Made by Friends



„Modern rock, without a doubt!” – this is the answer you get when you ask the guys from Ajabez about their music. Truth is, however, that no matter how confident they sound, their music hardly fits any narrow style definition. They are not afraid to mix their modern rock sounding with magical Bulgarian folklore irregular rhythms, to freshen up with funkier moments or let the gentle voice of the violin touch the deepest parts of the heart of their audience. Perhaps this is why if you look around at their concerts you will see so many different people – different in age and appearance, and with incompatible musical tastes… For one exception – all of them will be there because of Ajabez music. And because of their message. “Ajabez was born 5 years ago in the streets and parks of Sofia, where hundreds of young people live in a world of loneliness and drugs”, explains the band front man Mihail Stefanov. “We wanted to help them somehow – to give them hope, to show them that there is a reason to go on, to fuel them with faith – but the words proved powerless. Then we discovered the power of music, we started writing songs that easily transferred our message to the people. And they started listening… We haven’t stopped doing that ever since.” And they haven't stopped. Despite their short history Mihail Stefanov (vocals), Boyana Zhelyazkova (violin, back vocals), Vasseto Krumov (guitar), Christian Rahnev (bass guitar) and Milen Raykov (drums) have performed in all major clubs in Sofia. Moreover, the band put together major events like United Continent (4km club, Sofia) in 2009 and Euphorism (Sofia Live Club) in 2010. For the last 5 years Ajabez music has reached the hearts of thousands of people on different local and international events like the Hungarian Sozo Fest (2006), Easter Fest in Bossilegrad, Serbia (2007) and Gospel Blues & Rock Fest in Sofia (2007). The band's message of hope reaches even people in refugee camps in Uganda, where Ajabez’s drummer Milen took part in two humanitarian missions. His volunteer work in Africa echoed in most of the leading Bulgarian media and many young Bulgarians were inspired to follow his example. In 2007 the Bulgarian National TV announced Ajabez best young Bulgarian band. The first single Never Walk Alone stayed 12 weeks at the top 5 of the in the National Radio music chart. This same song won the band a global album distribution from the Sonic-Bang! online contest in 2009. Ajabez believe in having friends rather than fans, which is why they invited people to produce their first album. The first Bulgarian music album with more than 300 producers was born and named ‘Made By Friends’. Its promotion is to happen in the fall, together with the first national tour of Ajabez band. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.