Negura Bunget

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At the beginning of 1995 the underground Romanian Black metal scene saw first light of 'Negurã Bunget'. Forming as a duo under a different name 'Wiccan Rede', with Hupogrammos Disciple's on guitars / vocals / keyboards and Negru on drums. They utilized a raw, primitive, atmospheric style of black metal, which unfortunately failed to stir wide interest of the public. For the following 2 years the band went onto release their first full-length album, along with a scattering of demo's and an official mini-album (sometimes considered as their second album) under the official name of Negurã Bunget. 

I got in touch with the band and Negru answered my questions.
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Your
biography has been covered in your ProgArchives profile so let's
bypass the biography details. But which bands were you influenced by
and why did you choose that name?

We got into
Black Metal with the Norwegian classics, Emperor, Enslaved,
Satyricon, Burzum, Darkthrone... all influenced us quite a lot, but
not in a direct way. We never wanted to play what other bands play,
but rather shape an identity of our own, same as they did. As for the
name, it just came naturally, trying to symbolically express our
musical and spiritual identity. We
see Negură Bunget as a
powerful dark presence of an intense nature, connected with the local
nature and with its spirit, ascending and descending, shaping through
the clouds of the present. You can sometimes feel it is there, but
you cannot grab it. Only your clean mind and soul can came close of
its presence. From the very beginning we shaped ourselves into
relating with it, so that is now part of us.

Your
band has been associated with the black metal scene. Do you regard
yourself as a black metal band and what is your views on the black
metal scene?

I do think
we are a Black Metal band, but that's mostly based on the conceptual
aspect, rather than the music itself. I'd say there are some positive
as well as some negative aspects on the current Black Metal scene.
Things are more soulless nowadays, there's a lack of that original
spirit and dedication, all being replaced by commercialism and
industry. On the other hand the still are bands keeping the original
spirit, and also some bringing innovation.

How
is the metal scene in Romania now? What advice would you give to new
black metal bands wishing to express themselves?

The Romanian
Metal scene is growing quite fast I'd say. There's a huge number of
concerts and festivals happening there, but there are not so many
labels unfortunately, so for the local bands it's quite hard to have
album released and therefore to evolve further. I advise a new band
to shape an identity of its own, rather than follow what other bands
do. It might be not the easy way, but it is way more rewarding if you
manage to succeed this way.

This
is an archive based interview also intended for the fans you get well
after both you and I have passed away so let's go straight to your
albums. Please tell us more about.....

Zîrnindu-Sã
from 1996

Zînindu-să
marks the first step under the mark of Negura Bunget. I’d say both
the music and the concept from behind it changed quite a lot compared
with the first demo. The pass to Negura Bunget was not just a fancy
change of name, but the beginning of something new. This whole
evolution was due both to the experience we gained, as well as due to
the spiritual level we reached. I’d say the music is quite
enthusiastic and that’s why some might still prefer it. I totally
understand such a position, as we also enjoy it the most from some
point of view.

Măiastru Sfetnic from 2000

Through
the 56 minutes, “Mãiastru sfetnic” moves you from slow haunting
moods, to unleashed speed and power, evil vocal possession,
atmospheric local calm and intriguing techniques. Just 6 epic tracks
of what can be simply described:
Black Metal Art. “Mãiastru sfetnic” represents the
transilvanian’s band vision on how a perfect Black Metal world
should have been like. The whole lyrical aspect of “Mãiastru
sfetnic” can be seen as an universal concept poem-legend
envisioning our personal vision upon the prophetical side of the
territory known as Transilvania, upon the connection between the
Black Metal ideology and the natural spiritual impulse of these
lands. Starting with the first track the elements of this world are
introduced on the proper order – from the infinity, eternity,
through intention, incantation begins the creation, the disclosure of
before known forms and purposes, its comportamental behaviour, social
architecture, all linked with the nobility and wisdom of the
Transilvanian beingness… All this disclosure is presented at the
same time through the eyes of a central character, a potential leader
of such a world, whose evolution is parallel with the one of the
whole world. His define structures is shaped, consecrated by
sacrificial endeavour, by battles fought within (the mystery), by the
ceremonial blood of the overwhelming unknown… until all fades into
the blackness.

