• Music

    Baklava – From Skopje With Love

    July 18, 2023 - By 

    Our friends over at the indomitable CPL-Music have released a charming disc of traditional music from my second homeland of Skopje, Macedonia!  Baklava, the subject of today’s listening, work with folk music and does sterling work reinterpreting it for a more modern, updated sound.  Speaking of that sound, the band develop it with a wealth of instruments, including ancient local ones like the tambura, the kaval and the daf, as well as bagpipes, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, accordion and (the very much non-Macedonian) ukulele.  The music is upbeat, fun, and shines a good light on the wonders of (North) Macedonian music.

  • Music

    Petar Vujačić – Made in Ovto​č​i​ć​: Songs from Montenegro

    May 11, 2023 - By 

    Amazing.  The ever excellent Antonovka Records are now producing music outside of the former USSR.  We have a description of the recordings below, courtesy of the label’s Bandcamp site: “Gusle (not to be confused with Russian gusli) is a Balkan (mainly Montenegrin and Serbian) bowed instrument. There is only one string on the gusle, but it is always decorated with rich carvings. Those are usually long epic historical songs that are performed with the gusle. Petar Vujačić comes from the village of Ovtočić (both ‘č’ and ‘ć’ are pronounced roughly as ‘ch’), located in the mountains between the Adriatic Sea…

  • Music

    Vartra – Basma

    October 25, 2022 - By 

    Our beloved friends at CPL-Music have submitted a bizarre and completely engrossing album of ethereal tribal music from Serbia in the form of Vartra.  The band was founded in 2017 by Siniša Gavrić and sisters Ivana and Aleksandra Stošić.  What makes the music so interesting is that it not only draws from Serbian folk themes, but also Vlach themes as well.  The Vlachs are terribly underrepresented in folkloric music, and the chants on this disc serve to remedy this issue.

  • Music

    MAiKA – Balkannibalism

    September 24, 2022 - By 

    In a land of amazing bands and ensembles, MAiKA have managed to forcefully grab my attention.  While they call themselves an alternative dance-punk band, there’s so much more to the music.  The energy is amazing, the voices cut right through you in a way that most indie music can’t, and the fact that they combine brass band music with punk gives the music an authentic, punchy feel. From their Bandcamp site: “From the perspective (both musical and visual) of MAiKA, Balkan is an absurd mix of contrasts: religion and tradition combined with modern technology, natural beauty with destructive politics, mud with…

  • Music

    Divanhana – Zavrzlama

    March 3, 2022 - By 

    In January, we had the pleasure of reviewing a track called Ćilim from Bosnian ethno-folk band Divanhana, and now, it’s our pleasure to bring you the rest of the album! Zavrzlama is a collection of sevdah tracks which have a darker, more minor-key quality than what I’m used to from the genre. For my ears, it gives the music an even more sensual tinge than normal. There is a muted joy in tracks like Peno, my favorite song, which reminds me why the Balkans is the place I love more than anywhere else in this world despite the challenges they…

  • Music - Qobuz - Spotify

    Divanhana – Ćilim

    January 19, 2022 - By 

    Our dear friends and CPL-Musik stun us again with a popping single!  Some info from the band’s Bandcamp site: Divanhana is a Bosnian sevdah band which performs traditional music in new arrangements created under the influence of jazz, pop and the 20th century classical music. Divanhana’s intention is to cherish and present the urban traditional music not only from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the traditional music from the whole Balkan region, with a particular accent to Sevdalinka. The music is far more energetic, though less sultry, than a lot of Sevdalinka I’ve heard previously, but it’s a joyful listen. You…

  • Music - Youtube

    Razam / Iva Marešová – Harpyje U Pramene

    November 21, 2021 - By 

    On Friday night, my beloved friends, Helenka and Tomáš, suggested I go out to a club called Stará Pekárna, a club where Tomáš works.  The owner of this fine establishment is a heavy blues aficionado who happens to book very impressive bands.  Imagine my surprise when I walk into the club into a lovely sound: The singer, Iva Marešová, had a wonderfully open voice, full of power and energy, and even though most in the club were sitting, you could see quite a large number of patrons fidgeting around wanting to dance.  I myself could feel my feet tapping around…

  • Music

    Imam Baildi – Imam Baildi III

    June 30, 2021 - By 

    This was a punchy and fun release to come home to.  Imam Baildi are brothers Lysandros and Orestis Falireas backed by a band who manage to blend laïkó, rebetiko , hip-hop and alternative music into a high-energy take on Greek and Balkan fusion.

  • Music

    Ombra – Posidonian Poetry

    April 22, 2021 - By 

    This has to be one of the more elegant releases I’ve had the pleasure of spending my evenings with in a few weeks.  Ombra are a quintent, as I understand it, based in Barcelona, Spain.  This sumptuous release blends everything from jazz, a touch of waltz, Arabic and Balkan music with vocals sung in a myriad of languages including Ladino, spoken today in Israel and parts of the Balkans.  This is true ethno-jazz, fusing together music, scales and traditions together seamlessly.  For further information, consider visiting their promotional page at Tejo Milenario. Personnel: Andranik Muradyan — Klarinet Albert Pintor —…