Enhanced Mahorka Netlabel Profile
Mahorka Netlabel Profile: Introduction
Welcome to Netlabel Profiles, the show that explores some of the best and most diverse music on the internet today. On this episode of Netlabel Profiles we visit Pleven, Bulgaria.
Pleven is most known for it’s involvement in the Russo-Turkish war. It was under siege by the Russian and Romanian armies with the objective of the liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Empire. It was a long battle, during which the Russian and Romanian armies lost 38,000 soldiers. This battle is commemorated widely throughout Pleven, with an especially unique Panormama that is comprised of original paintings, sculptures and authentic articles from the war.
Historically, the city would be significant even if it weren’t for the epic Siege of Pleven during the Russo-Turkish war. Settlers have been traced all that way back to the Roman Empire. During the middle ages, Pleven was developed as a stronghold for the First and Second Bulgarian Empire. And then this region became part of the Ottoman Empire until the Siege of Pleven.
Today Pleven is the seventh most populated city in Bulgaria and is the administrative center of the Pleven Province. It is a major economic center of the Bulgarian Northwest an Central North regions, and the third largest city in Northern Bulgaria.
One of the more interesting aspects of Pleven today is it’s one of the most ecologically clean cities in Bulgaria, and is the center of a 25 Kilometer (approximately 10 miles) green zone. One of the major modes of public transportation are electric trolley buses that cover approximately 75 Kilomters of the city.
There are lots of sites to see in Pleven, such as the Kaylak Park Reserve, the Regional Historical Museum, and the Chapel Mausoleum. For a different kind of relaxation, there is a section of town known as Cafeteria Street with many coffee houses for relaxing.
So, what Netlabel is located in Pleven, Bulgaria? Well, let’s hear a track from our featured label before answering that question…
Mahorka Netlabel Profile
That was Suncruiser (Stev Remix) by Infragreen on our featured netlabel: Mahorka, from Pleven, Bulgaria.
The man behind Mahorka is Ivo Petrov. He has been running Mahorka for around fifteen years. This puts Mahorka in the good company of labels like Kahvi Collective, and Enough Records for being around for a long time. However, from what I can tell, it doesn’t appear that Mahorka came from the DemoScene, instead they are appear to have arisen independently.
It’s that independence that makes Mahorka an interesting label. While they release music that can be categorized as pop, rock, jazz, ambient, experimental, etc. It is very much with a unique flavor of it’s own, and in many cases the releases aren’t purely one style or another, but rather a hybrid of styles that the artists on the label have cross-pollinated between each other.
In the community that has been built around Mahorka, they have made their own stamp on the music they release. Many times it’s possible to tell a release is from Mahorka just by the unique approach the artists take. This is a point of pride that Ivo Petrov is happy to point out:
Mahorka has always been about crossing them boundaries, melding, mixing and reinventing styles, utilizing some genre’s typical “technical” or compositional approaches in new, not typical cotexts and, of course, improvisation on all levels. The netlabel has cheered and released such artists and projects that others were reluctant to put out and also pushed well-known and established artists to experiment with their sounds and approaches in absolutely new ways.
Currently the label has approximately 160 releases from over 100 artists. They make their releases available through the Internet Archive and BandCamp under several different Creative Commons licenses (most frequently Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike and Attribution, Non-Commercial).
Let’s check out some more music from Mahorka for the remainder of this Netlabel Profile show…
Mahorka Netlabel Profile: Closing
Thanks for joining us for Netlabel Profiles featuring the Mahorka netlabel. If you enjoyed the music on this show, be sure to check out Mahorka athttp://mahorka.org/
This show is released under a Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-Commercial Share Alike license. All of the music from Mahorka played on this show is released under a Creative Commons license.
Be sure to check out the enhanced version of this show on The CerebralRift (http://cerebralrift.org). The posting on The CerebralRift includes:
- Additional selections from the Mahorka catalog
- Links to all the music played on this show
- Links to the references used in preparing the profile of Mahorka
- Links to the Mahorka website, and social media sites
- A printed transcript of this profile
- And an exclusive printed interview with Mahorka’s Ivo Petrov.
Thanks for joining us for Netlabel Profiles. This is your host SndChaser signing off, and wishing you the best of free listening!
