Bluesmen's World(Music)

"Eastern Europe. The Block. Where dissident rockers overthrew the system, elected poets to government, and vanished into freedom… A bloody revolution. Balkanization… Eastern Europe. A thin man, furrow-browed, in white suit, girates about with saxophone, ghost with a rhythmic tic… Thin Man smiles, accosts the fiddler, hangs greasy burek [Balkan fried bread] for all to behold. Accordion soars, clarinet reeds out melodic tango, rhumba, samba. Thin Man bellows into radio mic: "Budapest, Novi Sad, Beograd, Istanbul," beckoning journey on the Orient Express: ball in Vienna via Yugoslavia's exiles depressed at Oktoberfest, over Novi Sad's underwater bridges precision-bombed by NATO, through Belgrade's dictatorship, and onto Istanbul. Welcome to the last night on Earth. You are dancing seductively on an apocalyptic border with Boris Kovac and LaDaABa Orchest. It's music that captures the complicated paradox of polarizations; dancing gleefully with God in a suitcase, standing in a crack among multiple precipices, it's a joyously tearful cacophony headed for the End, no fixed address, yet anchored to a multiethnic region of Serbia perched between historic worlds. It's The Last Balkan Tango, conceived during the NATO bombing, completed in Milosevic's dying days, and Serbia's first ever release on a major world music label (Piranha, 2001)… Boris Kova's drive for a universally accessible new ritual, a third way that allows the individual not to take sides. Kovac clearly throws categorization wide open. A sax player with an experimental background, he doesn't necessarily consider himself world music fare, which might be why The Last Balkan Tango is one of the most captivating world music releases of late. "I do not belong to that genre any more than to another. I do not represent Balkan culture at all. I represent just myself using my life experience related to Balkan political destiny." On what attracted him to Kovac Piranha Records director Borkowsky Akbar says, "We didn't release the album because it is from Serbia, but because we love the music and we were looking for an additional artist to add to our Gipsy & Balkans focus. Boris is perfect because he is a great visionary, composer, musician and producer…"

pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com

From the opening stabs of Boris Kovac's saxophone you know a journey awaits. Never mind the song is called "Intro Trip"; all this Yugoslavian bandleader's excursions are voyages beyond the expected. Nuanced in the subtle insanity of Balkan jazz, his records are more like mental battles. His ability to veer from heartbreakingly gorgeous melodies, fluttering wings of brass symphonies, into breakneck accordion-driven fury is incomprehensible. One can only imagine shifting drunkenly in a tanchez (dance house) in a state somewhere between paranoia and ecstasy. Worm After History, like its predecessors, is a soundtrack to the movie of Kovac's mind. It envisions a sacred space stretching past dualistic thinking; much in Eastern European arts reaches for such climax. Whether strolling gently through "Latina" or falling intoxicated to the Wonderland-ish "Crazy Love Waltz," Kovac creates sonic images of wintertime carousels bouncing to the high-pitched wails of tango-fueled jazz (his last record was, fittingly, titled The Last Balkan Tango). Given these cerebral titles, Kovac is as much philosopher as brassist--he seeks personal spaces which make sense through incoherence. Hence the melancholic opening of "Dukeland in Your Heart." The trio of saxophone, classical guitar and accordion emit a slow, startlingly sad portrait of a decimated planet past the confines of history. To put all this into perspective: the Zen koan, what is the sound of one hand clapping? Of course there's no answer--it's an inner realization that moves us past the realm of linear thought. After you've meditated for a bit, turn on Worm After History for the closest interpretation imaginable.

01. An Intro Trip
02. Latina
03. To Entertain You
04. Limping Waltz
05. Malena (Matic)
06. Crazy Love Waltz (Matic)
07. Dukeland in Your Heart
08. Beguine Again
09. Argentina
10. Dur AA
11. Triesta

Boris Kovac - alto & soprano sax, voice
Goran Penic - accordion
Vukasin Miskovic - classical guitar
Milos Matic - double bass, tamburitza
Istvan Cik - drums, percussion

Special Guests
String Quartet Tajj (3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11)
Bogdan Rankovic - bass clarinet (3, 4, 10)

Link

"Just imagine: The morning after the apocalypse. Are we still alive? We wonder. It would appear so. There´s no end to this world. There´s no rest for the soul. There´s no past. There´s no future. Now is eternal. LaDaABa Orchest offers you the ideal entertainment at the end of time: La Danza Apocalypsá Balcanica."

