First dance on Second Avenue

"She'Koyokh are one of the finest and most entertaining British-based exponents of global music. They started out busking in London, come from Serbia, Turkey and Sweden as well as the UK, and their new album includes klezmer and songs from across the Balkans. Lead vocals are provided by Çiğdem Aslan (...) but she is just one of seven singers in a band that's impressive for both their musicianship and arrangements".

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"They might have started out as the She'koyokh Klezmer Ensemble, but there's long been more to this UK sevenpiece than straight interpretations of Yiddish folk music. With Turkish singer Çigdem Aslan and Serbian accordeonist Zivorad Nikolic amongst their line-up, it could hardly be otherwise ... Klezmer's still there too, of course. The albums title refers to "Second Avenue Square Dance" by US Yiddish legend Dave Tarras, a version of which opens proceedings. But from there on it's outwards to all points with Turkish hip-shakers, heart melting Serbian ballads, Bulgarian dance pieces, Alabnian melodies. There are a number of bands plowing this (...) furrow right now, so what makes She'koyokh stand out? It's that most simple and obvious of things: they're just all very, very good musicians ... They've got chutzpah too. You'd need it to take on tunes from the repertoire of greats such as Ivo Papasov and Saban Bajramovic as they do here. Fortunetely, they've got the chops to backuptheir guts and make them their own".