Lidum Merrko is a balkan folk-fusion-progressive band established in the beginning of 2013 in Sofia, Bulgaria by the vocalist, guitar player and composer Itse Ognenovski. In the beginning the band name has been Lidum ( inspired by folklore verse which means “the pipe sings – Li du li du li du du du , and the drum beats – rum dum rum dum rum dum dum). Afterwards the name has been changed to Lidum Merrko. “Merrko” comes from Ices grand grandfathers nickname Georgia “Merrko” , which means “bullseye” – the best shooter.
The other members of the band are :Kaloyan Martin Guevara Mihalev – bass guitar , Valentino Mangini – drums .
Itse Ognenovski (born in Bitola,Republic of Macedonia) began to explore music at the age of 5 in the kindergarten where he sang and played piccolo .At age of 9 he started to play guitar and joined the school orchestra. In 2000 at the age of 17, he found his first band “Strea”. He played with them in the period of 2000 till 2001.
In the period between 2001/2006 the founder of the band – Itse graduated the National Academy of Arts Sofia with Scenography specialty.
While working in the field of fine arts he kept along with music production. In 2002 together with Tomislav Spasovski found their project TomCHe BlagojCHe - a musical satire. They succeeded in recording an official version of the song "Reklami" (Ads) and they currently have six independent performances . In 2003 he joined the Macedonian band “Nebo” (alternative with balkan elements) as a vocal and composer. With “Nebo” he participated in many concerts and festivals in Macedonia and Bulgaria : “Bitola open city” , “Looser fest” (Skopje) , “Pop Rock Fest” – Skopje , “O!Shipka” – Sofia and many more independent events. Along with “Nebo” he succeeded in recording the demo versions of “Narodna”, “Voda”, “Improvise”, “Question of the answer” and an official version of the song “The source” which has a video.
In 2007 Itse left “Nebo” and within 3 years he worked hard to make the necessary demo records despite many difficulties and financial problems. In the middle of the 2010 his dream had the potential to become true as he started working over the album “Change your sign” in the studio of Zoran Krechoski – “Krecho sound” Ohrid, Macedonia.
The album contains 16 songs in English but one song ,“Mammon” -“Narodna” has also Macedonian version.
In the studio records are also participating Zoran Krechoski – Drums , Borche Gushovski – bass guitar, Igor Ognenovski – Guitar and back vocals, Tomislav Spasovski – piano.
In 2009 Itse began to work in a musical instruments store. There he met his colleague Daniel Angelov (played between 2013-2014).
In the beginning of 2012 Itse and Daniel made many rehearsals, with the idea to form a band which is going to play fusion-progressive-metal and trough this time they created 3 DEMO song.
After all Ice decided to create “Lidum Merrko” as a real band and invited Daniel as a guitar player.
In September 2012 the album was finished and mastered. The two musicians began to search for a proper bass and drummer player.After a few months the band found the last members – Valentino Mangini (drums) and Kaloyan Mihalev(bass).
Valentino Mangini is a drummer since 12 years old who began with his school band. In 2000 Valentino has been invited by the guitar player Krasimir Todorov to play in the project “Merry Lou Band”. Within three years they realized many concert in Sofia and one year later they shared their music live in different parts of the world. In 2007 he began to work with Yordan Lazarov(guitar) in many clubs and private parties. In 2008 he joined the musical project Hot News with whom he traveled the world. In 2010 Valentino settled back in Bulgaria and joined the band “SEVI” .With them he played in the period of 2010 till 2011.Meanwhile he made many drum records for different Bulgarian musicians .In 2013 he found an information about “Lidum Merrko” in a musicians social network and days after it he joined the band.
Kaloyan Mihalev is a bass player since 14 years old. At the age of 15 he became a member of the band “Savage Animal” from Burgas and he performed at several concerts with them. Years after this when he graduated the Math high school in Burgas, he went to study medicine in the Medical University of Sofia. In Sofia he joined many different bands with different styles and ideas.In 2012, he was a part of the band “Assprint”and performed at many gigs in the local clubs in Sofia. In 2013 trough the same musician social network he found “Lidum Merrko” and in a week he filled in the last piece of the puzzle.
In 2013 “Lidum Merrko” appeared on stage 3 times :
7 june – club “3 Ushi” Lidum Merrko and Fragments of existence
20 , 21 of September – Lidum Merrko supported “Booze Brothers” on their Bottoms Up Tour 2013.
In 15 of November Lidum Merrko made their official promotion of the debut album “Change your sign” in the club JetRock in Sofia.

Shadowside is a Metal band with intense and heavy guitars, a female singer with a powerful voice and blinding energy, featuring Magnus Rosén (ex-Hammerfall) on the bass.  

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