Municipale Balcanica

ARTIST: Municipale Balcanica

COUNTRY: Italy

GENRE: Klezmer, Balkans, World Music

DESCRIPTION: This eight-person-strong banda Municipale Balcanica offers a lively and deep synthesis of well-known Eastern European gipsy, klezmer and yiddish sounds with the warmer, radical ones belonging to their homeland: the Mediterranean Puglia in the South of Italy.

MORE ABOUT: Municipale Balcanica was born in 2003, and after a substantial live activity, publishes its first album in 2005 with the Italian label Ethnoworld. The debut album is “Fòua”, in which the MB starts a lively and profound synthesis of Tzigane, Yiddish Klezmer and Eastern Europe sounds and the most radical and warm music from its homeland, Puglia, in southern Italy. The cd has been soon known not only in Italy but also and especially abroad where the reinterpretation of some famous tunes of Yiddish tradition made MB a new reality in the international world music scene. The prestigious journal International Folk World, assessed MB’ s ‘Hava Nagila’ as “one of the best interpretations heard among thousands of last three decades”. The approach to the ancient melodies are original and distinctive, because each musician has a very personal and peculiar musical culture. The entire brass section of the MB, for example, started its musical experience in the traditional marching band from the town of origin, which is why its expression is so powerful and vivid in the traditional Europeans tunes, and why it explodes in exciting solos included in the new arrangements. Similarly, the rhythm section gave new strength to the tracks, supporting this involving and incisive way of playing old tunes. The result is surprisingly compact, and gives new expression and new meanings to these songs. So the influences of rock, jazz and more free testing are involved in enchanting melodies now exotic, now frenetic and crazy. In 2006 the MB remains with its final and definitive line up, and continues to increase its credibility mainly thanks to its overwhelming and impressive live performances. So the band has been appreciated in sophisticated Jazz festivals and in crazy Folk gatherings in Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Portugal, Turkey, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Poland, supported by the Italian Institute of Culture and European Union. In 2008, evolving its sound without distorting it, Municipale Balcanica publishes “Road to Damascus” for the label Felmay, a product made of a few, vital, traditional songs and many other original tunes, some more rooted with a classical taste, others with the courage of the experimentation.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

- “Road to Damascus” (Felmay, 2008)
- “Fòua” (Ethnoworld, 2005)

SELECTED VIDEOS:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=60927143

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=46926187

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=41520754

SELECTED PRESS REVIEWS AND QUOTES:

“Yes, this band did have the courage to record ‘Hava Nagila’ in such a way that it gets high above all the thousands of other versions I heard during the past 35 years. ‘Foua’ is a must have cd for all these people who are into brass and like chaotic, inventive and powerful music. Highly recommended!” (FolkWorld, Germany)

“When they fire up on all cylinders, they still provide exhilarating excitement” (Michael Hingston, fRoots)

“It is already considered one of the emerging giants of the world-fusion” (The Baltic Sea Cultural Centre)

“Municipale Balcanica is clearly on the road to success in the world music scene” (Keith Wolzinger, LA, USA)

“Fans of groups as diverse as the aforementioned Gogol Bordello, classic Roma purists like and adventurous pioneers will devour this” (LucidCulture, NY, USA)

“Very upbeat & uplifting music. Great musicality and musicianship!” (Gil Medovoy, KDVS 90.3fm, Davis, California, USA)

SELECTED PERFORMANCES:

2009 Live Rock Festival of Beer, Acquaviva(SI), Italy
2009 Mito Settembre in musica, Torino, Italy
2009 Orsara Jazz, Orsara(Fg), Italy
2009 Vila Real Theatre, Vila Real, Portugal
2009 World Music Festival, Torres Novas, Portugal
2008 Eve, Lisboa, Portugal
2008 Ost-Klub, Wien, Austria
2008 Vitulano Folk Festival, Vitulano, Italy
2008 Festival Mediterre, Bari, Italy
2008 Festa della musica, Arci Macerata, Bari, Italy
2008 AKC Metelkova, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2008 Carpino Folk Festival, Carpino, Italy
2008 Gezziamoci XXI, Matera, Italy
2008 Festiwal Kultur Swiata, Gdansk, Poland
2007 Folkclub 2007, Torino, Italy
2007 Festival Suoni Dal Mediterraneo, Andria, Italy
2007 Altrisuoni Festival, Offida, Italy
2007 Rafanass Festival 2007, Rovereto, Italy
2007 Festival Folkermesse 2007, Casale Monferrato, Italy
2007 Extraschicht, Herne, Germany
2007 Jazz Haed, Bremen, Germany
2007 Podium Mozayek, Amsterdam, Holland
2006 Klezmer Musica Festival, Ancona, Italy (with Kocani Orchestar)
2006 Jazzebre, Perpignaan, France
2006 Musiques de Nuit, Bordeaux, France
2006 Notti di Stelle, Bari, Italy
2006 July Jazz, Smolyan, Bulgaria
2006 Jazz a Luz, Luz Saint Saveur, France
2006 TFF Rudolstadt, Rudolstadt, Germany
2005 Le Gipfel du Jazz, Freiburg, Germany
2005 Sommer Festival Der Kulturen, Stuttgart, Germany
2005 Etnival, Milano, Italy
2005 Suoni in Cava, Apricena, Italy
2004 Talos Jazz Festival, Ruvo di Puglia, Italy

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