Fanfare Ciocarlia is one of the world’s greatest gypsy brass bands, a 24-legged Balkan brass beast whose eastern funk groove has torn up halls and festivals across the planet with their balkan brass sound. Their energetic performances and musical ingenuity winning them fans from Melbourne to Memphis, Tokyo to Toulouse. Growing up sons of farmers in the “hidden” village of Zece Prajini in north-eastern Romania, the band members learned their craft at the feet of their fathers and grandfathers, proudly approaching every concert as a challenge to both entertain audiences and keep the true spirit of Gypsy music alive. It is no small thing to note that Fanfare Ciocarlia singlehandedly are responsible for the re-emergence and great rise in popularity of balkan brass and the balkan brass movement from Eastern Europe. 


Anyone who has heard Fanfare Ciocarlia can agree on one thing – no brass band has ever played as fast as this before. Make that two things: no brass band had ever sounded like this before! Their village's isolation, situated in a misty valley, its dirt roads are occupied by flocks of geese, horses and carts, meant that throughout the years it remained hidden from the outside world, untouched by the effects of communism and allowing its eighty Gypsy farming families to continue to live a traditional rural lifestyle. This same remote quality also meant that brass musical traditions developed under Ottoman rule still continued to exist in the village when they had long died out in the rest of Romania. Characterised by breakneck speed, technical chops, ripping rhythms, sweet and sour horns, these combined elements separate them from any other brass band on earth.


The Times of London described it as “a heavy, heavy monster sound” and Fanfare’s recordings have taken their eerie Balkan groove into dance clubs across the planet. They were commissioned by Sacha Baron Cohen to cut the biker anthem

 and "just the 2 Of Us" for the Borat I and II movie soundtrack and have been sampled and covered ,championed and emulated, by countless DJs, bands and Gypsy orchestras across the world. Fanfare Ciocarlia have released ten albums, several of which have topped the European World Music charts and their DVD “Brass On Fire” was acclaimed by Songlines magazine as “setting a new standard for music documentaries”. They have played over 3000 concerts world-wide, and put simply: nobody does it better, harder, faster, funkier than Fanfare Ciocarlia

The legends of Gypsy Balkan brass music from Romania

Fanfare Ciocarlia

FANFARE CIOCARLIA - Just The Two Of Us [ full length Borat version ]

FC Ostrava

FC Berlin

FC Arad

FC Evora

FC Tavira

FC Guarda

FC Aveiro

FC Ponte de Lima

FC Fafe

FC Sibiu

FC Vaslui

FC-Prag

FC Zagreb

FC Fehring

FC Plauen

FC Fulda

FC Halle

FC Mühldorf

FC Jena

FC Stuttgart

FC Fribourg

FC Nizza

FC Bonn

FC-Bochum

FC Arnhem

FC-Paris

Romanias finest, Fanfare Ciocarlia, have written a new song that will most likely become a future anthem of Balkan brass music: Me Sem Rom - I'm a man. The brass instruments glow under the pressure of the melody, singer Canaf guides his voice, spiced with local brandy and pure joy safely through the stormy groove. And because the translation of ‘Me Sem Rom’ into English fits so well, the brotherhood of brass has also worked on a cover version of the 1967 classic by the Spencer Davis Group and leads the song "I'm a man" into a wild Balkan ska delirium. "Me Sem Rom / I'm a Man" available as a limited 7'' vinyl single (45 rpm) and digital download. 

Me Sem Rom

ShazaLaKazoo, the brainchild of Milan Djuric and Uros Petkovic, has its origins in late 1990s Belgrade, Serbia. United by a shared ambition to transcend musical confines, they embarked on a sonic journey that seamlessly weaved Balkan traditions, gypsy melodies, and electronic rhythms. This tapestry of sound, enriched with Latin percussion and influences stretching from Africa to the Middle East, gave birth to a genre-defying experience characterized by intricate, resounding rhythms and opulent melodies. Their innovative compositions and remixes have earned ShazaLaKazoo acclaim that resonates with a diverse spectrum of listeners, from electronic music aficionados to devoted world music enthusiasts. The band's festival performances across the globe have etched indelible marks, leaving audiences eager for the evolution of their musical narrative. The band's extensive discography features four full-length studio albums, including "Speaking Balkanian" (2010), "Karton City Boom" (2011), "Monobrow" (2014), and "Metanational" (2016), along with a treasure trove of EPs, singles, and remixes, showcasing their exceptional adaptability.

ShazaLaKazoo's reputation is built upon a foundation of groundbreaking collaborations with artists hailing from both the Balkans and beyond. These creative partnerships have expanded their musical horizons and solidified their standing as pioneers in genre-blending. A pivotal moment in their journey unfolded during the production of their third album when master trumpeter Milos Nikolic became an integral part of the band, adding fresh dimensions to both their live performances and studio recordings. The band's journey forges ahead, now featuring Greek singer and violinist Aimilia Varanaki as their lead vocalist and charismatic frontwoman, introduced after their fourth album. Their upcoming release, "Chorba," promises to usher in a new chapter in their musical odyssey, enriched by Aimilia Varanaki's enchanting lead vocals. With unwavering dedication, ShazaLaKazoo continues to redefine the boundaries of music, crafting an enduring legacy in the realm of sound.

The new album Chorba (15 March 2024), a venerated soup intricately woven into the culinary traditions of the Balkans, Middle East, and North Africa, stands as a culinary marvel. Its brilliance shines in its remarkable capacity to transform every day, often humble ingredients—sometimes just a handful of basics and water—into a profoundly remarkable and delectable feast that delights all who partake. This alchemical process requires time and patience, as the ingredients simmer and meld, evolving from the ordinary into something genuinely extraordinary. It transcends being a mere dish; instead, it's a living testament to the artistry that can turn the simplest elements into something extraordinary. In a similar vein, ShazaLaKazoo, a band known for their sound exploration and innovation, echoes this spirit in their new album named "Chorba." Just as chorba showcases the art of creating a satisfying meal from simple ingredients, "Chorba" the album is a musical journey that, like its culinary counterpart, required time and patience to achieve. It mirrors the culinary process, as the band creatively melds a rich mix of instruments and tools, drawing from a diverse range of influences, to craft their captivating music. While one is a culinary delight, the other is a musical feast, and both are testaments to the creative and resourceful approach to their respective crafts. "Chorba" marks ShazaLaKazoo's fifth album, but it's a groundbreaking first with Aimilia Varanaki as their new frontwoman and violinist, a synergy that breathes fresh life into their sound. Accompanied by the master trumpeter Milos Nikolic and the original duo, Milan Djuric on the wind controller, beat making, and mix engineering, and Uros Petkovic on the violin and mastering engineering, this release ushers in a new era of live performances. Evolving from their electronic music roots, "Chorba" embraces a classic band experience, fusing Serbian trumpet excellence with ShazaLaKazoo's signature groovy electronic rhythm section, all crowned by Aimilia Varanaki's captivating charisma. This album represents an exciting chapter in their journey and celebrates the musical diversity and harmonious blend of talents that promises to delight audiences once again.

World music electronic Balkan beats Serbia

Shazalakazoo

Krasi

The new album Chorba, a venerated soup intricately woven into the culinary traditions of the Balkans, Middle East, and North Africa, stands as a culinary marvel. Its brilliance shines in its remarkable capacity to transform every day, often humble ingredients—sometimes just a handful of basics and water—into a profoundly remarkable and delectable feast that delights all who partake. This alchemical process requires time and patience, as the ingredients simmer and meld, evolving from the ordinary into something genuinely extraordinary. It transcends being a mere dish; instead, it's a living testament to the artistry that can turn the simplest elements into something extraordinary. In a similar vein, ShazaLaKazoo, a band known for their sound exploration and innovation, echoes this spirit in their new album named "Chorba." Just as chorba showcases the art of creating a satisfying meal from simple ingredients, "Chorba" the album is a musical journey that, like its culinary counterpart, required time and patience to achieve. It mirrors the culinary process, as the band creatively melds a rich mix of instruments and tools, drawing from a diverse range of influences, to craft their captivating music. While one is a culinary delight, the other is a musical feast, and both are testaments to the creative and resourceful approach to their respective crafts. "Chorba" marks ShazaLaKazoo's fifth album, but it's a groundbreaking first with Aimilia Varanaki as their new frontwoman and violinist, a synergy that breathes fresh life into their sound. Accompanied by the master trumpeter Milos Nikolic and the original duo, Milan Djuric on the wind controller, beat making, and mix engineering, and Uros Petkovic on the violin and mastering engineering, this release ushers in a new era of live performances. Evolving from their electronic music roots, "Chorba" embraces a classic band experience, fusing Serbian trumpet excellence with ShazaLaKazoo's signature groovy electronic rhythm section, all crowned by Aimilia Varanaki's captivating charisma. This album represents an exciting chapter in their journey and celebrates the musical diversity and harmonious blend of talents that promises to delight audiences once again.

