Sergiu Vasile, Balkan Utopia, May 7, 2025
On May 2, 2024, Romanian electro-disco band K not K performed at the Block 14 cultural center in Ruse. The concert was organized by Ina Valentinova with the support of the Bulgarian-Romanian blog “The Bridge of Friendship.”
And since I am determined to make the most of the short period between joining Schengen and what awaits us after the elections, I decided (encouraged by my friends Ina and Vlad) to cross the bridge to Ruse once again to hear K not K (formerly known as Karpov, not Kasparov), who stopped at the cultural center Block 14 on their way to distant Sofia.
I realized that I had never even seen them live, even though I have known them for years. You’re a jerk, Vase.
So we set off to find the hideout, said hello, put on our bracelets, and grabbed a beer from the beer table. Lots of cash, lots of underground, everyone friendly towards everyone else. Even with me. Hey, look, Dennis and the gang are here. We’re sitting outside, smoking and talking in three languages about our identical lives. We have Berlin at home.
The guys came in, placed their wristbands and orchids on the podium, called the gathering to order, and started playing. Just pure electro: a drum machine, a synthesizer, and occasionally Valerius’ deceptively gentle voice. Retro-futuristic, jazzy, psychedelic, with a hint of the Orient between the drops.
Anodic dance music, if you prefer. Straight from the smallest church in Saint-Cyr.
Two cans of regular beer later. They’ve already got their song “The Goddess of Chess” bubbling. Okay, they’ve convinced me, I’m going into a trance, who knows when I’ll catch up. Anyway, other people are also dancing their asses off (I won’t show you, so as not to spoil their fun).
The overall feeling is not that of a concert at the Control club in Bucharest, as I had expected, or even at the Three Drunkards (a popular bar in the center of Bucharest – ed.). It’s more like a secret underground party in someone’s living room. Priceless, but not by accident, because we’re in the home of the revolutionary bandit from 1876, Panayot Hitov.
(Incidentally, it is called Block 14 after the block where the founders of the institution, Andreana, Evgenia, and Asen, grew up. Many blocks in Ruse have retained their nostalgic names: I can think of Block Rocket and Block Maxim Gorky, but there are many others. Enjoy.)
Before we leave, we climb a creaky staircase to see the attic—a space for strange photography exhibitions, of course. I don’t forget to take a photo with three artists for the price of two, because how else can I call myself a neighborhood influencer?
The next day, I start following the Facebook page of Block 14 (Center for Art and Culture) to find out what’s going on there, five lei and a bridge away. And while we’re still on the K not K wave, here’s something from a recent EP for you to listen to at home.
Photo: K not K in Ruse (source: Utopia Balcanică)
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