An extraordinary album of traditional Romany songs and tragic ballads of migration by the Slovakian-Norwegian orchestra, performed with Bulgarian-style voices, strings and percussion with Hindustani to Yiddish echoes. The songs were collected by the musicologist Jana Belišová on Slovakian travels and this is stirring, emotional material, all recorded as live. Some echoes the great violin gypsy bands such as Taraf de Haïdouks, yet the range of voices and is even more diverse, from the stark percussion opening on Pre Ada Baro Sevotos, or Paš O Pani Bešav with the gentle, intimate singing of Iva Bittová, the Czech violinist, singer, actor and composer of Hungarian gypsy traditions and background, alongside the Kitchen Orchestra and Nils Henrik. Many songs are beautiful and dripping with melancholy, telling tales of death and cruelty. Chude Man Vastetar captures this with an exquisite violin solo beginning, then harsh minor-key harmonies with the other instruments, before launching into a drunken dance. Rodav Me Miro Dorm, evolving from Bittová’s incredible vocal peformance, becomes a clanging, bashing, jazzy junkyard number that could have come out of Tom Waits’s workshop, Nadur Le Romendar O Cintiris is a klesmer waltz that develops out of a frightening drone section, while Oda Kale Čirikloro twitters with delicious birdsong. From the mournful to gleeful dance, ecstasy and agony, even without understanding a word of lyrics, this wonderfully evocative music paints pictures of love and loss, tragedy, defiance, struggle, hope and human courage. A must-see live experience. Out on Hudson Records.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: