Vampire pumpkins and watermelons are a folk legend from the Balkans, in southeastern Europe, described by ethnologist Tatomir Vukanović. The story is associated with the Romani people of the region, from whom much of traditional vampire folklore originated.
The belief in vampire fruit is similar to the belief that any inanimate object left outside during the night of a full moon will become a vampire. One of the main indications that a pumpkin or melon is about to undergo a vampiric transformation (or has just completed one) is said to be the appearance of a drop of blood on its skin.
The only known reference in scholarship is Tatomir Vukanović’s account of his journeys in Serbia from 1933 to 1948. He wrote several years later:
“The belief in vampires of plant origin occurs among Gs. [Gypsies] who belong to the Mosl. faith in KM [Kosovo-Metohija]. According to them there are only two plants which are regarded as likely to turn into vampires: pumpkins of every kind and water-melons. And the change takes place when they are ‘fighting one another.’ In Podrima and Prizrenski Podgor they consider this transformation occurs if these ground fruit have been kept for more than ten days: then the gathered pumpkins stir all by themselves and make a sound like ‘brrrl, brrrl, brrrl!’ and begin to shake themselves. It is also believed that sometimes a trace of blood can be seen on the pumpkin, and the Gs. then say it has become a vampire. These pumpkins and melons go round the houses, stables, and rooms at night, all by themselves, and do harm to people. But it is thought that they cannot do great damage to folk, so people are not very afraid of this kind of vampire.
Among the Mosl. Gs. in the village of Pirani (also in Podrima) it is believed that if pumpkins are kept after Christmas they turn into vampires, while the Lešani Gs. think that this phenomenon occurs if a pumpkin used as a syphon, when ripe and dry, stays unopened for three years.
Vampires of ground fruit origin are believed to have the same shape and appearance as the original plant”.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_
The origin of my solo Balkan/Electronic music band lie in the gritty backstreet of Bristol, UK. It was my friend Sarlos Gabor, a Hungarian national, who taught me the illustrious melodies I later used for my solo album. Back then, in mid 2018, the plan was for us to start a kickin’ band with him and his son, a talented jazz guitarist.
Then I came to Australia in March 2020 for a ‘holiday’ and it is was like; o no u didn’t!!! because that’s when Corvid came down like a grim reaper of destiny and I decided it was time to cut my losses and stay in Australia. Even then I could see that surviving a zombie apocalpyse in Australia was much better than in the UK, which is a pretty horrible place at the best of times.
Then of course there was the infamous Melbourne lock-down! What to do while shut up with only one hour a day of exercise permitted … ??
Well, obviously, I worked on creating this project. I didn’t know any of the chords or bass-lines, but it wasn’t too difficult to reverse-engineers my own versions based on what I thought I’d heard during my rehearsals in fair Bristol.
If you want to go and take a listen to the album https://
As for the band name, well, it was kind of quirky and funny, and I’ve been desrived as quirky, and that’s the kind of music I like to make. It’s also got quite a dark, dramatic sound to it but is ultimately ridiculous (vampire fruit lol) which I think comes close to my nature also.
I sincerely hope that all who wish to listen will enjoy this labour of love as much as I do 🙂
