Ivan Shopov ( bg, Иван Шопов, born 7 September 1982), better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

s Cooh (COOH, CooH) and Balkansky (Бalkansky), is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n music producer, DJ, print maker and fine art creator.IMO Record
"Cooh Biography"
, ''

IMO Records IMO Records is a specialist online retailer of vinyl and electronic dubstep, drum and bass, and hardcore dance music. The firm also sells clothing, DJ equipment and ancillary products. IMO Records was established in 1998 as a mail order business a ...

'', retrieved 7 December 2011. He produces

drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

IDM, ambient and jazz music. Shopov was born in

Troyan Troyan ( bg, Троян ) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town remembering the name of Roman Emperor Trajan, in Lovech Province in central Bulgaria with population of 21,997 inhabitants, as of December 2009. It is the administrative ...

, a town in central northern Bulgaria. At 16, he played in a punk-metal band in Troyan. He got involved in

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

at age 18. In 2002, Shopov began a promotion of drum and bass throughout Bulgaria together with Valeri Sholevski (Ogonek). Shopov is a graduate of the

National Academy of Arts The National Academy of Arts ( bg, Национална художествена академия) is an institution of higher education in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest and most renowned school of arts in the country. History The National ...

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. As Cooh, Shopov has released tracks for several prominent international drum and bass labels and has performed in events all across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

including many Therapy Sessions events as a headliner. Under the stage name Balkansky, Shopov released the 2009 album ''Kuker'', a collaboration with the

kaval The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute traditionally played throughout the Balkans (in Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Southern Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Northern Greece, and elsewhere) and Anatolia (including Turkey and Armenia). The ka ...

player

Theodosii Spassov Theodosii Spassov (born 4 March 1961) is a Bulgarian jazz musician who plays kaval. Theodosii Spassov began his early training on the kaval at the Kotel Music School and The Academy of Music and Dance in Plovdiv/Bulgaria. The kaval, an eight-ho ...

. The album combines Bulgarian folklore music with dubstep and other electronic music genres.

References

External links

Website of Balkansky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shopov, Ivan Bulgarian electronic musicians 1982 births Living people