Ahat

Ahat, also known as AXAT (Bulgarian: Ахат [aˈxat], "agate"), is a rock band from Bulgaria. Their most popular song is "Черната Овца" (Black Sheep).[1]

For the village in Turkey, see Ahat, Azdavay.
Ahat
Ahat during the tour in 2007
Background information
OriginSofia, Bulgaria
GenresHard rock, Heavy metal
Years active1986 - present
Labels
Websitehttp://www.axat.net/
Members
  • Zvezdomir Keremedchiev
  • Antoan Hadad
  • Denis Rizov
  • Antoni Georgiev
  • Yuri Kocev
Past members
  • Bojidar Glavev
  • Ivailo Petrov

History

The group was created in 1986 in Sofia by talented students from the National Academy of Music and the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy. The group's first live performance was on December 22, 1986.

In 1989 the band went to North Korea with the Bulgarian delegation to the World Youth and Student Festival, which has brought them criticism as being too close to the Communist regime.[2] The same year Ahat released their first album Pohodut (Походът, The March). All songs from the album are absolute hits. The most famous are: "The Black Sheep", "Land Of Blindmen", "The Tree", "Fiery Souls", "The March". They also received their first music award and had a very successful tour with Shturcite. The following year, they appeared on the compilation "21st Youth Pop Song Contest" with the song "Deviz" (Девиз, Motto).

In 1994 the band released their second album Izpod ruinite (Изпод руините, From Underneath the Ruins). The album is a compilation of the band's hits, a couple of songs recorded for compilations and 5 English-language songs recorded in 1991. Notable songs from this album are "Monologue" and the English version of "The Tree". After a period of inactivity, the band had a very notable return being the opening band for the first Deep Purple concert in Bulgaria in 1998. The next year, the band released their first live album Sedem godini sled (Седем години след, 7 Years Later).

On May 19, 2004 the band released their third album, Made in USA. According to the publishers the album is the biggest investment made by a Bulgarian musical producer.[3]

Golden Rock Tour 2004 is the band's second live album recorded during their impressive national tour in 2004 and released in 2007. In 2009, they released a single called "Tam" (Там, There).

Members

Current members
  • Zvezdomir Keremedchiev – vocals
  • Antoan Hadad – guitars
  • Denis Rizov – bass guitars
  • Antoni Georgiev – keyboards
  • Yuri Kocev – drums

Former members
  • Bojidar Glavev – guitar
  • Ivailo Petrov – bass guitar

Discography
  • Pohodut (1989)
  • Izpod ruinite (1994)
  • Sedem godini sled... (live) (1999)
  • Made in USA (2004)
  • Golden Rock Tour 2004 (live) (2007)
  • 1986-2013 (2015) (compilation of non-album singles and compilation tracks)

References
  1. "Черната овца на Ахат начело на 100 най-велики БГ рок песни" [Black Sheep from Axat is the top of the 100 most famous Bulgarian rock songs] (in Bulgarian).
  2. Ramet, Sabrina Petra (2019). Rocking The State: Rock Music And Politics In Eastern Europe And Russia. Routledge. p. 133. ISBN 9781000310252.
  3. "БГ Музика :: Ахат, Конкурент и Ера". Melodyabg.blog.bg. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
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