Chorba

This is Schnieke, a.k.a. Özgür Akgül, with his first studio album Hediye (the gift). The album is intended as a gift to Özgür's grandmother, Hadiye, who was very important to him and to whom he dedicated a song. But his debut album will also come as a gift to anyone interested in how a sophisticated musical sensibility brings together electronic elements with stringed instruments of all kinds. Özgür plays the violins himself, as well as the analogue synths and drum machines. Guest musicians include Hasan Gözetlik (trumpet and trombone), Göksun Çavdar (saxophone), Korhan Erol (electric guitar and bass), Burhan Hasdemir and Barış Güney (live percussion), Zafer Tunç Resuloğlu (live drums), John Gürtler (church organ) and the Istanbul Strings, Turkey’s most vibrant string ensemble. Their diverse influences create a wide emotional range on Hediye - sometimes dark and melancholic, sometimes wild, groovy and danceable, somewhere between jazz, dub and electro, each song surprising in its own way. Despite the variety of the individual songs, a captivating pulse runs like a thread through Schnieke's first album. Incidentally, Özgür came up with the band name during a night out in a bar, when a friend explained to him what Berlin slang he absolutely had to know. He liked the sound of the word ‘Schnieke – ’it means something approximating ‘snazzy ’- and perhaps he secretly also wanted to flatter himself a little! Well, shouldn't we all do that much more often? Hediye consists of nine tracks, three of which are traditional: Aman Doktor comes from Istanbul, Özgür's birthplace, and is a homage to his own origins. Gayda, based on a Roma instrumental form of the same name, immediately makes you want to sway and transports the listener right into the middle of one of those legendary Roma weddings. Kadıoğlu comes from the Aegean region and features the Zeybek dance form which, despite its standardization in recent times, still summons up the ecstasy, inspired improvisation and musical finesse of its historical roots. The other six tracks are Özgür's own compositions, with Paşalı providing the soundtrack for the 2010 Turkish feature film Memleket Meselesi. Creating compositions for film has been Özgür’s primary passion since his time as a student at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany. You can hear that in his music, because on his debut album Özgür does completely without vocal support, the instrumental depth stands for itself, and, in the style of The Cinematic Orchestra, space is created for us to develop our own images while listening – it is a soundtrack for the film we want to make of it.

World music electronic Balkan beats Turkey Türkei Türkiye

Schnieke

SCHNIEKE LIVE COLLAGE

This is Schnieke, a.k.a. Özgür Akgül, with his first studio album Hediye (the gift). The album is intended as a gift to Özgür's grandmother, Hadiye, who was very important to him and to whom he dedicated a song. But his debut album will also come as a gift to anyone interested in how a sophisticated musical sensibility brings together electronic elements with stringed instruments of all kinds. Özgür plays the violins himself, as well as the analogue synths and drum machines. Guest musicians include Hasan Gözetlik (trumpet and trombone), Göksun Çavdar (saxophone), Korhan Erol (electric guitar and bass), Burhan Hasdemir and Barış Güney (live percussion), Zafer Tunç Resuloğlu (live drums), John Gürtler (church organ) and the Istanbul Strings, Turkey’s most vibrant string ensemble. Their diverse influences create a wide emotional range on Hediye - sometimes dark and melancholic, sometimes wild, groovy and danceable, somewhere between jazz, dub and electro, each song surprising in its own way. Despite the variety of the individual songs, a captivating pulse runs like a thread through Schnieke's first album. Incidentally, Özgür came up with the band name during a night out in a bar, when a friend explained to him what Berlin slang he absolutely had to know. He liked the sound of the word ‘Schnieke – ’it means something approximating ‘snazzy ’- and perhaps he secretly also wanted to flatter himself a little! Well, shouldn't we all do that much more often?
Hediye consists of nine tracks, three of which are traditional: Aman Doktor comes
from Istanbul, Özgür's birthplace, and is a homage to his own origins. Gayda, based on a Roma instrumental form of the same name, immediately makes you want to sway and transports the listener right into the middle of one of those legendary Roma weddings. Kadıoğlu comes from the Aegean region and features the Zeybek dance form which, despite its standardization in recent times, still summons up the ecstasy, inspired improvisation and musical finesse of its historical roots. The other six tracks are Özgür's own compositions, with Paşalı providing the soundtrack for the 2010 Turkish feature film Memleket Meselesi. Creating compositions for film has been Özgür’s primary passion since his time as a student at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany. You can hear that in his music, because on his debut album Özgür does completely without vocal support, the instrumental depth stands for itself, and, in the style of The Cinematic Orchestra, space is created for us to develop our own images while listening – it is a soundtrack for the film we want to make of it.

Hediye

The leading voice in Gypsy, Balkan and Eastern European Music

announce a follow-up to the award-winning 2014 release ‘Devil's Tale’! The new album ‘The Devil Rides Again’ (available as Vinyl LP, CD and DL) will be released on 2 May 2025 on Asphalt Tango Records. 

Adrian Raso (Canada) and Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania) 

"Me Sem Rom / I'm a Man" to be released 6 September 2024 as a limited 7'' vinyl single (45 rpm) and as digital download.

Fanfare Ciocarlia releases its first 7’ vinyl single

London based singer Annique’s voice is for an inner ear and an open heart. A soul singer’s instrument carrying the weight of past greats while trailing its own colours. Growing up in Rainham, Essex, Annique traveled out on the strength of her voice, working with the likes of The Streets, Gorillaz, and drum’n’bass outfit Step 13 before teaming up with UK producer Koby Israelite at his south London studio for a series of informal writing sessions that went on to become her debut ‘Heads Up’ album.

The 2015 release of ‘Heads Up’, under Berlin-based label Asphalt Tango, garnered critical acclaim and led to a host of vocal collaborations with Eastern European artists such as renowned gypsy brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia, alongside a number 1 in the Juno download charts with Balkan music stars Mahala Rai Banda. The album also sported a social message, and a viral hit across social media, for the track “

 is short for – well, hear it for yourself. “It’s not a protest song,” says Koby, “but it’s my favourite on the album. There’s an extra something to it, an emotion.”

Annique proves herself a sharp-eyed lyricist with a tender, seductive voice, igniting a raft of deep-toned torch songs from modern-day London with her mix of soulfulness, eclectic jazz and world influences, and the cinematic soundscapes of collaborator.“ 

Annique has since gone on to release many more musical projects, and with the talent, she has at her fingertips, her future looks bright as she moves forward in the world of music constantly pushing boundaries to find new avenues to showcase her natural talent.

UK based singer Annique’s voice is for an inner ear and an open heart. 

Annique 

Annique | Love Not Understood

Smokily atmospheric, sophisticated folk pop, suffused with angelic choruses, and heartfelt soul.

Annique’s voice is for the inner ear and open heart, a soul singer’s instrument carrying the freight of past greats while trailing its own strong colours. Growing up in Rainham, Essex, Annique travelled out on the strength of her voice, studying at the Academy of Contemporary Music before working with the likes of The Streets and Gorillaz, drum’n’bass outfit Step 13 and then teaming up with Koby Israelite at his south London studio.

Together, Annique and Koby summon up a smokily atmospheric, sophisticated adult pop, suffused with angelic choruses, strong lyrics and heartfelt soul. The track 'Walk on' features the infamous Fanfare Ciocarlia.

Walk On (single)

Having ripped up stages across the USA and Europe, Eastern European Romanian roots rockers Mahala Rai Banda are to blast stages all over the world with their fierce Gypsy funk. The 11-piece brass band’s blend of hard Balkan brass with minor key violin & accordion melodies has made them as a force to be reckoned with. Having taken shape on the mean streets of Bucharest, Mahala Rai Banda’s sound is 21st Century Gypsy music: rooted in tradition but with hints of dub and soul, Turkish and Arabic assimilated into their roaring dance mix. When Mahala Rai Banda hit the stage ancient Gypsy music campfire tunes blend with the raucous din of Balkan Mafia clubs.

Ever since the release of their debut album, Mahala Rai Banda's has performed over 200 concerts in 26 countries, and appeared at major festivals and clubs and concert halls. Their song "Mahalageasca" (both in its original version 

's remix) has appeared in British-American feature film 

, as well as in several other films and advertising campaigns.

