprouted the past years.

[Richpa]

Maybe the balkans is the next belgium? haha.

 

Anyway, im interested as to what the goa scene was like in the old days there? ie, was there one at all do you think? or is it something relatively new that has sprouted the past years.

 

I don't think the Balkans will have strong party scene like in Belgium soon, but in my humble opinion we already have a lot more artists dedicated in Goa trance.

 

I'm not that much familiar with the very early scene here. There were people for sure who promoted music, maybe the most notable was Astralis crew who organized big indoor parties with Astral Projection, Tsyushi Suzuki, etc. and of course Dogma project who released full-lenght album Land Of Utopia in 1997 and the epicentre of all things was Croatia capital Zagreb, so I'm sure older goa-heads from Zagreb will know much more about the early movement there. Will forward this topic to Stevo, he might share some infos

 

10 Years of Astralis (AP live 2008):

 

[mars]

If we didn't have the Balkans, there would be much less interesting Psy music these days.

Look at Ten Spins Around The Sun: 6 out of the 9 tracks of CD1 are from there! And 5 out of 8 tracks of CD2 too.

 

don't forget all the proggy kings are from these neck of the woods

ie. nerso lyctum etc, not to mention, am awaiting the nertum project!

 

+1, definitely

[radi6404]

Few months ago there was nitzhonot and goa trance party in Plovdiv

 

And i think they will make more soon.

I don´t know if that will happen. In Bulgaria the young people don´t listen to goa trance except some Geeks. Most people don´t have a clue what goa or psy is and will certainly not go to such parties. I was there a few months ago and the situation is pretty bad. Bulgarian people are big patriots and listen to their own Pop and Rap music, that is all. But we can´t change the people. Luckily Croatia and Serbia have a bigger goa scene.

[Imba]

I don´t know if that will happen. In Bulgaria the young people don´t listen to goa trance except some Geeks. Most people don´t have a clue what goa or psy is and will certainly not go to such parties. I was there a few months ago and the situation is pretty bad. Bulgarian people are big patriots and listen to their own Pop and Rap music, that is all. But we can´t change the people. Luckily Croatia and Serbia have a bigger goa scene.

 

Goa scene? WTF man... not counting legendary artists, there is only few small parties done by 2 djs again and again... which is actually good thing but it's no much bigger than Bulgaria

 

 

But yeah, we have plenty of artists and i know some underground ones. Some guys from north of Serbia work for few years now, completly analog stuff but production quaility is not high. On other hand tracks are pure old school... and i hope they will improve soon and release something

 

We have enough artists to fill some festival line up for couple of days and lots will be playing in Croatia in June as Shpongled247 said before! I am just not sure would there attend lots of people but one is sure: this will be biggest PURE goa event in history of balkan goa scene!

 

 

 

I noticed there are many new people addicted to goa in last 2-3 years here in Serbia. I directed many of them in goa way and many to come in future. People become more respectful to goa even if they don't understand and know how to dance to it... they are so happy to hear it! Goa is like drug for them. I see some comments how they are happy and addicted to sounds, it's so beautiful to hear/see that. Back in 2008 when i started there was only Goasia but they were already moved to Croatia. Hopefuly our party scene could be like Belgium or even Israel in few years. That would be cool!

 

 

There is one crazy thing happening in Macedonia

GoaHuman + Menkalien (Cosmic Dimension), Sirius, Celestial Intelligence and few more not that known are all in same city, Kumanovo. It's not big city, something like 70k but they have very week goa party scene which is bad. One of finest producers in Goa trance today, all from same place and no parties there. Actually whole Macedonia is week as Serbia, or even weeker.

 

 

 

After all when you check it, Balkan is epicenter of goa artists and almost no scene

 

PS. I think i know some more artists from Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro, if i can remember i will give to Richpa to update the list

[Guest The Hypnotic LFO Room]

I've never played in most Balkan countries (except Greece) with Elysium. Never think it will happen too. Guess it's mostly a local scene. But I've been playing in most Balkan countries with techno and House. Weird

[Richpa]

I've never played in most Balkan countries (except Greece) with Elysium. Never think it will happen too. Guess it's mostly a local scene. But I've been playing in most Balkan countries with techno and House. Weird

Not weird at all, techno and house music has been popular in Croatia for many years. During the summer days, complete Adriatic coast hosts some of the biggest names in clubs and last year Split hosted Ultra festival

 

[radi6404]

But yeah, we have plenty of artists and i know some underground ones. Some guys from north of Serbia work for few years now, completly analog stuff but production quaility is not high. On other hand tracks are pure old school... and i hope they will improve soon and release something

 

We have enough artists to fill some festival line up for couple of days and lots will be playing in Croatia in June as Shpongled247 said before! I am just not sure would there attend lots of people but one is sure: this will be biggest PURE goa event in history of balkan goa scene!