Mahorka Netlabel Profile: References
- Guide to Bulgaria, Town Pleven: http://www.guide-bulgaria.com/nw/pleven/pleven/pleven
- Virtual Tourist Pleven Travel Guide: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Bulgaria/Loveshka_Oblast/Pleven-380297/TravelGuide-Pleven.html
- Great Places in Bulgaria, Pleven: https://truebulgaria.wordpress.com/category/4-towns-in-bulgaria/pleven/
- Pleven and its trolleybus system: http://www.freewebs.com/pleven-trolley/
- Wikipedia, Pleven: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleven
Mahorka Playlist
Infragreen Suncruiser (Stèv Remix)
Moki Mcfly Dichotomy Overture
Kevin Bryce One Of These Days
Sevensy & Ikipr Tibetan
Shiri Malckin Gallops
Axel Schultheiss Marooned
Kevin Bryce Templr
yourai my heart is so loud (revolved by moodix)
Deffektegg M????? ?????? ???????? (a jellyfish for mirror)
TFSL Electric Fog
Shiri Malckin The Poet
his Namelessness Is Legion A Field Trip With Dr Hoffman
yourai icant hear anything inthis noise
Mahorka Interview
1. Please introduce yourself / yourselves.
Label Manager: Ivo Petrov (Physicist, the biomedical field) Web and graphic design: Angel Draganov (Web developer and Designer) Founder and Godfather: Svetlozar Anev (Humanitarian sciences field)
2. How did you decide that you wanted to run a netlabel? (Did anyone or anything inspire you to do this?)
We did not start out of the demoscene, but the starting out of the demoscene netlabels did inspire us a lot and contributed to the decision to go for it.. As Anev says: “a bunch of “why-not” teenagers that eventually did it”. Looking back at these first moments and first years now… nobody imagined what we have started there.. and that it will become our turn to inspire eventually.
3. Why did you decide to release your works under a Creative Commons license?
Provided really nice legal framework for what we were doing anyway. And we love it.
4. How much time do you spend on running your netlabel?
Tens of hours a week.
5. Have there been any projects (ie netlabel related, but not necessarily about a release, like maybe you set up a concert / festival / etc.) that are especially memorable to you?
Yes, Mahorka participated as co-organizer of many festivals and events. One very special thing we had was the “100 years of Mahorka” 3-day open air festival with live music and sets from mahorka artists and friends. That one happened at a very nice place in the nature, between the black sea and a forest, a bit south from Varna.
6. Is there a long-term goal for your label?
To keep it up.
7. Are you involved in anything else other than producing music? (IE, videos, CD’s, wallpapers, t-shirts, etc.)
There were such things and there are ideas for more. New shirt designs coming soon, limited edition tapes or CDs have been done by the artists themselves, Mahorka or in cooperation with other labels and there are more than a few official videos of tracks from Mahorka releases with hopefully more coming soon. A very special video to look forward to is the one for Balkansky and Aysedeniz Gokcin’s version of High Hopes…
8. Any cool stories about projects / releases? (IE, they got used in someone else’s movie / video, or something similar.)
Yes, the most recent really awesome thing was the aforementioned Aysedeniz Gokcin and Ivan Shopov, that got introduced to each other through collaborating on our Pink Floyd tribute project, working now together on the Nirvana Project with a release and live shows coming.
9. What is your take on the future of music? (IE, do you think streaming will be more important than downloads, do you think the major labels will go bankrupt, do you think more people are turning to netlabels than traditional music sources, etc.)
Streaming is how almost all of us mostly listen to music now, already, let’s admit it. But downloads are still important even if not for all. I do not think major labels will go bankrupt before the whole system of ways changes. More people are turning to netlabels and netlabel music, but there are hardly enough reviews/news/media coverage/general critique outside the focused on the scene outlets.
10. Any upcoming projects / releases / events you would like to mention?
Remix albums for the band Fire to the stars and the Captive Portal project – really huge things on there. Portable Elephant, Swamp Fire and Acrossthevacuum debut releases are other exciting things coming… Music for elevators 5… and, of course, let’s see what will be the special Netlabel Day release.
Mahorka Contact Information
Label Mahorka
Contact Name Ivo Plamenov Petrov
Web Email http://mahorka.org/mail/ZXZpbC5wZXRyb3ZAZ21haWwuY29t
Website http://mahorka.org/
Facebook http://facebook.com/mahorka.org
BandCamp http://mahorka.bandcamp.com/
IA http://archive.org/details/mahorka
Netlabel Day http://netlabelday.blogspot.com/2015/01/mahorka-netlabel.html