Mahala Raï Banda tracks have appeared on international compilations including "Buddha Bar" (France), "Bucovina Club" (Germany), "Balkan Bangers and Gypsy Beats" (UK), "Balearic Bisquits" (Denmark), "Balkanology" (South Africa), "Rough Guide to Eastern Europe" (UK), "Rromanu Suno" (Serbia), "Balkan Beats" (Germany), "Barrio Latino" (France), "Bar Gypsy" (USA), and others. The band's music was also featured in the soundtrack album of the film 

. Mahala Rai Banda has also formed part of THE GYPSY QUEENS AND KINGS tour. 

since 2009, and have been featured on the 2011 platforming game 

Romanian Gypsy roots rockers Mahala Rai Banda who blast stages all over the world with their fierce Gypsy funk.

Mahala Rai Banda 

Mahala Rai Banda | Rai Baro

Dub Mixes of the Gypsy bands music. The first album where Gypsy music meets the Dreads uptown.

Since the early-1960s Jamaican music has rocked the world: Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Dub, Dancehall having established internationally that beautiful, troubled island as a leader in musical innovation and good grooves. The fall of the Berlin Wall found Romania's Gypsy musicians making a similar impression on the West with their ancient string bands and furious brass bands creating a groove like no other.

The funkiest of all Romanian bands are Mahala Rai Banda. This Bucharest-based band have mixed Funk and Latin flavours into furious brass groove and torn up stages across the world. In 2009, on their acclaimed album "Ghetto Blasters", Mahala Rai Banda cut "Balkan Reggae", a lovely, swinging instrumental that showed how Eastern cymbaloms, violins, accordions and trumpets could embrace a very Caribbean flavour.

Reggae in Romania? Few imagined that the Jamaican sound could penetrate so far East or that a Gypsy band could play it with such feel. Yet everyone who heard Balkan Reggae loved it and Reggae DJs across Europe began dropping the tune in their sets. As 2012 signaled the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence Mahala Rai Banda reached out to their Jamaican brethren and requested Dub remixes on Balkan Reggae.

The response was strong. Leading the charge was Mad Professor - the legendary, London-based Jamaican producer who has gone toe-to-toe with Lee Perry and Massive Attack amongst many others - followed by Nick Manasseh (feat. dread DJ Gregory Fabulous), Jstar, G-Vibes (feat. acclaimed Brixton Blues man Errol Linton), Vibronics, Kanka and Asphalt Tango artists La Cherga and Koby Israelite.

"Balkan Reggae" - The Dub Mixes is the first ever album where Balkan Gypsy music meets the Dreads uptown! As they like to shout over a hot mix in Trenchtown: "Irie!"

Balkan Reggae

Volga is an unparalleled musical project rooted in the Moscow scene. Successfully combining experimental electronics with contemporary dance rhythms and Russian folklore, psychedelic paganism and shamanism. Their melodies and lyrics are taken from ancient times, mixed with the urban aesthetics of a modern age. Live their music comes to life with intense video art projections, engulfing the audience sonically and visually.

Just as the central Russian river of the same name unites 200 streams, this band merges together so many musical currents and tides that it magically develops into a new kind of life-giving riverbed. One stream, born of the spirit of mystery, pours ancient Russian texts into this magical mixture, another releases electronic rhythms of trip hop to meet them. Caught by their resilient wave, and foreshortened at once by the beats of the bases (originating either in dub or in house music), the ritual ethnic motifs no longer recognise the familiar shores but seek to overflow them and forge new and unknown boundaries.

Some might say Volga is the sound of the Middle Ages erupting in our times. Others might object by saying that this is the third millennium speaking to us in the language of the Russian Middle Ages. Their versatile lead singer,  Angela Manukyan, has collected an utilises as her lyrical base ancient texts of different dialects from Russian villages of different regions dating back as far as 1100 A.D. Each dialect requires an unique vocal technique and stands for a singular sound, carefully studied and mastered by the singer and brought to life in the music of Volga.

Volga's current line-up includes: vocalist and researcher Angela Manukyan (joint projects with Richard Norvila aka Benzo and Species Of Fishes duo); electronics specialist and multi-instrumentalist Roman Lebedev (Metal Corrosion, Alien Pat Holman, Idioritmik); artist and Grammy winner Uri Balashov. The performances of Volga are usually accompanied by video projections created in realtime by Moscow video artist Roman Anikushin and Parisian Oleg Kornev.

Russian artist from Moscow, combining experimental electronics with contemporary dance rhythms and Russian folklore.

Volga 

Park Live 2014

Combining experimental electronics with contemporary dance rhythms and Russian folklore.

Volga is an unparalleled project rooted in the Moscow music scene. It successfully combines experimental electronics, contemporary dance rhythms and Russian folklore. Pagan psychedelia, shamanism, melodies and lyrics from ancient times mixed with urban aesthetics and video art are the essential components of Volga's performances.

Angela Manukyan, the versatile singer of Volga, has collected ancient texts dating back as far as 1100 A.D. in Russian villages of different regions, all of them written in various dialects. Each dialect requires an unique vocal technique and stands for a singular sound, carefully studied and mastered by the singer. Some might say Volga is the sound of the Middle Ages erupting in our times. Others might object by saying that this is the third millennium speaking to us in the language of the Russian Middle Ages.

Just as the central Russian river of the same name unites 200 streams, this band merges together so many musical currents and tides that it magically develops into a new kind of life-giving riverbed. One stream, born of the spirit of mystery, pours ancient Russian texts into this magical mixture, another releases electronic rhythms of trip hop to meet them. Caught by their resilient wave, and foreshortened at once by the beats of the bases (originating either in dub or in house music), the ritual ethnic motifs no longer recognise the familiar shores but seek to overflow them and forge other, henceforth unknown boundaries.

Volga's current line-up includes: vocalist and researcher Angela Manukyan (joint projects with Richard Norvila aka Benzo and Species Of Fishes duo); electronics specialist and multi-instrumentalist Roman Lebedev (Metal Corrosion, Alien Pat Holman, Idioritmik); artist and Grammy winner Uri Balashov. The performances of Volga are usually accompanied by video projections created in realtime by Moscow video artist Roman Anikushin and Parisian Oleg Kornev.

Kumushki Pjut

Founded in 2006 by the multifaceted artist Irina Doubrovskaja, ErsatzMusika is made up of six Berlin-based, formerly Russian musicians who immigrated to Germany after the fall of the wall. Bringing with them their Russian diaspora from behind the iron stage, where Gypsies sing of woolen boots and worshippers of Mammon decry broken hearts and glasses raised to lost love. The groups compositions blend their traditional Eastern European music background with influences from the west including dub, urban, and folk, creating a  familiar yet exotic musical landscape engaging listeners from all backgrounds.

Their sound is unique - a rootsy Russian urban folk without insulation and throwing off sparks. Lurking in their condensed, gritty bass and guitar riffs is a pure, unrefined and unruly spirit that's redolent of 1980s Fall, 1970s Jamaican dub, 1930s Berlin cabaret, and Soviet ska-like beats chopped out in the style of the dissident singers of the Soviet era - whose "criminal songs" - vicious vignettes of Soviet realities - were secretly circulated in their millions on cassette.

Theirs is not a nostalgia for an old world, however, but a reclamation of its fierce creative underground. The 13 strange and singular tracks on their second album, Songs Unrecantable, is like a hall of mirrors reflecting the psychic landscapes of old Russia back onto the crazy realities of 21st century Mittel-Europa and turning them loose into some of the strangest songs on the planet.

From the opening old-world elegance of Song on a Gypsy Air with its exquisitely dry piano melody, through the dread, subterranean beat of Tver, the Neolithic rock n roll of Oy Pterodactyl or the image-drenched tone poetry of Antediluvian, Songs Unrecantable draws you inexorably into a conspiracy of organs, raw guitars, clipped, arcane riffs, jerky dances, haunting vocals, and a vast image bank drawn from past and present, east and west.

Traditional Russian music blended with influences from the west including dub, urban, and folk. 

