Toucan Bluzz & Rock

Address: 112 Georgi S Rakovski Str, Sofia
Tel: 980 87 07
Working hours: Mon-Sat 11am to ...; closed Sun

It's an unseasonably mild mid-winter night in Sofia. You fall into step with the roving packs of nomadic Friday club-goers on the way to their next destination, relentlessly pursued by the pavement-shaking thud...thud...thud...thud that pounds from the portal of club after club after club. The same beat, the same tempo, and sometimes even the same song, for what seems like kilometres on end, until the sound of something different - very different - stops you in your tracks. Is that...a fiddle?

True to its name, Toucan Bluzz & Rock features, well, essentially, blues and rock. For a couple of leva, you can take in performances by top-notch Bulgarian musicians who know their stuff, including Vasko Krupkata (the Patch) and Big Mama Scandal. Located on Rakovski between Graf Ignatiev and Stefan Karadja, this subterranean club stocks an impressive array of drink options, including - attention, fans of Belgian beer! - Leffe. There is also a reasonably priced menu of creative Italian and world cuisine items, similar to those found on the menu at Toucan Bluzz & Rock's counterpart, the Toucan restaurant on Sveti Naum Boulevard in Lozenets.

I must have walked under the Toucan Bluzz & Rock sign, with its round shape, distinctive tropical-bird graphic, and creative spelling of "blues" hundreds of times since I've been in Sofia, so I thought I was absolutely sure where it was, but the first night some friends and I decided to actually go inside, we overshot it by quite a lot. We doubled back, keeping our eyes out for the sign and wondering how we could possibly have missed it in the first place. It eventually became clear - the sign had been taken down. I hope they put it back up soon; without it, this place is difficult to find. The doorway is in a recessed area of the building and until the sign goes back up there is no evidence on the facade that you're in the right place.

At the foot of the entrance stairs, you'll find two rooms - one contains the stage, and the other, located at a slightly lower level, is presumably for those who prefer a quieter atmosphere while the band is playing. There are TV monitors in both rooms that show the action onstage during performances (one monitor is located directly above the stage - useless, but cool). The decor is eclectic, to say the least - curios and tchochkes on little shelves compete with photos of rock and blues legends all over the ceiling, walls and pillars; around the stage, the walls are adorned with large, graffiti-style painted figures and the occasional American licence plate. Neither the front nor the back room is very large, so the atmosphere is somewhat intimate.

Once in a while, a genre other than blues or rock makes its way onto the calendar, as was recently the case when the Toucan hosted Lilly of the West, Bulgaria's only bluegrass band. I've only been here for a handful of months now, but, as far as I can tell, the chance to catch some live bluegrass in Sofia (or anywhere in Bulgaria, for that matter) is a rare event and therefore not to be missed. Quite a few American ex-pats seem to share this sentiment, as they appeared to have taken over the place the night Lilly and company were there. Because I tend to avoid clubs here that cater specifically to English-speakers, it's been a while since I've found myself in a public place surrounded by so many people who sounded American. For a few hours, I felt as though I was back in the States, and the music only added to the illusion, because Lilly and her band are totally at home with the bluegrass style. These excellent musicians also employ the more delicately acoustical properties of bluegrass to good advantage on tunes which (for some of us, anyway) are not ordinarily associated with that genre, like the Rob Hyman/Cyndi Lauper song Time After Time.

The following night, I happened to be walking by the place and heard the unmistakable sound of an AC/DC tribute band. It's good to know that there is a such a versatile music venue in the heart of Sofia - a place where the good old sounds of traditional American folk music can cheer many a homesick soul on one night and, less than 24 hours later, the ear-bleeding exuberance of full-on rock can blast from the basement.