German rock and world music guitar player and ud virtuoso Roman Bunka passed away on Sunday, June 12, 2022, due to liver cancer. He was 71.
Roman Bunka was an exploratory rock and jazz fusion pioneer who later became involved in world music, performing with well known Arab musicians.
In the late 1960s, Bunka co-founded Embryo, one of the pioneers of German progressive rock. Throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, Bunka traveled with Embryo to India, Afghanistan, and Morocco and became increasingly interested in microtonal and modal music.
In 1982, he traveled to Egypt to learn how to play the Arabic lute known as ud or oud. Bunka started performing with leading Arabic musicians like Mohamed Mounir and Fathy Salama.
To learn more about Roman Bunka, read his artist profile.
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
Today I have lost my brother and best friend: Roman Bunka. He was my backbone on a professional and personal level. We created wonderful music together; which impacted generations. To your pure soul: I will miss you. My condolences goes out to our fans.
Mohamed Mounir on Twitter