Ersatz Musika 

Upon The Earth

“A disjointed Eastern European answer to Tom Waits"

"One of the most remarkable debut albums of recent years"
- BBC Music

FRONTED by the achingly melancholic voice of artist and singer Irina Doubrovskaja, and people by a half dozen Soviet émigrés who escaped the turmoil of Russia following the end of Cold War for the artistic communes of East Berlin, ErsatzMusika are the ghost in the machine of 21st century music.
Their sound is unique - a rootsy Russian urban folk without insulation and throwing off sparks. Lurking in their condensed, gritty bass and guitar riffs is a pure, unrefined and unruly spirit that's redolent of 1980s Fall, 1970s Jamaican dub, 1930s Berlin cabaret, and Soviet ska-like beats chopped out in the style of the dissident singers of the Soviet era - whose "criminal songs" - vicious vignettes of Soviet realities - were secretly circulated in their millions on cassette.
Theirs is not a nostalgia for an old world, however, but a reclamation of its fierce creative underground. The 13 strange and singular tracks on their second album, Songs Unrecantable, is like a hall of mirrors reflecting the psychic landscapes of old Russia back onto the crazy realities of 21st century Mittel-Europa and turning them loose into some of the strangest songs on the planet.
From the opening old-world elegance of Song on a Gypsy Air with its exquisitely dry piano melody, through the dread, subterranean beat of Tver, the Neolithic rock n roll of Oy Pterodactyl or the image-drenched tone poetry of Antediluvian, Songs Unrecantable draws you inexorably into a conspiracy of organs, raw guitars, clipped, arcane riffs, jerky dances, haunting vocals, and a vast image bank drawn from past and present, east and west.
Their acclaimed 2007 debut, Voice Letter, took its name from the flexidiscs that people would mail across the Soviet Union as musical postcards. The album's songs were sung in Russian, but you didn't need to speak it to feel their power and their soul. Now with Songs Unrecantable the band's jagged, surreal poetry has been rendered into English, mixing cinematic images with surreal voices and dislocated epithets peopled by pterodactyls, pawned clocks, rotting rafters, cactoid skyscrapers, and psylocybine panic.
New world orders come and go, and ErsatzMusika are the soundtrack for what's gone and what's to come. Theirs is a reclamation in sound of the old weird Russia on the other side of the mirror, suffused in the gothic tremolo of duelling guitars, subterranean bass, off-kilter dance beats, the sepia-street sound of an accordion that sounds as if it's been filtered through winter fog. With Songs Unrecantable, ErsatzMusika brings you the Russian beat dancing on a chain to the lyrics of Irina Doubrovskaja and others; her melancholic, dispossessed voice wanders like a haunted spirit across a terrain of old borders and broken idols. Normality will never feel the same again.

Songs Unrecantable

Kottarashky is a 21st-century digital master musician with his hands sunk deep in the past. Bringing together vintage Balkan field recordings, classic jazz, blues, psychedelic sounds, and club beats alongside extraordinary, archetypal Gypsy voices, he molds these disparate sounds into a  truly unique form of music that is clearly his own. Live Kottarashky fills his line-up of guitar, bass, and drums -  with village musicians drawn from his hometown, creating ‘Kottarashky and the Rain Dogs”- an incarnation of his studio work which effortlessly brings to life his compositions and recordings for the live audience. Kottarashky’s debut CD was the brainchild of sound collector and interior designer Nikola Gruev from Sofia, Bulgaria. He experimented by combining his own field recordings with electronic beats and quickly had his first album together. After that, the band The Rain Dogs was born. “Grandpa Hey!” was followed by the groovy “Demoni” and “Cats, Dogs and Ghosts.” But his new music pulsates with dancefloor energy but it also has more vocals than ever before, and features singer Tui Mamaki. Among other songs, the New Zealander sings “Gyuro” accompanied by Asya Andonova and the floating trumpet of Sando Sandov, who also performs seemingly impossible accordion parts. Almost all of the lyrics are traditional, only “Hare Nishto” and “Dogs Out” were improvised in the studio. Kottarashky has uncovered jewels from Bulgarian folklore like “Zalvera,” a little-known song from the Rhodope Mountains about a Muslim girl. He fuses blues, jazz, trip hop, breakbeat, dub and more into a dazzling polyphonic concoction. By working with his excellent live musicians, Kottarashky has further evolved as a band during the pandemic and the tracks sound more soulful and urban without betraying their traditional roots. Kottarashky has never been a ‘Balkan Beats’ conformist, but instead journeys deeply into the Bulgarian cosmos looking for sonic threads to weave into his music, threads that are as eclectic as they are mysterious.

Bulgarian sampling artist opening the door to hitherto undiscovered spaces of Balkan music 

Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs

Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs | Dogs Out

Debut album from the Bulgarian digital master, Balkan field recordings meets jazz and electronica.

Kottarashky is a 21st century digital master musician with his hands sunk deep in the past - vintage Balkan field recordings, classic jazz and blues, psychedelic sounds, club beats and extraordinary, archetypal Gypsy voices, guttural shouts and lyrical laments are all molded and thrown into new shapes. The songs of his debut album "Opa Hey!" sound like tales told by a people who have all the time in the world: time to contemplate, enjoy, engage and dream; to take pleasure in unexpected twists and turns; to be inspired by the details and vividness of marginal existence.

Kottarashky is an architect by vocation, which perhaps explains the palpable sense of place in his music. Summer trips to small villages and the marginal regions of Bulgaria were key source of inspiration for the album, and his music samples a broad palette of sources and influences - enigmatic field recordings by artists unknown alongside Boris Kovac, Les Yeux Noir, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Jony Iliev and compelling Hungarian singer Mitsou.

The resulting digital pick-and-mix hits you like a panoramic puzzle of sounds collected and put together from a night's walk through the streets of Sofia.

It is an ethno-music born of a city lacking cultural identity that is torn between contemporary European globalism, Balkan provincialism and a living if largely forgotten folk tradition. It's a music inspired by that environment but also in reaction to it, a journey down roads less travelled, through the Bulgarian backwoods and back via the laptop to the 21st century.

Opa Hey!

Koby Israelite is a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who enjoys smashing genres together and grinding them into the dust! Citing artists such as Taraf de Haidouks, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin and Mr Bungle, and genres including Jewish, Middle Eastern, Classical and Jazz as major influences, defining Koby's music is challenging. The fact of the matter is that Israelite has absorbed such an astounding array of styles, fusing them together into a language all of his own, that his sound is genre-proof.

Growing up in the Middle East to a Jewish Balkan family, Koby Israelite learned classical piano aged six, and at fifteen began playing the drums in Rock and Metal bands. At the age of twenty-two he moved to London where he started to compose, record, and produce music. His musical style then radically changed after a chance encounter with Eastern European Romanian Gypsy stars Taraf de Haidouks. Israelite heard the band live and subsequently decided to return to his Romanian Balkan roots with the help of Marius Manole (Taraf's legendary accordionist). The two shared Koby's house for two weeks, and Manole helped him master this instrument whilst divulging the secrets of the Gypsy music enigma.

Koby became a successful accordionist within the UK ethnic scene. His career turned a corner after the renowned composer, producer and label owner John Zorn commissioned Koby to write music for the cult 'Radical Jewish' series. He went on to release four albums for Tzadik and finally produced one of John Zorn`s own albums, a work in which he played almost every instrument. The online music magazine 

a tremendous flair for composition, instrumental acumen, humour, and an ability to shift genres without batting an eye... the results are stellar... the most exhilarating set of recordings Tzadik has offered.”

Koby's music has been used in numerous TV programs and movies including Madonna's debut directorial feature film Filth and Wisdom. His compositions have also been covered by other leading names, such as Fanfare Ciocarlia and Shantel, to name but a few.

 is an outstanding five-piece ensemble that has earned him both a snowballing international fan base and a prestigious headline slot at Sines Festival of World Music. In a similar vein, the band also performed at London's famous Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall.

London based composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist who enjoys smashing genres together and grinding them into the dust!

Koby Israelite

Koby Israelite | Michal - the fastest drewer in the middle east

Koby’s latest musical adventure is a journey into the amazing world of great european composers. He reinterprets some of the great works of the past, compositions by Chopin, Mozart, Stravinsky and Dvorak. The album also includes reimaginations of works by Gershwin, Schubert, Saint-Saens, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Bizet, Chatschaturjan and Donizetti.
The idea of recording an album dedicated only to classical music, was born while working on his arrangement for Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 1 for his previous album „Jakob’s Dream“.
With his by now signature quirky sound and original approach he takes on pieces like „The Rite of Spring“, Rachmaninov’s „3rd piano concerto“ and makes them sound like no one else can. With his unique approach, individual vision and yet, great respect for tradition and the compositions themselves.
The album’s diversity is due to Koby Israelite’s wide array of musical styles. From cinematic atmospheric melancholy to ‘Village Folk’ to prog Rock to smoky Cabaret. As on all his albums, Koby plays most instruments himself.
The album also includes Serenade #4 by Schubert, Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens, Mozart 40th Symphony and other masterpieces.

