Florin Barbu (born 6 April 1974 in

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

) is a bass player. Florin played in Romanian bands Arca, Timpuri Noi, Proconsul, Blazzaj,

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

and

Cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

. Florin Barbu was awarded with Cultural Merit Order, as Knight. In 2017 he became Honorary Citizen of Timișoara.

Biography

Barbu started playing bass guitar at the age of 14 after he loaned his bike to a neighbour who had a bass guitar. He arrived in

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

at the medicine school, but after 3 years he dropped out to pursue music. In 1994 he joined the band Arca from Timișoara solely because there were no other bass guitarists available. His skills were not as developed as those of the other Arca members, but he studied hard in order not to be kicked out from the band. Two years later he received "The best Romanian bass guitarist of the year" award from the magazines "Vox Pop Rock" and "Panoramic". In 1996, with his friend Eddie Neumann, he started a project called FunkinLeFree which in 1998 was renamed Blazzaj. After that in 2001 he joined

Timpuri Noi Timpuri Noi is a Romanian alternative rock band. History Timpuri Noi was formed in 1980, and remained an underground act up until 1991. This was mainly due to what was perceived as "subversive lyrical content" in the Ceauşescu era. Incide ...

and

. He also collaborated with A.G. Weinberger (2000), Big Mamou (2001) and between 2002 and 2009 has been

Proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

's bass player. Barbu was strongly influenced by Timișoara's bassists Dixie Krauser, Christian Podratzky,

Josef Kappl Josef Kappl (born 15 January 1950) is a Romanian-German multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who is best known as one of the oldest members and bass players in the Romanian rock band Transsylvania Phoenix, initially performing with this b ...

and many other musicians who helped him to evolve as a musician. In 2004 he started "XBass" - an online community meant to help young bassists in their way. The community grew to be very active and occasionally organizes meetings. In 2009 Florin Barbu decided to leave Bucharest, and moved to

. He left Proconsul as well, and started the band AZZA with former Blazzaj member - Eddie Neumann, Luiza Zan, and Marcel Moldovan. In 2012 he rejoined Partizan, but he left them in 2013 in order to join the Romanian rock legends - CARGO Florin Barbu is also a Warwick bass community forum administrator.

Equipment

Barbu is a Warwick basses endorsee. * Warwick Streamer Stage II (5 strings) * Warwick Custom Shop Streamer Stage II XBASS (5 strings) * "Miss Lucy" 1987 Streamer (5 strings)

Discography

* 1998 - ''Blazzaj'' with Blazzaj * 2001 - ''Undeva in Europa'' with Stepan Project * 2001 - ''Lucky Nights'' live with

* 2003 - ''Macadam'' with Blazzaj (First 2 tracks of the album) * 2003 - ''10 povesti'' with

* 2005 - ''5'' with Proconsul * 2005 - ''10 porunci'' with Florin Chilian * 2005 - ''Trancefusion'' with Endless Zone * 2006 - ''Balade Pentru Tine'' with Proconsul * 2007 - ''Dă Mai Departe'' with Proconsul * 2009 - '' Sens Unic'' with Proconsul * 2017 - '' Vinyl Live'' with Cargo

External links

XBass Community
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbu, Florin 1974 births Living people Musicians from Sibiu Romanian bass guitarists 21st-century bass guitarists