During ARTmania Festival 2011, more than 7 Romanian bands will perform for the first time on Tuborg Sound Stage from Sibiu Arena, the new open air entertainment space specially inaugurated for this year’s edition. Interitus Dei from Constanta and Guerrillas from Cluj, Monarchy and Reckoning from Bucharest, Ethernus from Baia Mare and Heavy Duty from Sibiu are included on the 2011 official program of ARTmania Festival.
The Sibiu Arena concerts will start on Friday, after midnight, with Ethernus (from 01:00 a.m.) after Lacrimas Profundere, Helloween si Tarja had already finished their shows in the Large Square. During the same night, Reckoning band will perform on the stage as well, while Djane Grace will represent the Lux Noctis community in another area of Sibiu Arena.
Ethernus first appeared on the Romanian musical scene in 2007, as a symphonic power metal project with melodic death influences. The band’s first album, Memories from Eternity was released this spring and features themes like death, occultism and misanthropy and will be presented to the ARTmania public as well.
A young Reckoning had its first gig in the spring of 2011, two years after its members got together. The band, playing a melodic death metal with atmospheric influences, was well received by the public from its first live concerts. Reckoning played in Bucharest’s biggest clubs alongside foreign bands like Mastic Scum, Infected Rain, Claymore and Eufobia and some Romanian bands like Psychogod, Progeria and Necrovile.
Saturday concerts will start at noon in Sibiu Arena, once the motorcyclist parade arrives and the Heavy Duty concert begins (1:00 p.m.). Monarchy will come up on the Tuborg Sound stage from 3:00 p.m., while at 5 p.m. Interitus Dei show, the most expected show of the Sibiu Arena, will start. The party will continue in the night as well, when the atmosphere will be heated by live concerts: Gurerillas live from 01:00 a.m. and Truda later in the night, near 2 a.m. Additional to these events, in another area of the Arena Mr. DJ Silvius will keep the party going with a DJ Set with alternative-metal influences.
The program of the concerts will continue in the Large Square too with three concerts: Republica, Lacuna Coil and Sonata Arctica.
The Sibiu borne group Heavy Duty started in 2007 as a cover band project and further evolved until it attracted the attention of the local underground music scene. Heavy Duty plays a trash/death metal well defined by songs like Face of Murder, Manifest or Hunting Ghosts. The band has had a lot of local gigs and collaborations with well-known Romanian bands like Truda, krepuskul, Bolthard and Sign of Agony. After releasing an EP, Heavy Duty are getting ready for launching their debut album.
Monarchy band first appeared in the ’90s, but after many crew changes, the group split in 1998. In 2009 Monarchy reunited having a new lead singer and a sound change: from the heavy metal of the early years, the band turned into a more modern and melodic area. In the same year 2009 they launched a new EP, Jamming, which received very good reviews. Currently, Monarchy started working on their first studio album.
Interitus Dei, a Romanian band from Constanta city, is one of the oldest and most appreciated doom gothic bands in Romania. In almost 20 years of musical career, Interitus Dei has released four albums, three video clips and over time has changed its musical vision going towards an eclectic metal. Interitus Dei has in its portfolio a large number of concerts both in Romania and in Europe, as they went on stage with known bands like: Paradise Lost, Tankard, Korpiklaani, Tyr or Rotting Christ.
Guerrillas started in 2009 in Cluj, and after a few line-up changes and local concerts, the band began to play at festivals in Romania and Hungary. In 2007, Guerrillas was the opening act for the Sepultura concert in Bucharest, and just a year later they release their first studio album, Guerrilla Spirit. The band has played many concerts alongside Romanian and foreign bands, both in tours and at festivals in Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Truda: Since their first public performance in 2007, the band has been highly appreciated by the public. The hardcore metal band has gone through more than one lineup change, but has managed, in just four years, to release 5 albums, like Taraf Nation, Agro-Cultura and the most recent one, Nyi Foame. Truda has played a lot of Romanian shows, including opening act for Soulfly in 2009.
The Sunday concerts from Sibiu Arena will start with 5:30 p.m. The detailed program of the events established for this day will be published in the upcoming days.