Mostly Peaceful

Kottarashky aka Nikola Gruev opened the door to hitherto undiscovered spaces of Balkan music with his first album "Opa Hey!" in 2009. His approach of using a collection of sounds taken from authentic field recordings is quite similar to artists like Amon Tobin, the only difference being that Gruev found and recorded his sources in the Bulgarian countryside. Combining these, he initiated a tribal digital dance music that went far beyond either the mash up culture of contemporary global producers or the art collages of modern sound architects. He simply amazed with compositions that are extremely complexly woven, yet at the same time catchy, and full of joy or melancholy. At the time however, Kottarashky was unknown, even within his local scene in Bulgaria. It was all the more unbelievable that this dude, who was actually a full-time architect, was producing outstanding tunes and unique rhythms such as these in his back office that were completely unconnected with any popular scenes.

Gyuro (single)

"This is the soundtrack to Garth Cartwright's racy, plum-brandy-fuelled journey across the Balkans in Eastern Europe in search of Gypsy musicians. The writing in the book "Princes Amongst Men – Journeys With Gypsy Musicians" was raw but vivedly evocative of the music and musicians encountered... Many of those are featured here, with compelling tracks from larger-than-life characters such as Esma Redzepova, Saban Bajramovic, Boban Markovic and celebrated bands like Fanfare Ciocarlia and Taraf de Haidouks.
These are, of course, the usual suspects of Balkan Gypsy compilations, but there are other lesser-known treasures here like Serbia's Kal, Romania's Fulgerica and Bulgaria's Jony Iliev, plus some older Romanian lautari tracks by singer Romica Puceanu and cimbalom maestro Toni Iordache... The 18 tracks have clearly been chosen with hands-on expercience of the territory..."

Sudahan put a clarinet to his lips at the wedding of Elvis Huna in Skopje and blew a ferocious wail, summoning the spirit of Shutka (city of Gypsies). Dzansever's a phantom, singing only for Turkish and Gypsy weddings, her voice conveying deep Balkan blues. Sofi Marinova's charming, a devastating singer. Boban rules Serbia's Guca brass band festival. There he sent thousands of youths into ecstasy with his eerie, charged notes. Ederlezi - the holy day for Balkan Gypsies - in Kyustendil mahala, south west Bulgaria. A night never to forget. Jony & Boril Iliev's band played and the ghetto rose in a wave of joy. Esma enters a room - any room - and is acknowledged as the Queen. Saban, choking on a cigarette, remains the Lizard King. Ekrem and Naat: stoic trumpet masters. Ferus leers. Fulgerica frowns. Kal's Dragan Ristic's a smooth operator. In Zece Prajini, Fanfare Ciocarlia's "invisible" village, geese and pigs clutter up the main road and brass echoes across the valley. Taraf de Haidouks translates as Band of Outlaws. Very apt. Eight wild, relentless months . . . from Spring to Winter . . . a Balkan exodus . . . I got the bear and the bear got me. Some dream of running away to join the circus. Mine was to ride with the Gypsies. This is how the journey sounded.

released June 6, 2008

Princes Amongst Men featuring:

Sudahan (Macedonia), Ekrem & Gypsy Groovz (Serbia), Fulgerica (Romania), Romica Puceanu (Romania), Dan Armeanca & Fanfare Ciocarlia (Romania), Kal (Serbia), Jony Iliev (Bulgaria), Ferus Mustafov (Macedonia), Saban Bajramovic (Serbia), Sofi Marinova (Bulgaria), Kocani Orkestar (Macedonia), Esma Redzepova (Macedonia), Rom Bengale (Romania), Dzansever (Macedonia), Toni Iordache (Romania), Boril Iliev (Bulgaria), Taraf de Haidouks (Romania), Boban Markovic (Serbia)

The soundtrack to Garth Cartwright's racy, plum-brandy-fuelled journey across the Balkans in search of Gypsy musicians.

Princes Amongst Men 

The soundtrack to Garth Cartwright's racy, plum-brandy-fuelled journey across the Balkans

Songlines:
"This is the soundtrack to Garth Cartwright's racy, plum-brandy-fuelled journey across the Balkans in search of Gypsy musicians. The writing in the book "Princes Amongst Men – Journeys With Gypsy Musicians" was raw but vivedly evocative of the music and musicians encountered... Many of those are featured here, with compelling tracks from larger-than-life characters such as Esma Redzepova, Saban Bajramovic, Boban Markovic and celebrated bands like Fanfare Ciocarlia and Taraf de Haidouks.
These are, of course, the usual suspects of Balkan Gypsy compilations, but there are other lesser-known treasures here like Serbia's Kal, Romania's Fulgerica and Bulgaria's Jony Iliev, plus some older Romanian lautari tracks by singer Romica Puceanu and cimbalom maestro Toni Iordache... The 18 tracks have clearly been chosen with hands-on expercience of the territory..."

Sudahan put a clarinet to his lips at the wedding of Elvis Huna in Skopje and blew a ferocious wail, summoning the spirit of Shutka (city of Gypsies). Dzansever's a phantom, singing only for Turkish and Gypsy weddings, her voice conveying deep Balkan blues. Sofi Marinova's charming, a devastating singer. Boban rules Serbia's Guca brass band festival. There he sent thousands of youths into ecstasy with his eerie, charged notes. Ederlezi - the holy day for Balkan Gypsies - in Kyustendil mahala, south west Bulgaria. A night never to forget. Jony & Boril Iliev's band played and the ghetto rose in a wave of joy. Esma enters a room - any room - and is acknowledged as the Queen. Saban, choking on a cigarette, remains the Lizard King. Ekrem and Naat: stoic trumpet masters. Ferus leers. Fulgerica frowns. Kal's Dragan Ristic's a smooth operator. In Zece Prajini, Fanfare Ciocarlia's "invisible" village, geese and pigs clutter up the main road and brass echoes across the valley. Taraf de Haidouks translates as Band of Outlaws. Very apt. Eight wild, relentless months . . . from Spring to Winter . . . a Balkan exodus . . . I got the bear and the bear got me. Some dream of running away to join the circus. Mine was to ride with the Gypsies. This is how the journey sounded.

Princes Amongst Men

The essential guide to Balkan & Eastern European music featuring artists that exemplify the diversity and virtuosity of music in the Balkan region. From fiery brass music to breathtaking sounds - experience the unleashed strength and mood of the Beast from the East. Available as digital download on Bandcamp only!


The essential guide to Balkan music featuring artists that exemplify the diversity and virtuosity of music in the Balkan region. From fiery brass music to breathtaking sounds - experience the unleashed strength and mood of the Beast from the East. Available on Bandcamp only!

The Beast from the East

The essential guide to Balkan music featuring artists that exemplify the diversity and virtuosity of music in the Balkan region. From fiery brass music to breathtaking sounds - experience the unleashed strength and mood of the Beast from the East. Available on Bandcamp only!

Featuring:

Mădălina Pavăl
Besh o droM
Cigdem Aslan
Dzambo Agusevi Orchestra
Fanfare Ciocarlia
Kal
Koby Israelite
Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs
La Cherga
Mahala Rai Banda
Motion Trio
Oana Catalina Chitu
Volga
Jstar
Dunkelbunt

The Beast from the East (Vol. 4)

Escape From Baltimore - remixed by Jstar (UK). Original track released on Fanfare Ciocarlia album "It Wasn't Hard To Love You" (2021).

Escape From Baltimore - Jstar remix

Balkan music tradition, oriental Gypsy pop, Catalan rumba, reggae and even Romanian manele.

In Romania, the most famous and the most gifted musicians live in two towns. In Clejani, just south-west of Bucharest, the violonists, cymbalists, double bass players and other accordion players notably formed the extraordinary Taraf de Haïdouks. In Zece Prajini, north-east of the capital in Moldavia, you can find the greatest density of wind players per square meter, including the brass players of the famous Fanfare Ciocarlia. It is in these two lost villages, in the dust, the mud or the ice, according to the season, that you find the crème de la crème, the kings of the schmekers*, the instrumentalists who are half-genius, half-rascal, capable of stirring up a wedding party with a single solo launched at supersonic speed.

Knowing this, how do you find THE great Gypsy group, a sort of Balkan equivalent of the Memphis Horns with the rhythm section from Muscle Shoals, these two being the gold standard of soul music, combining power and finesse, groove and virtuosity ? It's easy, just bring together the musicians from Clejani and of Zece Prajini! This is the magic equation, the stroke of genius, which guarantees you an orchestra - a taraf - which is hot as coals and led by the violonist Ionica Aurel. And to add salt to this mixture, invite guest singers such Sorin Constantin, Jony Iliev and Dan Armeanca, the king of the manea, forerunner of what was to become the manele, the Romanian pop of the 21st century.

