Florin Barbu
| Florin Barbu | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Florin Barbu |
| Born |
April 6, 1974 Sibiu, Romania |
| Genres | Pop/Rock, Jazz fusion, Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Bass guitar |
| Years active | 1994 - present |
| Associated acts |
Partizan Proconsul Blazzaj |
| Website | Romanian Bass Community |
Florin Barbu (born 6 April 1974 in Sibiu, Romania) is a Romanian bass player. Florin played in Romanian pop rock bands Arca, Timpuri Noi, Proconsul, Blazzaj and Partizan and currently plays in a heavy rock band, Cargo . He has live collaborations with Endless Zone, Electric Brother, Stepan Project, Brigada Artistică Urbană (B.A.U), Mike Peterson, Florin Chilian and many others.
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 Timişoara on the route Sibiu, Mediaş, Reşiţa at the medicine school, but after 3 years he dropped out to pursue music. In 1994 he joined the band Arca from Timişoara 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 and Partizan. He also collaborated with A.G. Weinberger (2000), Big Mamou (2001) and between 2002-2009 has been Proconsul's bass player. Barbu was strongly influenced by Timişoara's bassists Dixie Krauser, Christian Podratzky, Josef Kappl 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 Sibiu. 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.
His main instrument is a customized Warwick Fortess LTD 2014 (5 strings)
- Warwick Streamer Stage II (5 strings)
- Warwick Custom Shop Streamer Stage II XBASS (5 strings)
Discography
- 1998 - Blazzaj with Blazzaj
- 2001 - Undeva in Europa with Stepan Project
- 2001 - Lucky Nights live with Timpuri Noi
- 2003 - Macadam with Blazzaj (First 2 tracks of the album)
- 2003 - 10 povesti with Proconsul
- 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