Rromix

After the 2007 release Nu Med, the Balkan Beat Box is coming back strong with their new album Blue Eyed Black Boy released in the US on April 27 on NatGeo Music and Crammed Discs. Produced in Belgrade, Tel Aviv and Vienna, the new release borrows something from virtually all musical styles, from Hip-hop to Reggae, Balkan brass bands to electronic beats or from Israeli and Arabic rhythms to cumbia.
Apart from being fun and interesting in its own, the amalgam of styles is given deeper meaning by powerful lyrics infused with messages of tolerance, anti-war and brotherhood and references to other like minded songs (like Max Romeo’s “I Chase the Devil” in the opening track).

Here are a couple of remixes of BBB’s new tracks.

War Again (RJD2 remix)

Move It (Radioclit Remix)

The new Gogol Bordello album, Trans-Continental Hustle is now available to listen on their myspace page.  Hurry up! It’s exactly what we were waiting for: really amazing raw, upbeat Gypsy Punk!

A lot of people are asking me what is that song we are ending most of our parties with at Burdel Dali. Kanizsa Csillagai is a Gypsy-Hungarian-Romanian band playing really authentic, traditional Gypsy music from Transylvania and Hungary. The band was formed in 1993 in the Hungarian town Nagykanizsa and its lineup consists of the extended family of Zoltán Horváth, the guitar player and head of the band.
It’s authentic acoustic sound made with instruments such as spoons and jugs besides the usual bass, guitars and violins, makes it one of my favorites bands to turn to when I get tired of the electronic sound of most of the new Balkan music releases.

For info on concerts and more you can try their website (in Hungarian). Some translation website might come in handy here…

Check out these three releases. Old but really good stuff.

• The Boyash Gypsies of Hungary
• Foku drakuluj
• Plinzsje puju

Tu jesty fata. Our end of the night favorite and featured on Gogol Bordello’s early album East Infection.

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Jarba mare jarba

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Schlachthofbronx’s Ayoba has made big waves on the dancefloors and music blogs in the past few months. Here’s the Shazalakazoo version adding some Balkan brass band flavor into an upbeat, smashing remix.

Ayoba! (Shazalakazoo “AyoBalkan” Remix) – Schlachthofbronx ft. Spoek & Gnucci Banana by shazalakazoo

You can buy the Ayoba Remix EP on iTunes.

Also, 2 new versions of Max Pashm’s Manea-K

Manea-K (Shazalakazoo 4/4 Remix) – Max Pashm by shazalakazoo

Manea-K (Shazalakazoo 7/8 Remix) – Max Pashm by shazalakazoo

Produced for the dance floors of Melbourne and Berlin, DJ Delay’s new release “Brass, Wires and Bass” gives an electronic spin to already famous Balkan dance floor bangers. The lineup includes some of the most well established Balkan music artists: [dunkelbunt], Boban Markovic, Gaetano Fabri and Max Pashm among others.

Kebab Connection is one of the best remixes of this Balkan hit. The deep bass is giving a more dancehall feeling to the song.

Od Scra still mostly keeps its authentic acoustic brass band sound but the nicely placed effects and and edits make it a much more effective song for the dancefloor. Really entertaining.

Finally, a really good version of Gaetano Fabri’s Smart Gypsy, this remix builds up the tempo nicely, making for a great party starter.
Smart Gypsy – dj delay remix by dj Gaetano Fabri

You can listen to the whole compilation below or buy it on iTunes.

Great indie rock band with world beat influences, Firewater has formed in Brooklyn in1997. Their 2008 album The Golden Hour tastefully integrates bhangra beats, balkan brass licks and middle eastern percussion into polittically charged indie rock anthems.
Like they put it… music that sounds like it comes from the fucking hart with lyrics that mean something. Enjoy.

Firewater – Borneo

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Firewater – This Is My Life

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Firewater – Hey Clown

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Gogol Bordello’s new album Trans-Continental Hustle is due in a few weeks and to whet your appetite Pala Tute is now available for download on their official site. Here’s a video of an acoustic version of the song.

And their performance with Madonna at the Live Earth concert

More of last year’s best chalga songs. I found these on a Payner Music compilation you can buy here: Pajner Hit Sezoni – Esen 2009. Most of the songs are good so go ahead and listen to the whole CD if you like these…

Za Posledno – Galena

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Dushata V Raia – Elena

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Moite zadryjki – Maria (Mariq)

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THIS WEEKEND!! January 15th and 16th.

The Golden Festival, one of the largest Balkan music events in the New York are will take place this weekend in upper Manhattan with shows of more than 40 bands on three stages. The festival will have something for everyone from Bulgarian and Arabian folk music to Japanese Gypsy punk.

Don’t miss the shows of

Zlatne Uste, hosts of the festival and multiple time special guests to Guca festival in Serbia.
Yuri Yunakov Ensemble, masters of Bulgarian Rromani wedding music, residents of New York’s Bulgarian Bar Mehanata.
Kagero, the Japanese Gypsy punks from Brooklyn who’ll get the crowd jumping within minutes.
Romashka, another New York based band authentic Balkan music.

Come of Friday and Saturday to Good Shepherd School for two nights of Balkan music, dance & border-crossing celebration

Good Shepherd School
620 Isham (near 207th St. and B’way)
Manhattan, New York

Visit Golden Fest main page for more info.