The Mahala Raï Banda, supergroup of Roma pop. Appearing at first straightforward, combining the musicians from Clejani and Zece Prajini nevertheless proved to be a lot more complex. A good ensemble is not put together as easily as a martingale in bingo. There is first of all a history of encounters and of never-ending balls spent in Bucharest's wedding bands. According to the tastes and the budget of the future spouses, Roma or gadjés, according to the affinities and the complementarity of the musicians, the lautari reach the big city and form and dissolve tarafs with a variable geometry capable of playing everything : traditional Romanian music, the Gypsy repertoire of the last century, manele or vertiginous adaptations of Abba or Madonna.

Ghetto Blasters

The Bucharest-based Pancirel 'Pancho' Constandache, whose musical journey took him from folklore trumpet playing to jazz to backing Romanian pop acts, comes along with a song straight out of his Pancho Balkanic Factory. With restrictions dwindling in Romania, “Dupa Pandemia - (incepe nebunia)” is a door opener to get your groove on and shake the lockdown bacon from your hips. Qualified instructions can be found in Ben Dito's lyrics.

trumpet: Pancirel 'Pancho' Constandache / electronics: Cristian Robert Napu / vocals: Ben Dito

Dupa Pandemia - incepe nebunia is a door opener to get your groove on and shake the lockdown bacon from your hips. Qualified instructions can be found in Ben Dito's lyrics.

Pancho Balkanic Factory

După Pandemia

Ya Tosiba are a Berlin based band connecting raw, funky synthetic rhythms with female vocals. Formed in Finland in 2010 it is a collaboration between Norwegian-Azerbaijani Zuzu Zakaria and Finnish skweee pioneer Tatu Metsätähti aka Mesak. Mixing old street poetry traditions from Azerbaijan with underground electronic beats their sound is inspired by classical Arabic and Persian music, Scandinavian electronic traditions and hip hop - a raw blend of analog synthesizers, DIY elements and unpolished sounds, heavy electronic beats mixed with traditional instruments and rounded off by Zuzu's hypnotic vocals.

Lending a voice to voiceless civilians from the street corners of suburban Baku in Azerbaijan, their first album “Love Party” released in 2017 on Asphalt Tango Records is, in part, an audio documentation of the conditions of marginalized people.

Using a hybrid of Russian, modern Turkish and strong Baku dialects, the vocals of "Love Party" are drawn from texts originating in the genre known as meykhana, an ancient local tradition and part of the wedding culture in and around Baku where ‘meykhana acts’ are booked for festive audiences consisting exclusively of men.

The word ‘meykhana’ is translated from the Persian for ‘wine house’: the gatherings where it is performed – called ‘meykhana medjlis’ – are Sufi get-togethers and places for religious chanting in Islamic literature.

The texts chosen for “Love Party” attempt to describe resistance – no matter whether it is part of an imperialist past, of low and high local statuses or current stereotypes, combining these texts with slightly more Western-style musical compositions.

Young electronic music duo by Norwegian-Azerbaijani Zuzu Zakaria and Finnish skweee pioneer Tatu Metsätähti aka Mesak.

Ya Tosiba 

Ya Tosiba | N qədər

Pan european electronic music from Azerbaijan/Finland, documenting marginalized people.



Ya Tosiba is a young electronic music duo by Norwegian-Azerbaijani Zuzu Zakaria and Finnish skweee pioneer Tatu Metsätähti aka Mesak, that mixes old street poetry traditions from Azerbaijan with underground electronic beats. Their sound is inspired by classical Arabic and Persian music, Scandinavian electronic traditions and hip hop - a raw blend of analogue synthesizers, DIY elements and unpolished sounds, heavy electronic beats mixed with traditional instruments and rounded off by Zuzu's hypnotic vocals.

Their first album “Love Party” is, in part, an audio documentation of historical conditions and marginalized people. It lends a voice to voiceless civilians from the street corners of suburban Baku in Azerbaijan. The language they use is a hybrid of Russian, modern Turkish and strong Baku dialects.

The vocals of "Love Party" are drawn from texts originating in the genre known as meykhana, an ancient local tradition and part of the wedding culture in and around Baku where ‘meykhana acts’ are booked for festive audiences consisting exclusively of men. The word ‘meykhana’ is translated from the Persian for ‘wine house’: the gatherings where it is performed – called ‘meykhana medjlis’ – are Sufi get-togethers and places for religious chanting in Islamic literature.

Today, there is a new form of meykhana emerging in local media, and it represents an innovative and different mainstream genre. As soon as globalization and the new open-market capitalism hit the streets of Baku, the genre took on a new meaning in contexts that had little to do with political mobilization or artistic and intellectual stimulation.

The texts chosen for “Love Party” attempt to describe resistance – no matter whether it is part of an imperialist past, of low and high local statuses or current stereotypes. Ya Tosiba combined these texts with slightly more Western-style musical compositions. Although the poetry presented speaks of universal issues, it is performed by and for men. For those familiar with the tradition and its context, the idea of having it performed by a woman might be considered disturbing.

The terrific album cover was designed by musician, composer, radio DJ and last but not least Finland's 'Graphic Designer Of The Year 2017' Vilunki 3000 aka Mikko Viljakainen.

Love Party

After almost 40 years on stage, Novi Sad, Olah Vince, a legendary Gypsy music figure on the Serbian musical scene stepped forward with his own band and new project, The earth Wheel Sky band. Made up of guitar, violin, cymbalom, double bass and percussion, the project is an expression of purely acoustic instruments, showcasing the versatility of sound that traditional instruments and skilled players can produce. Coming from the Vojvodina region of Serbia, a traditional mixing pot of influences and sounds, the skilled musicians of the Earth Wheel Sky band have utilised these influences to create a unique blend of music form their debut album. While Vince had his own bands for ages or collaborated with many local musicians (currently he is a member of Boris Kovac's LaDaABa Orchest), some of his band members performed with Lajko Felix and some also with their own bands. Region of Serbia where they are living, called Vojvodina is part of Panonia, where influences are so mixed, and them, being Gypsies can make something creative out of that. Olah Vince, the Gypsy music activist, is not satisfied to live one life, he is helping others, trying to establish Gypsy radio in Novi Sad, but he cannot live without playing music. Are we not all Gypsies? Listen to this music, dance, shout be Gypsy, be free.

The musical project from legendary Serbian performer Ola Vinec from Novi Sad

Earth Wheel Sky Band 

Azija Rromansa

Musical greats collaborating from across the gypsy music scene.

After almost 40 years on stage, legendary figure of musical scene in Novi Sad, Olah Vince is stepping big step forward, with his band. Basic instrumentation, guitar, violin, cymbalom, doublebass, percussions, voice, no electronic gadgets or keyboards, simple, but pleasurable indeed. Even "India" is involved. Or the old song from Southern Serbia, re-arranged, but with maestro Boban Markovic on trumpet.

Expression is everything, they know how to slow down or lift you up. While Vince had his own bands for ages or collaborated with many local musicians (currently he is a member of Boris Kovac's LaDaABa Orchest), some of his band members performed with Lajko Felix and some also with their own bands. Region of Serbia where they are living, called Vojvodina is part of Panonia, where influences are so mixed, and them, being Gypsies can make something creative out of that. Olah Vince, the Gypsy activist, is not satisfied to live one life, he is helping others, trying to establish Gypsy radio in Novi Sad, but he cannot live without playing music. Are we not all Gypsies? Listen to this music, dance, shout be Gypsy, be free.

Waltz Rromano

New Zealand songsmith, bandleader and life-learnt ecologist Jono Heyes has
brought together a group of international musicians for a globe-trotting album
and video project entitled Beehive, recorded in Jono's self-made Beehive structure in the Czech countryside.

Beehive is a collection of original songs, all recorded in one take, over 8 days of
immersion in the Beehive studio, deep in the Czech countryside. With seven
international musicians in tow and sung in Spanish, English, French and Sanskrit,
the album rhythmically flies through the Balkans, the Caribbean, Latin America,
West Africa and even to the steppes of Mongolia. It features fiddles, contrabass,
piano, percussion, trumpet and various homemade instruments such as the
Moroccan-styled guembri and was conceived by Jono Heyes, and is his fourth
album proper. A sonic safari across the world, woven throughout the album is a
humanist thread with a borderless ambition to transcend cultural identity and
inspire peace and wonder in listeners. To dive deeper into the Beehive universe,
the album has also been brought to page with the storybook 'Nectar of the Gods', penned by Jono himself from his isolated blue Gipsy Wagon in the depths of the Czech Republic. In the book, we are invited to discover the magical stories and reflections behind each song.


