Being a weeklie podcaste from Madison, Wisconsin featuring several remarkable curiosities therein occurring being a compendium of live music from divers artistes
Show #173: Balkan Beat Box
December 21st, 2008
Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted. I hope to get onto a more regular schedule come the new year…
I initially heard of Balkan Beat Box because one of its members, Ori Kaplan, had a stint with Gogol Bordello playing saxophone. Now, while BBB shares GB’s affinity for the music of Eastern Europe, Kaplan and co-founder Tamir Muskat throw pretty much everything but the kitchen sink.
Photo by Miao Wang.
Both men grew up in Israel but met in New York City where the band was formed. Along the way they must have listened to an infinite variety of music. While klezmer and the music of Balkans is always somewhere, MC Tomer Yosef’s influence is never far. Their music will start with something that sounds right out of Romania before acquiring a hip hop beat that morphs into dancehall. And just when you’ve settled into a Jamaican groove, you find your ass shakin’ to something from North Africa.
Kaplan and Muskat form the core of Balkan Beat Box but, in addition to Yosef, live shows are augmented by several musicians adding guitar, horns, backing vocals, etc. If this recording is any indication, their live shows must be a blast.
This week’s performance was recorded in Rudolstadt, Germany and the Tanz und Folkfest on 6 July 2007. (That translates to Dance and Folkfest, BTW.) The setlist I got with the show is incomplete so, if anyone can fill it in, please don’t hesitate.
Cha Cha
BBBeat
?
?
Hermecito
Balcasio
La Bush Resistance
?
$20 For Boban / ?
Here they are doing “Digital Monkey” in Poland earlier this year.
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Hell yeah for the Balkan Beat Box!