A Platform for Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
ABOUT
We have been traveling nationally for the last 3 years, playing mostly at festivals and outdoor events. Our music has been codified to the genre "Eurasian Prog," which is Eastern European (Balkan) and Gypsy music with a modern Folk/Rock intensity that is at the core just fun, groovy, dance music.
VaNa MaZi was born out of an interest in culture and a love for the music of the people. With a song bank collected through years of travel, we fuse together the music of Greece, Italy, Serbia, Bulgaria, Central Asia, Nepal, and the rest of the Balkans with electronic-inspired beats, and a pinch of our own American heritage. We perform, arrange, and compose music that invites the listener to open their ears and experience something new, something ancient, something contradictory even, yet something that is most definitely moving forward through space at a speed that cannot be measured only in 4/4 time. We are interested in participating in more sustainable music projects, including outdoor festivals that have an emphasis on social and ecological awareness.
Vana Mazi are the most interesting and original group I have encountered for quite some time, both musically and lyrically. Their music is literally addictive as well as intoxicating, and although they might have mainstream pop fans bewildered by their sound, they will equally inspire passion and devotion from those in the know… - Freelance music journalist Alex Faulkner (June 2015)
"This incredible Eastern European folk-dance group is fresh off a West Coast tour. Dripping with talent, charm, and charisma, one does not merely "attend" a VaNa MaZi show – one participates. Difficult to classify (Gypsy-slava-jazza-folk?), easy to enjoy, they make their bread and butter on music that would give Gogol Bordello conniptions." - J. Angelo Cassaro, Six Austin Bands and Their Drink Pairings (Aug 22, 2013)
VaNa MaZi was born out of an interest in culture and a love for the music of the people. With a song bank collected through years of travel, we fuse together the music of Greece, Italy, Serbia, Bulgaria, Central Asia, Nepal, and the rest of the Balkans with electronic-inspired beats, and a pinch of our own American heritage. We perform, arrange, and compose music that invites the listener to open their ears and experience something new, something ancient, something contradictory even, yet something that is most definitely moving forward through space at a speed that cannot be measured only in 4/4 time. We are interested in participating in more sustainable music projects, including outdoor festivals that have an emphasis on social and ecological awareness.
Vana Mazi are the most interesting and original group I have encountered for quite some time, both musically and lyrically. Their music is literally addictive as well as intoxicating, and although they might have mainstream pop fans bewildered by their sound, they will equally inspire passion and devotion from those in the know… - Freelance music journalist Alex Faulkner (June 2015)
"This incredible Eastern European folk-dance group is fresh off a West Coast tour. Dripping with talent, charm, and charisma, one does not merely "attend" a VaNa MaZi show – one participates. Difficult to classify (Gypsy-slava-jazza-folk?), easy to enjoy, they make their bread and butter on music that would give Gogol Bordello conniptions." - J. Angelo Cassaro, Six Austin Bands and Their Drink Pairings (Aug 22, 2013)