For these 3 days of concerts, within the Sibiu Arena space the participants to the festival will be offered a camping space, a parking area, an entertainment area, exhibitions and workshops and many other surprises. The access in the Sibiu Arena entertainment spaces will be free for persons having ARTmania Festival 2011 bracelets. Persons not having ARTmania bracelets, but wishing to enter this entertainment area can do this after purchasing an entrance ticket worth 5 lei/ person.
Sibiu Arena entertainment area, a former military base, was set up due to a partnership between ARTmania Festival and Baumeister, one of the most important construction companies from the local market, a company with full German capital which has been present on the Romanian market since 1997. Due to this partnership, ARTmania Festival is able to launch a new area for the unfolding of open air cultural events, in a place away from the urban crowd, which offers a full range of camping services at the highest international standards. The new space for entertainment will be opened starting with Friday, the 12th August (10:00 a.m.) until Monday, 15th August (10:00 a.m.).
Starting with Friday (12th of August), the Small Square will host ARTmania Festival & Granini Refreshing Area where the public will have free access to relax with refresh fruit and light music. The program will start at 2:30 p.m. with Flavius, the most skilled junior drummer (aged 11) and will continue with Aeternum Sibiu band.
Flavius will turn 11 year on August, the 30th but already has a 7 years experience in the field, as he started to be a common presence at both the Romanian and foreign festivals and to be invited as a guest star at many TV shows. Flavius already received many awards as a principal drummer and has participated to shows in foreign countries like: Russia, France, Bulgaria and Germany. Flavius is a self-educated artist. He composes his own music and has a rich repertoire which includes symphonic plays adapted to rock music.
The medieval renascent, Irish & Celtic and medieval rock music band, Aeternum from Sibiu/ Hermannstadt / Transylvania appeared in 1999 and in its 11 years of presence on the musical stage participated to concerts and recital dedicated to this special music genre.
On Saturday, Classic Beat Orchestra will perform in the Small Square, from 4:30 p.m. The nine Conservatory students’ band proposes new interpretations of known classic music plays, which are passed through electro jazz, dub step and rock filters. The first single of the band, Here We Go, is a reinterpretation of the well-known classic music piece of Johann Pachebel: Canon in D Major. Classic Beat Orchestra also performed in many popular places, like: The Romanian Peasant Museum, Wings Club or the National Opera House in Bucharest.
To Sibiu one can arrive by car, minibus, bus, train, by plain or by bicycle, which can now be transported for free by train as well.Those who choose to come on the Valea Oltului route (the Olt Valley) must know, however that rehabilitation works are currently taking place on this route, thus making the traffic more difficult.
During ARTmania Festival unfolding period (8-14 th of August), special wagons for the free transportation of passengers with bicycles will be introduced due to the partnership signed between ARTmania and CFR (The National Society of Railway Passenger Transport “C.F.R. Calatori”). These special wagons will be attached to 1621 and 1622 trains, circulating on the Bucuresti Nord (the North of Bucharest railway station) – Sibiu route. 1621 and 1622 trains have the following schedule: 1621 leaves Bucharest at 10.50 a.m. and arrives Sibiu at 5.27 p.m., while the 1622 train leaves Sibiu at 5.00 p.m. and arrives to Bucuresti Nord at 11.15 p.m.
For people coming from Timisoara, CFR announces that if paying a tax, bicycles can be transported by on the following trains which circulate on the Sibiu – Timisoara Nord (The North of Timisoara railway station) route: Sageata Albastra 1812, 1624, 1814 (Blue Arrow 1812, 1624, 1814) circulating on Timisoara Nord – Sibiu route and 1811, 1623, 1813 circulating on the Sibiu – Timisoara Nord route. The tax for a common bicycle transported on the Timisoara Nord- Sibiu route is 16 lei. Passengers with folding bikes can transport them for free on any types of train or route, on the condition of not disturbing other passengers.
Another good news for those that haven’t succeed yet to buy a ticket to ARTmania Festival: the V-th presale prolongs until the end of this year’s edition of the festival. Therefore, a festival pass is worth 150 lei, while the tickets for one day of festival are worth 90 lei.
Event co-financed by the Local Council of Sibiu and the Cultural House of the Sibiu Municipality.
