Music / folkemusik

Gipsy manifesto


Reviews (3)


The guardian

d. 14. Nov. 2013

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By

Robin Denselow

d. 14. Nov. 2013

"They are exhilarating when heard live, and are happy to engage in commercial theatrics, as they showed at the "battle of their bands" with Mexico's Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa earlier this year. But they would clearly like to be even more successful, and have noted how Shantel succeeded by adding beats to Balkan brass, which presumably explains this unnecessary attempt at a pop album. The brass is matched against keyboards, bass and drums on no-nonsense dance tracks that are dressed up with electronic effects, stomping accordion or jew's harp, with some variety provided by the moody lounge-jazz piano track Truba i Covek. The brass playing is faultless, but they can do better than this".


Chicago Reader

d. 25. Sep. 2013

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By

Peter Margasak

d. 25. Sep. 2013

"Boban's son and fellow trumpeter, Marko, joined the band a dozen years ago, when he was just 13, and since then he's clearly been groomed to inherit control of the Macedonian juggernaut, with the group increasingly broadening its sound for contemporary dance floors. On the new album, the group's first in four years, the transformation has hit warp speed; witness the electronic beats, synthesizer squiggles, faux early-jazz riffs, and English lyrics of "Cokolada," or the manic embrace of trashy eastern-European pop on "Turbo Dizel" ... I understand that Marko is probably addressing the musical interests of a younger, eastern-European audience, but he may start losing the old fans".


fRoots

2014 May

By

By

John Pheby

2014 May

"Famously handed control of the orchestra on his eighteenth birthday, seven years on Marko Markovic has finally stamped his identity on every aspect of a band release - from songwriting to vocals to adopting wholesale the influence of friend and champion DJ Robert Soko. And while Dad, Boban, hasn't gone away - he produces the record - it's still and audacious and radical departure, being a set of controversial sounds that has outraged the purists ... But even the notion of a "purist", in the world of Balkan brass, is a strange one ... These old melodies, often telling of ancient rituals and needs, have never been played "authentically" as such, by Balkan brass orchestras. And this is just a further intriguing take, a new bravura funk ... Rural influence and tunes have not been abandoned. Indeed, the ferocious playing of these traditions on a grand, international and youthful stage, is exciting".