 The band Farmers Market was formed in Trondheim during the fall of 1991. All members where students of the Jazz Department at the Conservatory of Trondheim. At first Farmers Market started out as a free-jazz quintet, but soon found itself heading in a completely different direction; towards Bulgarian folk-music. The music of Farmers Market is a mixture of Bulgarian folk music, jazz melodies, popular music and humor. Farmers Market has become one of Norway’s most popular live bands, playing at all kinds of venues and festivals - jazz, folk and rock music. Farmers Market released their first CD, Speed/Balkan/Boogie, in February 1995. This was a live recording from Molde International Jazz festival in 1994. The CD features 4 guests from Bulgaria; two singers from the women’s choir “Lés mystére dés Voix Bulgares” (now known as “Angelite”), and two folk musicians.
Farmers Markets first saxophonist, Håvard Lund, left the band during the fall of 1995 and the band had to find his replacement. With their friends’ help they got in touch with Trifon Trifonov from Bulgaria. After an audition over the telephone (..!) he joined the band in December 1995. In 1997, Farmers Market released their second album with saxophonist Trifon Trifonov. This was an extreme album with elements of many different styles and ideas from bluegrass in odd meters, to Metallica-like versions of traditional balkan tunes, and commercial music mixed with Stockhausen! The album got very good rewiews from many contemporary music magazines as well as rock, folk and jazz magazines in Europe. A few years later this album made a certain Mr. Mike Patton gave up his breakfast and initiated a spamfest towards the bandmembers, the result of which saw the light in spring of 2008 – Surfin´USSR.
Farmers Market went into hibernation for a year around 99-98 (or was it the other way around). Upon returning to the bopping R(umenian) & B(ulgarian) scene in 2000 Farmers Market made a new record, released for the German label Winter and Winter. The title of the album is a secret and we’ll never reveal it to you.
Around the summer of 2004 Farmers Market postponed the idea of making a new record. After spending all funds on 2 mindblowing drumtracks, it took some time to collect money and resume their work. Recording in hotel rooms, Stians basement, Trifons kitchen, living room and toilet, Finns loft, Nils-Olavs ´backyard, Dag Yri Studio and a ski lodge in Eidsvoll the result was rushed to print in December 2007 and eventually released to everyone’s surprise in the fall of 2008. |
