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CHERKEZI GYPSY BRASS & TONI KITANOVSKI (Macedonia)
NEW ALBUM ON ENJA "BORDERLANDS"
The group has been working togather for two years now. Their album entitled "Borderlands" is a result of creative joining of forces of two simingly diferent worlds, gipsy weding band on one side and highly educated contemporary musicians well vearsed in jazz, popular styles and classical music on the other side. Youthfull couriosity for widening musical horizons and shear love for music gives their sound exciting quality and constant freshness of ideas.
Toni Kitanovski is mastermind and artistic director of the band. He has appeared in Viena with extreeme avangardists such as Vinny Golia, with all star formation lead by balkan jazz frontrunner Teodosi Spassov, and finaly with a whole gipsy weding orchestra. His distinct guitar style and original compositions have brought him admiration among coleagues, critics and audience alike. With help of his regular colaborator in all of his projects, master drummer Aleks Sekulovski, he researches the matamorphosys of rhyth called "clave" who came from West Africa. Black slaves brought it to Americas and it become fondation of all musical styles from Patagonia to Polar circle (tango, samba,salsa, jazz, rock:..all are modifyed clave). Clave traveled through North Africa, Middle east, Turkey and arrived in the Balkans where it is most distinctly integrated in gipsy music dance form called cocek (that's the one that makes daed man get up and dance).
Cherkezi orkestra got its name after their guru and oldest member in the group seventy years old trumpet player Cerkez Rashid. His two sons Asan(trumpet) and Ali(alto sax) along with their father are main soloists. Other members come from long line of musicians a whole families dedicated to music.
The repertire is versitale, melodies from their native Macedonia, gipsy traditional, original compositions as well as Charlie Mingus and Eric Satie pieces. Carefully arranged rhythmic canvaces incorporete traditional gipsy grooves intertvined with reaggae, samba, African and New Orlean's "second line" makes one think of globalozationa as a good thing.
This band music is best described as what great Duke Ellington called Music of human kind. It speaks to music intelectual ellite as well as to fun loving rock folks, to techno afectionados to little kids. It creates confusion in listeners mind sometimes and makes one wonder ;should I cry or laugh. It makes you shake your body or at least tap you feet. It reminds you of festival but also of moments when you needed to be alone: it does many things to you and they are all good! On top of it thanks to Scene Wien and Balkan Fever Festival you have a chance to hear it the proper way - live. And if you don't believe any of this, come down anyways and check it out and bring your dancing shoes.
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