"It's the morning after the apocalypse and (assuming you've survived) where are you? How are you feeling? That's the idea behind this disc. Boris Kovac is one of the most creative musicians to come out of Serbia, and his music breaks out of the gypsy/village ghetto to which most Balkan sounds are consigned. The second part of his "La Danza Apocalypsa Balcanica Project" shows the quieter, reflective, more rustic and impressionistic side of Kovac. The music on Boris Kovac & Ladaaba Orchestra's Ballads at the End of Time is slow and lovely. It isn't so much about devastation as new hope, although something like the gorgeously wistful "Colour Of Remembrance" looks back, not forward. However, is there anything to look forward to? Possibly not, if the closing track, "At The End Of Time," is to be believed. But if that is the end, we all go out gracefully, on a wave of music. Don't try and categorize this music; it simply won't fit into any pigeonhole. Traces of classical, jazz, gypsy, and more meld in the sonorities as the dogs bark. A wonderful record to make you think about life -- and what could be in our future."

01. Danza Transilvanica
02. I. Interlude
03. Damar Of Istanbul
04. Early Morning Waltz
05. Beguine At The End
06. Interlude At The Gang
07. Midnight Memories
08. Waltz From Careless Street
09. Cha Cha
10. Colour Of Remembrance
11. Broken Waltz
12. The Last Interlude: Doina / In Bukovac
13. At The End Of Time
14. Birds

Musicians:
Bogdan Rankovic - clarinet, bass clarinet
Goran Penic - accordion
Milos Matic - double bass, tamburitza
István Cik - drums, percussion
Oláh Vince - guitar
Boris Kovac - alto, soprano saxes, sampler

Special guests: Nenad Vrbaški - violin (1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13)
Vanja Jakovljevic - guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11)
Ramiz - darabuka (3)
Coyote (a dog) - voice (1, 6, 12)

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"Slonovski bal breathes a wind native to the central European Balkans. A perfumed wind, blended with the centennial epic of the Gypsies and a unique mix of European, Slavic, Turkish and Mediterrennean cultures, wich brought us a unique tradition of oriental brass band music.
Grooving with the roaring sounds of tubas, the water-flow of the accordeon, the tender whisper of the clarinet or the blasting clamour of the trumpet, Slonovski Bal steps out like a herb of young elephants joggling through this oriental breeze. Slonovski bal, wich means "the Elephant's Bal" in serbian, is on the top-flight revival of Eastern European music, both there and here, totaly involved in the evolution of composition and improvisation. In this way they crosses Europe boosted by the luminous energy of such dances as Coceks, Sa-Sa and devilish Kolos played at the speed of light and thunder."

01 Uvod
02 Merak Cocek
03 Rumunski Swing
04 Hocemo li u Sabac
05 Sabacko Kolo
06 Kerta Mange Dae
07 Ussak taksim
08 Numara
09 Sano Duso
10 Ciganska Terga
11 Burgarska balada
12 Cacak
13 Ganci Kolo
14 Revisko Oro

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The group "Kulin Ban" was formed at the beginning of 2005. It tried to make a unique connection between old and modern sound led by the expression "from Kulin Ban's period up to nowadays" and on that way it popularized the name of a very specific medieval sovereign.
The greatest challenges of the project were different affections in music and aspirations of the people involved. It wasn't easy to connect different music traditions and colour them with ambient hues. The very challenge was the greatest incentive as well. As the result, their first album of the same name was published in 2006 by PGP RTS.
Since then "Kulin ban" has had many concerts and promotions. Conceptually, "Kulin ban" was trying to avoid the model of "the western" band system which behaves as a group of individual musicians that express themselves. The accent is on the community with its focus on the archetype in which musicians surpass themselves and become indeed one mind and one soul …they become one.
So, "Kulin ban" has never restricted itself to a determined number of "group members" or inflexible type of music concept on the stage. Freedom as a precondition of any movement, freedom of the artistic expression was, is and will be the priority for Kulin ban.