“Come with me, we will ride boats on endless seas, to see the skies that
have always been".


A modern-day beatnik, after reading Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' at eighteen,
Jono flew across the world with a backpack and guitar. On one hitch between Spain and Lyon in France, guitar in hand, he found himself in a park where Jeanne Louise Calment, the oldest documented human had once lived. There he was mesmerised by the magic of a flamenco guitarist and a dancing yellow spider. There is a glorious laid-back energy to the song which suddenly flares up into a flamenco passage, which pays homage to the spider in the tale, followed by the poignant piano passage of Trevor Coleman, evocative of Rubén González, clearly touched by the original Buena Vista Social Club aesthetic - and not surprising since the Beehive project was presided over, engineered and mastered by Grammy award-winning Jerry Boys who has worked on the Buena Vista Social Club. In Beehive, we witness the beauty of the live element, capturing the pulse of an oscillating musical heart. There is an irresistible alchemy of the Beehive structure and the cross-pollination of global musical influences. Space, tone and Jono's raw energy are crucial dynamics to the recording, with fellow countryman Trevor Coleman’s soaring trumpet and lyrical piano solos adding a colourful and jazzful dimension. The violin of Anna Štěpánová illuminates the spiritual path with songs like Holyman and Satya (Truth) both fine examples. In the track Mani’s Eyes, Jono’s vocals veer to a near-throat singing style with Eastern Europe clearly close by. At times, like an orchestra, the full seven-piece Beehive band overflows with rich melodic motifs, and full acapella vocal choruses as can be heard in the piece Greenstone. In the Malian-inspired piece For Toumani, we are treated to textured grooves, providing a bed for passionate vocals and a soaring build-up.

“I have taken my little canoe onto the old river that goes into the dark caves of the soul to seek out many of the infinite voices that make my spine tingle” - Jono Heyes

world music, jazz, Czech Republic, Folk, Gypsy

Jono Heyes

Cantar La Guitarra (single)

New Zealand Artist Jono Heyes, lives in a Gipsy Wagon on the edge of the Czech Bohemian Forest. He loves Bees and believes Music has a role to inspire audiences to relate to each other and the Earth differently. So he built a Beehive Studio,like a sonic temple, to record an innovative album that cross-pollinates influences from the whole planet. In the intimacy and wonder of the magical space, they spent seven days together recording and filming live with seven daring musicians from New Zealand, the Czech Republic, France and Sweden. Exquisitely captured by Grammy Award Winning engineer, Jerry Boys, and filmed artfully by award-winning Paxart Studios CZ. The result is acoustic poetry

Zegna pinstripe suit, black Biltmore Eleganza fedora and Ted Baker tie: Adrian Raso is a sharply dressed man. The Toronto guitarist cuts a raffish figure, as he plays observers might just imagine him having succumbed to the old blues myth of selling his soul so to become a master musician. Raso defiantly blends a vast musical vocabulary that sees his supple guitar technique reference Django Reinhardt’s Gypsy jazz stylings and Brian Setzer rockabilly licks, whilst his diverse songwriting channels Johnny Cash’s ghost and deep south voodoo - drawing a clear line through these disparate yet similar musical-sociological traditions. Raso, a self-taught virtuoso, first became enamored with the guitar’s possibilities as a child upon hearing the might of sound Prince conjured up on Let’s Go Crazy. Cutting his teeth playing tough Toronto dive bars, Raso came to realise he preferred forging his own path. Having released several solo albums in Canada, Raso’s 2014 collaboration with superstar Eastern European Balkan Gypsy brass band Fanfare Ciocarlia “Devil’s Tale’” ( Asphalt Tango Records ) secured his international reputation. Never before had East met West so successfully, the album, one of the first to combine Balkan/ Gypsy style rhythms with Mediterranean music, charted #1 on the World Music Charts and earned wide critical praise and a myriad awards. Raso brings us his follow up and 10th studio album Aptly titled “Gypsybilly King”. Blending furious Rockabilly guitar with influences ranging from Country Western, Romanian Hora, deep south Blues and Italian Tarantella. Raso seamlessly moves us from a smoky room in Paris to an after-hours bar in Prague, before quietly taking us down a dusty road in Texas, until finally settling in the dark streets of New Orleans. Mixed and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Bob St. John, the album also features collaborations with the likes of Prince’s drummer Michael Bland, The Stray Cats bassist Lee Rocker, along with multiple members of Del Bel. Primed by his earlier European success with “Devils Tale”, Raso is determined to leap forward and spread his unique sound further into Europe with the release of “Gypsybilly King” on October 25th.

Canadian guitarist blending gypsy jazz guitar with folk, blues and traditional gypsy roots. 

Adrian Raso 

Once Upon A November

The Eastern European force field of Balkan brass music meets Canadian Gypsy swing & jazz guitar.

Legend has it that the Devil likes to frequent crossroads, cutting deals for souls and spinning his cunning yarns. Yet not all crossroad pacts are diabolical; some are just damned brilliant. Take the crossroads encounter behind Devil’s Tale, where the eastern force field of Balkan brass meets Gypsy jazz guitar, as Romania's Fanfare Ciocarlia joins up with Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso. Fanfare Ciocarlia are a 24-legged brass beast whose eastern funk groove has torn up halls and festivals across the planet. Raso is a master guitarist, deeply versed in the French Manouche / Gypsy jazz stylings of Django Reinhardt. Could a string musician find a way into Fanfare's fierce Balkan brass blast? Could the legends of brass adapt their horns to the fluid eloquence of a jazz guitarist? The answer, as heard on this album, is one of brilliant defiance. Dig the rush: the Romanians and the Canadian have created a sound that rips and swings and roars.

Adrian Raso has dreamt of this project for years. The gifted guitarist possesses a vast musical vocabulary rooted in Gypsy jazz yet, in his fleet fingers, capable of referencing metal, Latin, funk and his family's Italian tarantella roots. Raso built his virtuoso reputation playing Toronto's toughest clubs as a teenager. More than two decades later he remains on a musical quest that demands he challenge himself. The quest lead to him reaching out to Fanfare Ciocarlia - the Romany Gypsy orchestra from the "invisible" village of Zece Prajini in north eastern Romania - who blast a fierce, very individual brand of Balkan brass. Both Raso and Fanfare share a love of Django Reinhardt and big band jazz but initial concerns surrounded whether their very different backgrounds would allow for a common musical dialogue to ensure.

"Meeting the band was a great experience," says Raso. "We bonded instantly. We joked about being separated brothers as it really did feel like that. Musically we understood each other from the get go."

Fanfare Ciocarlia are the world's greatest Balkan brass band. When a band is at the top, the undisputed heavyweight champion, they have two options: either get lazy and repeat themselves or seek out new challenges. Fanfare Ciocarlia are hungry men and, having seen too many Balkan brass bands descend into the farce of playing-standards-too-fast or allowing tone deaf DJs to exploit them as decoration over a lame electronic beat, they chose to broaden Balkan brass's vocabulary. Meeting Adrian Raso gave Fanfare the perfect musical foil.

Across several chilly Toronto days the Romanians and the Canadian came together. Raso called in several heavy friends to contribute to sessions. These included legendary guitarists John Jorgenson and Rodrigo (of Rodrigo & Gabriela) and rock drummer Kevin Figueiredo (of Extreme). This album - reaching down to New Orleans, across the Atlantic to Paris, deep into the Balkans and back through decaying Detroit to Toronto's grandeur - is the result. What wild beauty these men created! Raso's guitar sets off on a fluid journey, caressing and cajoling the horns who tell tales of a music that has ancestors in Africa and India, one shaped in old Europe and young America. Perhaps no one involved guessed such wild beauty would result from these sessions. Here it is: Adrian Raso and Fanfare Ciocarlia have created a music rooted in jazz and the Balkans, a sound full of history but looking towards the future. No clichés here - No gimmicks. Just obsessed musicians all determined to raise their game and chase sonic dreams. Spread the word - here is magic that might charm even jaded old Mephistopheles!

Devil's Tale

The Gypsy brass music legends of Fanfare Ciocarlia spreads spring fever and heaps of sunshine! Digital only. 

While straying through the nearby fields of Fanfare Ciocarlia's home village back in Romania, the giants of brass came up with a jolly tune that invites everyone to dance and welcome the new season.

