PRESS

"A tenor sound like Sonny Rollins,
blended with Balkan wizardly staccatos."

– Leidsche Dagblad

"Adventurous and stunningly beautiful. How much it was shared with the audience was evident from the daunting discharge after the end of the first set: an applause eruption that lasted so long that it seemed almost as if the final was reached."

– Ton Maas, MixedWorldMusic

"Alex Simu shows his versatility and sense of beauty by playing clarinet in a style that unites his native city of Bucharest and his current city of Amsterdam. From a completely integral attitude, the quintet made the Balkan songs with their melancholy and beautiful melodies.
Amsterdam seemed a little like Bucharest tonight."

– Het Parool

"The venue was so full that a part of the audience was standing around the corner and could not see the band playing on the stage. But we heard clarinet, piano, viola and bass which where blending Romanian folkloric sounds with subdued, Norwegian quietness in long, poetical compositions.
Those who could not see the band where enjoying with their eyes closed, leaning against the wall."

– Dagblad van het Noorden

"Undoubtedly virtuosic, with an emotional depth that you would expect from a veteran like Ivo Papasov."

– DeVolksktrant

"A tenor sound like Sonny Rollins, blended with
Balkan wizardly staccatos."

– Leidsche Dagblad

"His music creates dialogues and passages where the existence of unspoken text is present in the imagination of each listener."

– Málaga Hoy 5

ARIFA SECRET POETRY