The Guitar Player's Resource
Guitarist Niko Tsonev submitted a four-song CD-R, entitled Superstition, highlighted by some extraordinary playing - at times bizarre, at times screaming, at times unpredictable, at times shredding (sometimes all in the same tune). Tsonev doesn't worry about appealing to the instrumental purists - he'll throw in spoken word parts (as on the Zappaesque "It Sounds Prettier In French"), brief singing (such as found on his shredded cover version of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition") and brilliantly percussive acoustic guitar ("Rye"). So, there you have it, his range here is undeniable, whereas his direction may be a bit unfocused and undeclared. But that's OK, start with talent, and soon, everything else falls into place.
A Bulgarian born guitarist, Niko first picked the guitar when he was 7 years old. While still at high school he received a scholarship at Berklee College of Music in Boston, U.S. and later moved to London, where he studied Music Production and Technology. While still at college, Niko was already playing for various bands and artists as a member or sideman: Youth, Richard Ashcroft -The Verve, Toby Smith - Jamiroquai, Mark Owen -Take That, Supra, Mofro, S-Club, Mushtaq, Clarksville, Abs-Five, Big Brovaz, Samy Bishai, Digitonal, Aquilina, Alizee, The Big Other, Natural Colours, Jay Scott, Mojo Filter, Ben Kwado, Fabrice Quentin, Houriah Niatti and others. In 2004, five of his compositions were used by the award-winning film directors The Shammasian Brothers which led to Niko scoring the music for movies such as "The 7 Deadly Sinners", "The Bridge", "Tolerance" and others.
Currently Tsonev tours and records with Champion Jack and DJ Darkman and writes and produces for other artists. He is also recording his solo instrumental guitar album (in memory of Frank Zappa), also a Gypsy music album with violinist Samy Bishai and is part of a writing team with bassist/producer Fabrice Quentin (formerly of Mofro).
Niko Tsonev
United Kingdom
Web site: www.nikotsonev.com