Cruzando El Campo (single)

The essential guide to Balkan & Eastern European music featuring artists that exemplify the diversity and virtuosity of music in the Balkan region. From fiery brass music to breathtaking sounds - experience the unleashed strength and mood of the Beast from the East. Available on Bandcamp only!
Featuring:
Adrian Raso
Besh o droM
Boban Markovic Orkestar
Dzambo Agusevi Orchestra
Earth Wheel Sky Band
Fanfare Ciocarlia
Kal
Kottarashky
Mahala Rai Banda
Oana Catalina Chitu


The Beast from the East (Vol. 1)

Oana Cătălina Chițu is a Romanian singer who interprets and reinterprets music traditions of the Balkans so as to bring them closer to the audience from all over the world. Her warm strong voice masters both the exuberant sonorities of Roma party music and of heart-rending old Romanian love songs.The Balkans is home to many different peoples, each with its own highly dynamic past and present. Over the years, amid this cultural landscape, a form of music evolved that brims with rhythm and draws inspiration from multiple sources.

In 2000, Oanaformed the Balkan band 'Romenca' with the accordion player Dejan Jovanovic who comes originally from Serbia. They were joined by Vladimir Karparov (Bulgaria), sax, Dejan Jovanovic (Serbia), accordion, Alexej Wagner (Russia), guitar, and Alexander Franz (Siberia), bass. An album, Verka, followed, as well as tours through Europe, concerts that opened for the public those exotic Balkans, full of rhythm and energy.

Oana Cǎtǎlina Chiţu and the Dejan Jovanovic were raised in a  rich tradition of Romanian and Gypsy music. As a perfectly tuned duo, their repertoire includes Romanian tangos, Roma songs and the oeuvre of Romanian diva Maria Tănase. Chiţu's velvety and voluminous voice seduces listeners in fashionable bars and at rustic peasant weddings. The contrast between the often melancholic tangos and the always exuberant dances is quite stark, but Chiţu handles each transition with pure charm. In addition to their work as a duo, Chiţu and Jovanovic also perform with an ensemble consisting of three to eight members representing a mix of ethnic heritages similar to Bucharest between the two world wars. Their most outstanding work includes collaborations with the Moldavian Cimbalom virtuoso Valeriu Caşcaval.

Oana Cǎtǎlina Chiţu has been singing since she was a little girl growing up in Humulești in northeast Rumania. She studied jazz vocal performance and classical singing in Berlin, where she has lived since 1990.

Romanian singer. Chiţu's velvety and voluminous voice seduces listeners in fashionable bars and at rustic peasant weddings.

Oana Catalina Chitu

Oana Cătălina Chiţu | Trenule, maşina mică 

Reminiscent of times long past, when Romanias bohemians and Eastern European  intellectuals met in Bucharest′s salons.

Maria Tănase is loved in Romania like no singer that has followed her. Even before the Second World War she performed folk songs, tangos, romances, couplets and căntece de mahala, music from the suburbs, in restaurants, in revue theatres and on the radio, usually accompanied by Roma musicians, the lăutari. Tănase developed her own expressive way of interpretation, making songs of every origin her own. Then the iron curtain fell between Eastern and Western Europe. Maria Tănase was increasingly forgotten in Romania throughout the 1960s, because her dramatic doinas or the oriental-sounding songs from the mahala did not fit into the limited concept of man held by certain party officials. Maria Tănase was too much the extravagant diva and individualistic artist to allow herself to be co-opted by the state, let alone move even one millimetre towards mediocrity. And so in June 1963 she was buried like a queen at Bucharest′s Bellu Cemetery. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets for her final journey. It wasn′t until the 1990s before a new light was cast on the legacy of Maria Tănase. She was able to be rediscovered.
In 2013 Romanians are celebrating the centenary of Maria Tănase′s birth. This anniversary inspired the Romanian Oana Cătălina Chiţu, who lives in Berlin, to pay homage to the great singer.
Oana Cătălina Chiţu grew up in northern Romania. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Ceauşescu regime she moved to Berlin. Upon her arrival, she founded the Balkan band Romenca with Serbian accordion player Dejan Jovanovic, but her yearning for Romanian songs and her love of the artist Maria Tănase never disappeared.
At the same time Oana Cătălina Chiţu is not an apologist, awestruck by the legacy of the Romanian diva Maria Tănase. She would like to enter into a dialogue with a phenomenal legacy which, with the exception of a few voices, has almost no creative follow-up in today′s Romanian music scene.
New Berlin acoustically encounters old Bucharest. Today musicians from both countries are once again moving as easily between the two cities as they did in the 1930s, when tango singer Jean Moscopol performed in a Berlin casino or sang in the UFA film studios. Thanks to a large number of emigrants music from the Balkans, and from Romania in particular, is better known in Berlin today than ever before; this is not restricted to a specific genre and goes far beyond the phenomenon of Balkan Beats. Oana Cătălina Chiţu is a part of this vibrant scene and her diva-like on-stage persona is reminiscent of times long past, when bohemians and intellectuals met in Bucharest′s salons.

Divine

The bands 3rd album, taking us deep into a New York district called Sofia.

After his groundbreaking album "Opa Hey!" and the raw and groovy "Demoni", Kottarashky is back with album number three, this time taking us deep into a New York district called Sofia and introducing us to its street corners brimming with rock, blues, Balkan-style funk and the jazz-flavoured rhythms of late summer.

On this new album, The Rain Dogs are much more than just the back-up band of a lone sonic wizard. The crew now comprises some of the most sought-after musicians drawn from the contemporary Bulgarian scene. And they didn’t leave anything to chance when they gathered at Blubalu Studio in Sofia to record their version of a genuine Balkan-American street sound.

On the way into the studio, they picked up an authentic Sofia beat poet named Nufry (i.a. Panican Whyasker), a singer, songwriter and icon of the Bulgarian independent scene whose stories truly enrich the Dogs.

Indeed, Nufry’s haunting vocals lend The Rain Dogs additional depth and magnitude; they revel, waft, break out and move in tandem with the horn sections and raw guitar chords in a sonic space somewhere between the American South and the Black Sea.

The fruits of their work are songs such as "This Little Devil", which features lyrics about relationship woes with some help from ballet and beer. "The Winner, the Driver" even recalls the trippy funk rock of bands like Soul Coughing.

At first, "Cats, Dogs and Ghosts" sounds as if the band has set out on the road to rock ‘n’ roll. But then Kottarashky sets the pace with those tight groove collages and Balkan samples we’re familiar with from "Opa Hey!". And it’s precisely that crazy Kottarashky boogie that allows the band to capture and revel in the originality of those Balkan street fairs and festivals. It’s as if Kottarashky fills his line-up of guitar, bass and drums with village musicians drawn from his archive and thus effortlessly brings life to those concrete, big-city residential blocks.

Kottarashky was never Balkan Beats, but now he is one of the enduring protagonists of the last decade of Balkan music. To be sure, together with his Rain Dogs, he shows us why we should never stop listening to the sounds emanating from the Balkan region.

Cats, Dogs and Ghosts

If music is a drug, Jaro Milko & The Cubalkanics are loaded. Inebriated Balkan rave-ups share the stage with psychedelic Peruvian chichas. Stoned sambas and sunbaked rebetikas slide seemlessly into slinky montunos. Overdriven cumbias simply make your ass want to move. And through it all, Milko's fuzzed-out surf guitar shimmers and slices as sharp and cool as a Cuban machete blade.


Jaro Milko and the Cubalkanics are a musical project without borders, wild and wonderful. Bringing together the sounds of Cuban and Balkan music, the five-piece Swiss band have fused these separate musical traditions into their debut 2014 album “Cigarros Explosivos”. The lead singer Jaro Milko started the Cubalkanics in 2010 “I was thinking of the people more than the instruments when I set the lineup,” he explains. 

“I knew I wanted a band with a different sound, and we don’t have a bass player.”

 He found trombonist Luke Briggen, and in him also found a secret weapon.

 “He actually plays some of the basslines. He has a pedal that lowers the notes by an octave. To me it sounds just like Balkan brass and that’s what I want.”

 With Eric Gilson’s organ picking up the rest of the bottom end, 

the band was set. The offbeat syncopation in the album offers a nod to ska while keeping its feet dancing in Latin America, and many of the melodies and lyrics are homages to time spent in Cuba.

A musical project without borders, wild and wonderful. Bringing together the sounds of Cuban and Balkan music.

Date	City, Country	Venue (Tickets)
14/06/2025	Ostrava (CZ)	MichalFest
20/06/2025	Berlin (D)	Babylon
05/07/2025	Arad (RO)	Festivalul Berii
25/07/2025	Évora (PT)	tba
26/07/2025	Tavira (PT)	tba

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