 

I noticed there are many new people addicted to goa in last 2-3 years here in Serbia. I directed many of them in goa way and many to come in future. People become more respectful to goa even if they don't understand and know how to dance to it... they are so happy to hear it! Goa is like drug for them. I see some comments how they are happy and addicted to sounds, it's so beautiful to hear/see that. Back in 2008 when i started there was only Goasia but they were already moved to Croatia. Hopefuly our party scene could be like Belgium or even Israel in few years. That would be cool!

 

There is one crazy thing happening in Macedonia

GoaHuman + Menkalien (Cosmic Dimension), Sirius, Celestial Intelligence and few more not that known are all in same city, Kumanovo. It's not big city, something like 70k but they have very week goa party scene which is bad. One of finest producers in Goa trance today, all from same place and no parties there. Actually whole Macedonia is week as Serbia, or even weeker.

 

After all when you check it, Balkan is epicenter of goa artists and almost no scene

 

PS. I think i know some more artists from Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro, if i can remember i will give to Richpa to update the list

I see. Bulgaria indeet does not have an impressive goa trance scene at all and only very few people listen to it. <it always depents on the people. When you check out <macedonian radio stations, you will find very diverse music and some electronic music even on commercial radio stations. That means that <macedonia is allready diverse in music, so it is not a big surprise that the goa scene is growing in Macedonia. Macedonia is musically very diverse and advanced and we probably will hear great goa from Madeconia. I will check the artists you mentioned and hope they sound nice. In future we will hear more from Macedonia.

[Rotwang]

Macedonia.

[GapTheMind]

It's coming to ya!

[Stevo]

 

I don't think the Balkans will have strong party scene like in Belgium soon, but in my humble opinion we already have a lot more artists dedicated in Goa trance.

 

I'm not that much familiar with the very early scene here. There were people for sure who promoted music, maybe the most notable was Astralis crew who organized big indoor parties with Astral Projection, Tsyushi Suzuki, etc. and of course Dogma project who released full-lenght album Land Of Utopia in 1997 and the epicentre of all things was Croatia capital Zagreb, so I'm sure older goa-heads from Zagreb will know much more about the early movement there. Will forward this topic to Stevo, he might share some infos

 

10 Years of Astralis (AP live 2008):

 

Well .... here are 2 stories about Goa Trance in Croatia .... one is from Zagreb, other is from Pula, in Zagreb in ninties where Astralis parties, in Pula Dj Marino made first underground events from 95/96 but no connection with Zagreb ones .... i wasnt in Pula so im not the one to tell about that scene there but that one in Zagreb i was living full time so here it is ...

 

Yeah, the old story about Astralis parties was about boom of Goa Trance in the world that came later to Croatia and city of Zagreb, and was a project of succesfull and powerfull people that had the best club in balkans and it was called "The Best" every party regular 2000 - 5000 people, organisers were Dogma boys with Dj Go Cut, all of them very talented and promo-mighty people who knew how to make big events with not too much of big names and take advantage to situation that came with new revolutionary music and movement in that golden period of goa trance music in the world, but never to book a regular big names on lineup, there were Avi Nissim dj set once, Fred Gitaux from POF Rec (sorry if i mistake proper name from Fred ) Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Dj Yanniv ... but never big oldschool acts from gold period (marketing and making big money to make without chance of losing it) but domestic djs played that music full time offcourse .......

 

i was there too and had the best time of my childhood every 5, 6 weeks in a year fueling my blood with the best sound i could ever wanted ... but soon after some 2 years like that they choose their path and started to go with the trend flow and started to be more revolution psytrance like in rest of the world and that transition was complete in 2001 but with regular Retrodelica parties, last party like that was in early 2003 when M-run and me played our tracks on last "Retrodelica" what was complete goa trance whole party ... party was amasing, i have whole video of our gig then, will upload it on youtube soon for sure

