Balkan Bump and I sat down and discussed his storied career including how he started working with Gramatik, his collab with CloZee and playing with her at Coachella, playing shows with Beats Antique, Moon Hooch, and Bonobo, licensing his song Aymo with Talib Kweli and Gramatik to Porsche for a SuperBowl Commercial and more. It was an absolute pleasure to sit down with Will and pick his brain. Enjoy.

In the interview, we talk about a ton of stuff. Click to youtube and you can jump to specific sections using the timestamps.

00:00:00 – Intro
00:00:20 – What is A Path Unfolding all about?
00:01:10 – New single Rabat and the making of the music video
00:05:10 – Playing with a trio
00:08:05 – The art of opening
00:08:50 – Recent tour with Moon Hooch and how they play
00:12:05 – Playing with CloZee at Coachella and how that came together
00:17:55 – How the song **Varshaver** with CloZee came together
00:21:24 – Writing songs for the stage
00:24:45 – Meeting and working with Gramatik
00:28:12 – Played with Pretty Lights and Talib Kweli on Conan O’Brien
00:34:59 – How Aymo got licensed for a Super Bowl Commerical by Porsche
00:40:30 – Effects of having a song on the Super Bowl
00:43:30 – Working with Beats Antique and playing at the Fox Theater with a 10-piece band
00:46:32 – Working with Bonobo on his North Borders tour
00:51:35 – Will’s other project Alligator Space Walk – https://willmagid.bandcamp.com/album/alligator-spacewalk
00:52:00 – What is Golden Bell? Will’s live electronic music company for private events and weddings – and the freedom that provides
00:58:00 – Upcoming music and shows – Desert Drip tour and EP, track with AHEE, Moon Hooch, tune with Manic Focus
00:59:45 – Why albums are important?

Some of the amazing videos I found during my homework that are worth a watch:


Balkan Bump’s Bio

Balkan Bump is the global electronic music project orchestrated by trumpet player, producer, and ethnomusicologist Will Magid.

Balkan Bump’s music fuses heavy electronic production with global music influences including traditional Balkan brass melodies, Middle Eastern sounds and American hip hop. The Balkan Bump live show highlights Magid’s expertise as an orchestrator, ranging in size from a solo performer to a 12-piece band featuring a menagerie of global instruments including sitar, saz, oud, clarinet, and trumpet. The live performance’s popularity has brought the project to global renown with performances at the world’s biggest music stages including Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lightning In A Bottle, as well as beloved jazz, blues, and world music festivals including Harvest Music Festival and CA WorldFest, and numerous appearances at Colorado’s famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Balkan Bump debuted with the single “Aymo” alongside famed Slovenian producer Gramatik and American hip-hop royalty Talib Kweli. Gramatik quickly championed the new project, unveiling Balkan Bump’s live show on his Re:Coil Tour and releasing Balkan Bump’s debut EP on his Lowtemp label imprint. Since then the Balkan Bump project has collaborated with global and live music projects Beats Antique and Moon Hooch; international electronic music superstars CloZee, Fakear, & Manic Focus; and American hip hop icon The Gift Of Gab (Blackalicious). Balkan Bump has been featured in Billboard Magazine, NPR’s The World, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Magnetic Magazine. In 2020 Magid curated a series of global music mixes for Los Angeles-based Dublab Radio under the Balkan Bump alias.

As a solo artist, Will Magid has collaborated and performed with artists including Bonobo, Erykah Badu, Pretty Lights, and soul music legend Solomon Burke. He has led numerous jazz and global music outfits including his eponymous soul-funk band’s seminal Alligator Spacewalk album in 2016, and the 2017 neoclassical exploration Lunar Conquest Suite. His music has been featured in campaigns for global brands including Warner Brothers, Uber, Porsche, HP, Vogue, GoPro and Ubisoft. Magid graduated from The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music with a degree in Ethnomusicology.

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