Last Friday, in Quantic Club, we stepped out of the maze of our daily existence for a brief period of time. We entered and enjoy a unique experience, rich in notes, words and images. Everything painted a complete moment in time. I watched the audience keeping a distance from the stage, almost shy, but respect. I felt gratitude to be able to live such moments, as well as humble, calm and of living the present moment completely.
I’m not only a metal listener, but a lover of good music, world and folk music being counted among my preferences. I knew both bands very well, but I only had the joy of seeing The Moon and The Nightspirit on stage several times before, even though Irfan performed in Romania before. But I was yet to see them live. Now a few days after the concert, I still feel that I and everyone else who attended the even in Quantic was fortunate to have had the chance to see them, and I am deeply grateful to the organizers and to everyone who made this happen.
For those who don’t know much about Irfan, they are a Bulgarian band, similar with Dead Can Dance (they covered one of their songs, Salamander), who has managed to capture the Balcanic spirit in a unique manner. Everything in their show, the lights, the voices, the multitude of instruments they used, created an otherworldly atmosphere. In between the songs, the vocalist Kalin Yordanov briefly revealed the story behind the songs. I felt like being a child again, being told about adventures and fairy tales. We heard songs about ancient astronomic legends in the Middle East, traditional Bulgarian love songs, the tale of a crusader knight’s love story with a woman from Damask. It felt like the world was unfolding before our eyes and ears and time and distance were no longer a barrier. This time I have to write a few positive notes about the light show in Quantic, which contributed to the atmosphere. When Kalin Yordanov was holding a drum with the light behind, I felt like watching an eclipse or an invocation to the Sun.
Setlist: Burana / The Cave of Swimmers / In the Gardens of Armida / Invocation / Return to Outremer / Hagia Sophia / The Eternal Return / Salamander / Stargazers of Babylon / More, ta nail / Rusa
The second band, The Moon and the Nightspirit, are originally from Hungary and played in Romania several times before. They were presenting their latest material, Metanoia, that we reviewed here – if I’m not mistaken, they played the whole new album except for the last track. By far, their performance last Friday was my personal favorite because they managed to entwine the softness and ethereal imprint of their music with attitude on stage. They involved the public, who seemed to enjoy their music a lot, and their new songs have a different vibe live because the band imprints an energy to the music that I felt is somehow missing from the record – their music loses somehow the feeling of melancholy, and is so much more lively. Again, the lights and smoke effects created a sense of magic and mystery that completed the music, together with Agnes’s discreet but still powerful presence on stage. I was humming my favorite songs, Alkonyvarazs, A Feny Diadala and Metanoia. A special mention goes to the drummer, Gabor Vegh, and his awesome solo.
I’ll leave you with the full setlist, which of course I didn’t memorize, it would have been a difficult task since the titles are in Hungarian. A kindred person “borrowed” a printed setlist from the stage – thank you. Also, you can watch a photo gallery on our Facebook profile, here.
Setlist: A Hajnal Koszontese / Az Elso Tunder Medigezese / Alkonyvarazs / Mysterion Mega / Ejkonszonto / Kilenc Hid / A Feny Diadala / Tuzben Szuleto / Kristalymezok / Tavaszhozo / Metanoia. Encore: Rego Retjem / Holdtanc.