 

after that was a black hole like in the whole world, i started to study piano wide from Zagreb, Mario (M-run) started to make other styles of trance and other electrionics, all other goa trance dj started new direction exept Vox (he was regular Astralis dj) who allmost gave up from all of it when we started to make own goa trance events Ecliptica and called him to play at our party .... party was cool, but too early for something and after 2, 3 parties it failed to make new ones ..... but then started production revolution, slowly but in good direction ... Suntrip was born in 2004, Metapsychick and Voxs album "Inner Polarity" was preety successfull, all todays succesfull Croatian artists were on all biggest trance forums like TrancePleme.com and shared their improvements .... soon after i meet alot of rest nostalgic nineties crew and started to make some outdoor private parties called Oddvods ... they were once or 2 pro a year but every people who were there was back everytime when we made another event .... all of it was preety slow grown but healty, in 2007 trance parties started to be more often but goa trance was only on Oddvods, sometimes whole night, sometimes in a morning but more regular as before .... lots of fights were about our music cause mostly people was thinking that goa trance its dead music and low productionwise .... but we never gave up ... when i was back from my study in Germany there was whole new scene as before, ofcourse, minimum goa trance, maximum dark and progg, till Lost Theory camed ... after that scene in Croatia gained alot levels in once in whole directions of Trance so now we have a nice scene with lots of succesfull and mighty organisations who were followed with enough people to follow it .... here i would like to end my retrospective review of scene here, cause too much to tell and write

 

want to say only that goa trance in Zagreb was in another black hole till last year before summer when i spontaly started one story with a nice party in a mountain near Zagreb, with Joske on lineup plus domestic acts who were producing alot without having proper regular gigs till then, it was a big success and made us to belive that we are on a good way to make some unique and own scene what can be big and undestroyable with all people that want to be part of it from the begining lots of years before .....

 

in one year from then, we manage to find the best club in balkans (for sure, if not the best, one of them, come to our big party with Seb Taylor this saturday https://www.facebook.com/events/814825855198773/permalink/826688054012553/ ) and ofcourse to our 3 days of pure open air Goa Trance event to celebrate Suntrip Records 10 years Shpongled mentioned in this topic ... i have a big expectations from both, and if all goes well .... next season will be to die after with a big smile ...

[Martian Arts]

My experience is limited to Greece where I started partying in 1994 and had an absolutely brilliant scene, that was subsequently ruined right after the new millenium by greed and opposing teams trying to hurt one another and the effects of that "war" where evident on the whole scene.

 

Nowdays there are very few parties that bring artists I would go and listen to.

 

Outside of Greece in the Balkans my only experience has been in Serbia where I played Kragujevac on a Friday and Belragde the Saturday after. Serbians love psy-trance and they are party animals...it was a miracle I caught my flight after barely getting any sleep for 2 days, having had LOADS of rakija and partyed like there's no tomorrow.

[Richpa]

..it was a miracle I caught my flight after barely getting any sleep for 2 days, having had LOADS of rakija and partyed like there's no tomorrow.

[abasio]

I had no idea that all of those guys came from the Balkan area. A lot of good stuff coming out of there then, keep it up lads.

 

Radi>>>What's the music scene like for other electronic genres? Techno, house, regular trance etc?

[Guest The Hypnotic LFO Room]

Not weird at all, techno and house music has been popular in Croatia for many years. During the summer days, complete Adriatic coast hosts some of the biggest names in clubs and last year Split hosted Ultra festival

 

 

I would not call that House or techno. Its the worse kind of commercial EDM.

 

But you are right. There is a strong past and present of House (real house and deep house) and techno in the Baltic's. Just not in the commercial clubs when we talk house/techno.

 

Hopefully the goa/psytrance will continue to grow in the right direction away from commercial psy-pop with machinegun basslines we see all over these days.

[Penzoline]

Hey! Arty is great!

 

D:

[Richpa]

 

I would not call that House or techno. Its the worse kind of commercial EDM.

I agree, the point was to show that the biggest names (no matter the quality) are present there. I don't have time to list all the parties that happened with less popular names which aren't chesse like thoose on the flyer

[Stevo]

I had no idea that all of those guys came from the Balkan area. A lot of good stuff coming out of there then, keep it up lads.

 

Radi>>>What's the music scene like for other electronic genres? Techno, house, regular trance etc?

Ofcourse, there is alot more of that genres on the "main" scene ... but latest years in very big downfalls, because of minimal techno deseases .... here you go some domestic balkan techno artistis that i like a lot, its mixture of oldschool techno and trance melodies but mixed with style ... half Serb, half Croatian collab in Zagreb just wait for the intro and first beats, melody will come very soon and take you to that journey

 

http://www.mixcloud.com/branimir-orehovec/form-liveadvanced-techno-researchmocvara-zagreb/

 

http://www.mixcloud.com/branimir-orehovec/form-live-ustekavanje/

[Richpa]

Good stuff Stiven!

When it comes to techno and Croatia I can't think better example than mr. Petar Dundov. Good God, that guy knows how to create unique atmospheric techno music, with flawless production.

https://soundcloud.com/petardundov