Marius Pop

Marius comes from Romania, a country in which the musical industry is still developing, and he started playing guitar at the age of nine, being mostly self-taught. Playing guitar was the obvious thing to do, having grown up in a very music-related environment. At 13 years of age, Marius joined his first band, Gral (http://www.myspace.com/grallifeplayaz), recording a few demo songs, playing a lot of festivals and concerts all over Romania and coming very close to a record contract. Gral started as a power outfit, but changed its style through the years to a combination of rock, rap-metal and Balkan folklore influences. He left Gral to join Thamyras, in which he played for three years. At first, Thamyras played progressive rock, but in time, the style went towards a pop-rock sound. While playing all over Romania with Thamyras, Marius also joined Shekinah, a band lead by Andy Ghost, now lead singer for Altar. He also started diversifying his playing style and musical direction, by playing in a couple of jazz projects – Jazz Today and Play Off. He played in quite a few concerts with these projects, and was joined on stage at the Oradea Theatre by Allapi Istvan, one of Hungary finest guitarists. He left Thamyras to join Desperado, Romania’s best country and southern rock band, for a few months. He played a lot of concerts with Desperado (www.desperadocountry.ro), until he joined Headliner (www.myspace.com/headlinerromania), a band that has motivated him more on the jazz front and turned him to the fusion-progressive style, one of his favorites at the moment. He continues to play in Headliner today, and the band, that also features Ovidiu Cristian, Desperado’s drummer, won the 2007 Grand Prize at the prestigious Sibiu Jazz Festival. He also joined Raza, (www.myspace.com/razaraza) but he amicably left the band and was asked to join Conexiuni, one of the most popular Romanian hard-rock bands, that shared the stage with acts like Europe. The band is currently rehearsing and planning a comeback. During the time with Raza, Marius has also recorded and produced a song (“Got To Have Faith”) for a Europe Tribute Project CD, that will be on the market in a few months. This was an occasion for him to work with David Akesson, lead singer in the Swedish band Moonlight Agony. He was also invited to play in Madalina Manole’s band at the Callatis Festival, in the summer of 2007. Madalina Manole (www.madalinamanole.ro) is one of Romania’s most popular pop singers. Besides from working with Conexiuni, Marius is currently working on a fusion solo album, the song “Hey Dude” being a sample of this album, that Marius hopes will draw the attention of some record companies. More information about Marius, who he plays with and where, is available on his official website – www.chitarist.ro, as well as his MySpace – www.myspace.com/popmarius.Get your layout at LayoutShack.net