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Born 1951, Germany.
In 1976 he gave his first concert with Trilok Gurtu in India. While searching for a second stringed instrument more suited to his musical development in the direction of modal and microtonality, he discovered the arabic lute, the fretless mother of the guitar, the 'Oud'.
After concerts with Okay Temiz in Turkey, the Cairo of the eighties became his musical exil in the arabic world for some time. He even represented Egypt with the nubian singer Mohamed Mounir as arranger and oud-soloist at the Meditteranean Culture Festival in 1992 in Nimes, France (CD: Mohamed Mounir , Line Records). With solo-concerts in Tunis (Festival de la Medina), Cairo and Beirut, as well as in Lanzarote with the group Vox (CD: Spain to Spain , Erdenklang Records) and his performance at the Jazz Festival in Granada, he was able to bring his 'very personal journey to explore the world of arabic music' (P.Pannke) closer to an interested World-music audience.
For the feature film Al Oud (director: Fritz Baumann) which won the Gold Hugo at the 1992 Chicago International Film Festival, he was responsible for the musical direction and for composing the film music. While shooting, Bunka became involved with the ensemble of the violin virtuose Abdou Dagir from Cairo, with whom he made the CD Malik-a-Taksim (ENJA Records).
The film Ende einer Reise by Heiner Stadler (Bavarian Film Prize 1992) and the music to the film based on three short stories by Paul Bowles entitled Halbmond by Frieder Schlaich and Irene von Alberti introduced him as a composer who uses his oriental style of sound collages to cleverly transport the drama.
Along with Grace Yoon, he produced several radio plays for the Bavarian Radio, one of which Tunguska-Guska was awarded the 'Prix Futura 1993' by the BBC. Tunguska-Guska and their latest radio-play Earborn are both available on CD (Schneeball Records, JARO Records).
A live recording of his project Color Me Cairo featuring the Fathy Salama Ensemble from Egypt and Malachi Favors from the legendary 'Art Ensemble of Chicago' has appeared on the ENJA label and received the German Record-Critics Prize. R.H.H.Biswurm wrote in the Jazzthetik : "...there, between his fingers, the modi and scales of the arabic mystic meet with the electrifying ease of the urban bluesmen. Roman Bunka is the mediator and the center of a world music fusion, call it success, joy or utopia if you want to describe it!"
"Roman Bunka is one the greatest guitar players I've ever had the pleasure to listen to." --Henry W.Targowski (in Mark/Space , 1996).
The 1994 Jazz Fest Berlin featured Roman Bunka as one of the most prominent german oud-players and guitarists. According to the magazine Stereo :
"With his enchanting solo on the arabic lute, Roman Bunka unites all peoples and cultures!"
In fact, the biography of the musician, born in 1951, writes its own chapter in recent german music history. Already in his work with the first generation of german avantgarde-rock groups like Embryo and Aera, Bunka impressed with his oriental style guitar playing.
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