1.Januske beluske
2.Kad ja podjoh na bentbasu
3.Zali Zare da zalimo
4.Ja urani jutros rano
5.Stojna moma brazdu kopa
6.Od kako sam ja devojce
7.Sobinka
8.Ban brdo

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The school in Subotica (the centre of Voevodina – Serbian territory inhabited mainly by Hungarians). In the past decade such gifted talents have completed their studies there as violinists Félix Lajkó and Szilárd Mezei, who, by creating their own musical language, set out into the wide world and found explicit success. founding members of this new hot band come from the music Genuine Subotica atmosphere; carefree elegance or rather, an elegant looseness. Sneaking the Balkans into Europe, or the opposite, sneaking Europe into the Balkans? While they are on fire and have the facility for improvisation, their music is closer to the Balkans rather than to some imagined European idyll that might inspire a striving for faultlessness and precision. And it will be fine like this as long as Csaba Pásztor writes tunes, as long as we sway our heads to the wonderful voice of Tijana and as long as after listening to a particular tune a hundred times we still do not get bored with it (such as Fresh Girl!) – because through this music we will love Paniks and also life itself!

1. Devojka
2. Friss lány (Fresh Girl)
3. Kandes Tsirkec
4. Jelena
5. Beguine
6. Clavire
7. Homage
8. Magla

Csaba Pásztor - solo violin, viola, percussion, reed, vocal
Todorovic Vladimir - guitar, percussion, vocal
Stankovic Tijana - voice, violin
Knezevic Nenad - accordion, vocal
Róbert Verebes - double bass
Tibor Takács (Faki) - big drum, percussion, vocal

Featuring:
Kurina Michael - cimbalom
Virovac Krunoslav - percussion
Róbert Ambrus - percussion, vocal

Link

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The fourth release by Hungarian-Serbian group Earth Wheel Sky Band, titled Gypsy Tango, finds the band a step further on their music ladder. The band’s first two releases saw the band working both with contemporary and traditional arrangements, while keeping the integrity of music from the region they come from whereas the third one “ 21st Century”, was a collection
of side works and collaborative projects that band leader Oláh Vince undertook with the band or without.

Gypsy Tango finds the band merging gypsy music both from the north of Serbia, which is more under the influence of Hungarian folk music and brass instruments and uneven rhythms from the south. EWS-band draws with ease from a myriad of other forms such as flamenco, reggae, soul and each song draws you to its heart, and keeps you there. This is not the first time that the
band does amalgamation of different traditions as on the previous records it was done with brilliant results on tracks such as “Chochec” (from Rroma Art) and Only a Man (from Waltz Rromano). The band’s playing is the first thing that will strike you as you start to listen to it. The EWS-band plays this music with exuberance and each musician plays with a buoyant, infectious energy. Especially arrangement wise it flows easily and is well balanced. The music ranges from soulful ballads such as the achingly beautiful “Gospel” or the dreamy “Free7/8” to folkish up tempo tracks such as “Crayngtime” and “Scheherezeda”.

The album opens with gypsy Tango and is soon followed by Rumba Janika, an upbeat track with a killer violin, swinging trumpet and wonderful rhythms. Other highlights include “ApsolutRromantic” and “Tikno Luludi”.

"The approach the band took on this record could perhaps be characterized as ethnic jazz but with roots and fronds of the tradition that make them irresistible. This is indispensable stuff from giants of gypsy music, and highly recommended."


Earth - Wheel - Sky is one of the first projects of the Roma musicians in Vojvodina. The band was founded in 1981. Having in mind the experience of jazz, rock and Roma folk music, the leader of the group Vince Olah wanted to give his contribution to the music of the Roma people, as one of the strong points in the fight for Roma emancipation.

01. Gipsy Tango
02. Rumba Janika
03. AmorromA
04. Scheherezeda
05. Gospel
06. Ushti Rroma
07. Free7/8
08. ApsolutRromantic
09. Crayngtime
10. Argenta
11. Tikno Luludi
12. Ending/Sonayta for b sempre

Musicians:
Vince Oláh – vocal, guitar, violin, guitar-sint
Tol Djula – violin
Ervim Malina – bass
Sándor Rothele – cimbalom
Toplica Ramiz – percussion
Radul Milovan – trumphet
Acifivic Sinan – clarinet, sax

Special guest:
Gabriella Farkas – vocal
Tibor Burai - piano

Link