After a journey to Hungary, Yugoslavia and Bosnia in the late 1980s, Sparks began an interest in Eastern European music. He began playing in various world music groups and immersed himself in various styles. He has described Guitar Bazaar as a fusion of Middle Eastern and American roots music. The album includes arrangements of Béla Bartók's Romanian Dances. It was this album that John Zorn heard that led to Sparks' recording of his series of albums for Tzadik Records.[2]
Guitar Player wrote in their review, "If you're getting complacent about your acoustic fingerpicking, you'd better hear Tim Sparks' new CD... There's nothing forced or studied about his playing or compositions: his intense, on-the-edge attack speaks of many nights wailing around campfires in places most of us have never heard of."[3]
