Farmers Market

Farmers Market was founded in Norway in 1991. They started out as a free jazz quintet sprung out from the conservatory in Trondheim, but now incorporates a wide variety of genres, such as jazz, rock, pop music, bluegrass, classical and–most significantly–Bulgarian folk music. Their style is characterized by humorous arrangements, virtuosity, and odd time signatures. Multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen is a sort of front figure, though guitarist Nils-Olav Johansen performs most of the lead vocals. In 1995, the band lost Havard Lund, their original saxophonist. They turned to Bulgaria for a replacement. After auditioning over the telephone, Trifon Trifonov joined Farmers Market. Farmers Market has been a performer at many international jazz festivals such as Kongsberg Jazzfestival (1993-1995, and 2009), Moldejazz (2004, 2005, and 2010), North Sea Jazz Festival(Amsterdam, 2004) and Berliner Festspiele (2005). Four studio albums have been released by them. Their debut album, “Speed/Balkan/Boogie” from 1995, is a live recording from two concerts held at Moldejazz 1994 with members from Grammy winning Bulgarian female vocal group Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares and two Bulgarian folk musicians. In 2008, their fourth studio album, “Surfin’ USSR”, received an open class Spellemannspris award (norwegian equivalent to the Grammys). It was released by Mike Patton’s Ipecac record label. The band has worked with many Norwegian orchestras including the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK), Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra. Farmers Market has also worked with Michael Brecker. from http://en.wikipedia.org