Cuibul


Cuibul are an acoustic funk band from Chisinau, Moldova. Igor Dinga, founder and initial vocalist of the band formed the band in 1991 as a rock'n'roll funk fusion band. The band released 6 albums and their musical style changed from rock'n'roll to acoustic mellow funk with chillout and Latino influences.
Cuibul is widely regarded as an important contributor to the Moldovan live music scene, being the oldest one among the still active bands from Moldova.

History

1990s

During the first 10 years, the band released 6 albums and 7 music videos. Cuibul's concert activity was most intense during the first 4 years and between 1998-2001, when the album Po-mid'or was released. Throughout these years, Cuibul's activity geographically spread through Russia.
Igor Dinga is a Russian-speaking songwriter, also director of the Moldovan ethno-rock band Zdob și Zdub. He managed to get the first two albums released together with the Moscow-based labels Feelee Records and CD Land Records. Despite the fact that the band's music was too experimental for the Russian mainstream market, some of the tracks proved successful. The singles "Muzika Letneaya" and "Igra v duraka" hit the MTV Russia TOP 20 charts and the music video for "Muzika Letneaya" was recognised amongst the 100 best Russian music videos of 1998. The single "Kolybelnaya" hit the rotation on popular radio stations such as Nashe Radio and Russkoe Radio, while the funky single "Pomidor" reached TOP 10 on Europa Plus. To continue the musical activity in Russia, the band members would have had to move to Moscow and promote themselves on the spot. However, the musicians were not ready for such a serious change. In addition, Russia faced a harsh financial crisis in 1998 and FEELEE Records minimised their activity and support.

2000s

In December 2001, Cuibul recorded and launched the album Klyuchi ot vannoy.
Between 2003 and 2008, the band was inactive.
In 2007, the saxophonist Igor Kosholyan returned to Moldova from the Netherlands and the drummer Vadim Tichisan returns from Bucharest, Romania. Cuibul restored their activity. For one year, the musicians rehearsed and searched for a new sound. The new format was composed of Igor Kosholyan as a guitar player, Vadim Tichisan for drums, Andrei Boico as the bass player and Igor Dinga as frontman guitarist and vocalist.
At the end of 2009, Cuibul launch the 13 tracks under the album PRiZ. In February 2010, Cuibul release a new music video for the album single "Proshay i Zdrastvuy", followed by a music video for "Ruchka Usilka" which features a cameo of Muz-TV Russia's presenter Rita Chelmakova.

2010s

In 2010, Cuibul's concert activity was ongoing in Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. PRiZ was released in Russia together with the label Soyuz Music and in Ukraine with Hitlab/Moon Records.
In 2011, Cuibul toured through Western Europe. They also participated at the EuroSonic Festival in Groningen, Netherlands.
By the end of 2011, Cuibul released a new music video for the song "Nebo ne Voda", filmed in St. Petersburg together with the director Pavel Vladimirskyi. In December 2011, Cuibul celebrated their 20th anniversary through a grand concert starring guests such as Alexandr F. Sklyar, Serghei Galanin, :ru:Zorge |Zorge, Zdob si Zdub, O Chad.

The rebirth of the band

The band planned to extend itself to the Romanian music market and Igor Dinga decided to search for a young female vocalist with Romanian language skills. After long searches, at the end of 2012, Cuibul is joined by Lidia Scarlat, film producer and First class Media Arts graduate of the Royal Holloway, University of London.
Born into an artistic family, from her early years she participated successfully in various national and international music competitions. Lidia worked in radio and television, presenting the famous TV show for children “De la 5 la 10” at TeleRadio-Moldova. In her university years she was the lead singer of the university's Jazz Big Band. Lidia made her debut in Cuibul in late December 2012 at a Christmas concert of the band where she performed 4 songs. One week later, she was already singing for an audience of thousands people at the New Year concert “I love Moscow”, held in the heart of the Russian capital.
The band was also joined by a new drummer – Jenea Berdea. Jenea has played in various bands, including ExNN, Alternosfera, Headswitch, Millenium, Gândul Mâței. Currently, he performs in some projects like All Four Seasons, Whynona Ryderz, Ramzes Project, Doll.
In 2013, Cuibul changed their sound to acoustic, combining acoustic guitars, acoustic bass, violin, cajon and percussion. Lidia Scarlat chose the most suitable songs from the existing repertoire and adapts the lyrics in Romanian and English. Lidia wrote the lyrics for the new single "Nu contează" in two versions : Romanian and English. Lidia Scarlat performs a track list consisting of over 10 songs. The band's performances now feature two vocalists including Igori Dinga.
The new format of the legendary band received mixed feedback from its old fans while new audiences followed the rebirth of the band with great interest. The band got back on track with intense concert activity and performed at several international music festivals such as "Dikaya Myata" in Russia and "Folk You!" in Romania.
In summer 2013, the band released three videos from a studio acoustic session and start recording a new album.
On 4 December 2013 Cuibul opened the concert for the Swedish band The Cardigans in Moscow, at GlavClub.
On 1 March 2014 Cuibul opened for the British band Morcheeba at the same concert venue.
Both performances received excellent press feedback.
Before opening the concert for Morcheeba, Cuibul performed 7 songs at the art TV-show "Kozyrev Live" on Телеканал Дождь.
In March 2014, Cuibul had the last recording session for the new album in Moscow and recorded the last three songs from the new album at the studio of Yurii Bogdanov.
In June 2014, Cuibul shot a music video for "Nu Conteaza" in Bucharest, directed by Vlad Gliga.
Currently, the band adds the finishing touches on the production of the newest album and newest version of their official website and prepares for the launch of the music video.

Discography