Stand up, people : Gypsy pop songs from Tito's Yugoslavia 1964-1980

"The multicultural melting pot of Tito's Yugoslavia clearly facilitated a golden age of cutting-edge Roma pop music by brilliant young musicians torn between folkloric ritual and the sudden modern rush of an awesome outside world that mostly arrived by radio. Roma identity, granted the protection and status of "official minority", positively revelled in a confused but exciting cosmopolitanism. Muharem Serbezovski's "Ramu, Ramu" is typical: glitzy banks of brass leading into a shameless fusion of Bollywood narrative and Turkish folk music, played on electric guitar and sung in Serbian by a Macedonian Rom. Knox and Morris have actually rescued these precious recordings from decades of neglect and war, augmenting the superb package with detailed liner notes, nostalgic sleeve reproductions and smooth translations".