'N Crugu
Bradului from 2002

‘N crugu
bradului opens and closes a complete and expressive cycle, a unitary
vision melting mythological ambient, psychedelic and Transilvanian
feeling into a complex layered musical and ideological structure.
Sought original musical and
lyrical structures, a deep personal emotional approach, make the
album not just a
cyclic dream journey throughout the essences of Romanian
spirituality, but also a stage in Negură Bunget’s own initiation.
Symbolically based on the universal
principle of 4 (through its exploration of the 4 the seasons), ‘N
crugu bradului explores the core of the local traditional human
wisdom, the millenary spiritual contend emanated by these lands.
Spirituality, tradition, feeling, behavior, wisdom, music… all
merge together to offer a coagulated and complete view over the
Romanian Traditional Spirituality seen as a whole.

Om from
2006

It all
starts from the title of the album. OM means man/human in Romanian
language. But at the same time OM is one of the most important
concepts in the traditional esotericism, close connected with the
elevation of the spirit. The album is somehow between these two
sides, one local and one universal, dealing with the awakening of the
conscience, of the inner self, its elevation through meditation,
through different dimensions… It is more or less a spiritual
concept which we lived through when creating the album. So it can
transform a listener who accepts and gets into it the same way it
transformed us making it.

Virstele
Pamintului from 2010

Vîrstele
pămîntului (ages of the lands) is as the title suggests an album
about ages, about places of the earth and places of the spirit, about
bounds transcending worlds. It’s an album that tries to shape a
personal vision on the essences that made us who we are now. We look
back so that we can understand use, the present and our future.
Symbolically the album is based on the principle of 9. 9 is the triad
of the triads, symbol of fulfillment of the creative effect. It
symbolizes the return of the multiplicity to unity (like the snake
biting his tail). 9 is the number of patience, of meditation and
harmony. The earth is where we came from and where go back into, the
one from above and beyond us. Understanding and respecting it means
to understand yourself, your purpose and destiny. Vîrstele
pămîntului is an album about embracing your destiny, about choosing
and consciously assuming a way of life.

Maiestrit
from 2010

We
were never satisfied with the original outcome of the album. We felt
there was a lot more that we didn’t managed to capture, both in
terms of production and performance. So our mind set was to make it
right this time, do every little aspect as it should be. Was not
easy, and we ended up working on this material maybe more than on a
new album, but it was worth in the end. There
are a lot of differences between the two versions. Maybe not major
ones, but if you look into details, a lot is changed, modified,
re-shaped… so that in the end we rather see Maiestrit as a new
material than a simple re-recording.

Focul Viu
from earlier this year.

Focul viu is
our first live DVD. It was recorded back in 2008 at a concert in
Bucharest. We planned this from scratch, so it was a major project,
finding the right place, the right event there, organize all the
equipment for the video and audio recording... But in the end it all
turned out quite well, so we are happy to put all the hard work into
it. The DVD features tracks up to the OM album.

How
is the creative processes in your band from coming up with an idea to
it's being recorded?

We always
start from the conceptual ideas, define the large view on what we'd
like to express, and then try to find what would be the best way to
achieve that. Translating the ideas into music is a complex process,
where lots of changes and new ideas pop up, so we might start from
something just to end up in a completely different place... We like
to explore both conceptual and musical ideas, open new perspectives
with each material we work on, and there's no exact receipt on how we
do that. We always add or change things until the very last moment,
sometimes while we are already recording. The good thing is we have
our own studio where we rehears and record, which helps a lot and
offer us room to experiment.

You
are from Romania and your vocals are in your native tongue. Why
vocals in your native tongue instead of they easy way out – vocals
in English?

We thought a
lot about doing English lyrics, several times. But it is hard to have
them done even in Romanian language. We always look for subtle
nuances and very specific descriptions, and sometimes the realities
Romanian words describe are not present at all in another language.
Doing lyrics in English would simply be a different experience, which
I’m afraid would not come so close to the spirit we always seeks to
embody in our music.

What
have you been doing this year, what is your current status and what
is your plans for next year and beyond?

We
are now in the middle of our 15 years anniversary tour, entitled
Transilvanian Legacy, preparing for some dates in Romania in
December, followed short after by
Germany, Belgium, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland... and then to
conclude around the end of the year in Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.
2012 will keep us busy again... we have Paganfest in Merch, 24 dates
in Europe along Eluveitie, Primordial and Solstafir, then our first
US and Canada tour in April/May, which include a special performance
at Maryland Deathfest. In summer we'll do again some festivals, and
then for the second part of the year we just postponed our Australian
Tour. Beside the concerts we are already working on some new
materials. This time it will be a full musical and visual project,
which will spread over 3 albums... The Transilvanian Trilogy. First
part, entitled TĂU (your) should be ready
in 2012.

To
wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this
interview?

Thanks for the support!

Thank you to Negru for this interview

Their PA profile is here and their homepage is here