Bulgarian Cartrader im Reeperbahn Festival Special

Bulgarian Cartrader im Interview; Fotocredit: Jack Shelton

Für mich gehört Bulgarian Cartrader zu einem der Highlights auf dem Reeperbahn Festival. Am Mittwoch und Donnerstag spielt der Musiker beim Festival. Mittlerweile lebt er in Berlin und versucht in einem ziemlich wilden Genremix. Das klingt live roh und ohne Schnickschnack. Aufgewachsen in Sofia, künstlerisch sozialisiert in Berlin, ist Daniel Stoyanov ein Weltenbummler und Selbstmacher erster Güte und wir freuen uns sehr ihn live sehen zu dürfen.

MI, 21.09.2022 / 21:20 UHR
FESTIVALTAG: MITTWOCH

UWE
Spielbudenplatz 21-22, 20359 Hamburg

DO, 22.09.2022 / 23:20 UHR
FESTIVALTAG: DONNERSTAG

GRÜNER JÄGER
Neuer Pferdemarkt 36, 20359 Hamburg

In a good two weeks you will be playing two gigs at the Reeperbahn Festival. How big is the anticipation? And what can we expect trom your pertormances there?

Bulgarian Cartrader: „Oh i´m so glad and excited about this. Needless to say how helpful it is to finally show my music to that kind of audience, but besides that – it´s just one of these moments of the year where you meet old and new friends in those tiny bars after or before the gig and everybody is on that magical high rotation. So I guess i will be part of these high times and eventually contribute my decent part to that special energy. It will start and close with the sound of an engine 😉 And in-between you will hear almost the whole album played by my trio….“

You are originally from Sofia. But you’ve been living in Berlin for over 9 years now. For a musician and performer like you, the possibilities there should be endless, right?

Bulgarian Cartrader: „Well, only the internet is endless. A city like Berlin has interesting people living in it. But it needs determination to find them and create a situation in which you can actually work together. And sometimes these opportunities stay locked for you because of multiple reasons… There have been times i profited from this web of people. But in recent times I noticed that working on my own and finishing stuff on my own without the distraction of a music scene – call it a certain kind of self inflicted limitation by avoiding working with too many people – that this way of living and working is somehow more appealing to me and bares better fruits. So in a phase like that you could basically be on any other place in the world. All you need is an ok internet connection in order to send stems to a mixing engineer 🙂 „

Does that sometimes mean that you have to tear yourself apart artistically or do you go into it completely?

Bulgarian Cartrader: „Both. Artist are often torn. And full of contradictions. When is an idea to poppy, when is it too artsy. What is my version of perfect. All these questions that pop up when your inner world of music gets in touch with the worldwide music entity / the music already existing – all these questions have to be answered by you yourself eventually – there’s no such person, or place or institution that can help you with that.“

With „Motor Songs“ your debut album is in the starting blocks, although you’ve been active as an artist for a decade. How do you classify your first real album as a milestone in your career?

Bulgarian Cartrader: „I never have been more active and hands on ! This album is my first act of really going actively towards shapping my own sound and vision and reaching out for a new state of freedom. I was at a point zero when I started this. You have this „Nullpunkt“ also in the terminology of fuel engines. It´s the birth of inertia. So I simply followed my instinct there and now I’m on my way.“

Your sound sounds pretty refreshing and somehow it seems like it’s doing you a lot of good and giving you a certain creative freedom, like with „No Other Drug“, for example, so that you can do your own thing completely detached from band projects. Or is that misleading?

Bulgarian Cartrader: „Yes, like I said I’m my own master now , I produce it, so I take all decision and I have to live with them , also with the fact that thing could have been done better….they often can be done better ,,, but first you have to get anything done at all, right .. I also choose the indie way of doing music , because I feel that this is the genre bending section of the music industry where get judged only by the power of your ideas – are you surprising , are you exciting? – that’s what counts for the ears of indie playlists out there – I like that a lot!“

Your energy also seems to be a never ending flow. Do you have to put on the brakes a little right now or do you like to be in the fast lane all the time?

Bulgarian Cartrader: „I just follow the flow – the last two years it flows pretty well ! I’m full of ideas and curiosity and the big problem is time – how can I find enough time to dedicate myself to each little musical idea i have stored on my phone or started as demo on my laptop – sometimes I’m on too many ideas – and I get exhausted – so I also learned to step back for a few days . Go fishing and pretend to be someone else…“

The Reeperbahn Festival is always more of a business festival, i.e. a showcase festival. To what extent do you see yourself standing in this shop window?

Bulgarian Cartrader: „See here’s a little trick i´d like to share with you and all of the other artists that feel a bit tense about this. I just simply imagine that rbf is a showcase for their mgmts, agencies, label people. The bands are out of this, they just do their thing, play a gig and enjoy themselves on stage – the ones that have to put up a show are their mgmts 😉 imagine the artists motivating their mgmts the days before , sorta like : „you go and show them your worth! you can do this! I believe in you! Go and make me proud…!“ You know that’s how I handle this situation :))) maybe I ignore reality here… maybe 😉 „

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