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'Gypsies i nostri zingari'

Various Gypsy Artists

(CD90127)

Artists include:
Taraf De Haidouks,
Harmonia Ensemble and the Kocani Orkestar,
Ismail Saliev,
Note Manouche,
Tchavelo Schmitt,
Cotizo with Arturo Stalteri

Label - Materiali Sonori, Italy
Released - 2001

From record label:

OUR GYPSIES

"Who knows why there is this attraction between Materiali Sonori and the gypsy people?
It is not of the present; it is varied and profound. Multi-ethnicity is fine but gypsies. And further more from Romania, from Macedonia. The manouche from Alsace. We could call them "Tzigane" or use the English word "gypsies" instead of the Italian "zingari". It is smoother, less troubling. In Italy, where there are people who would shoot at the rubber dinghies which come from the Balkans, and would like to wall off our borders, all this interest in these people is down right imprudent. True, ours is a musical interest (and therefore more noble and less incriminating) but, all the same, gypsies.

But these are decidedly rhetorical questions. They are not our problems. Those who follow us don't have these anthropological (and political) reservations. The Romany people have a culture that cannot fail to fascinate, even before we have heard their musical traditions. The Romany people possess an incredible capacity of "absorbing" and transforming the cultures which, over the centuries, they have found on their travels. Their music is always a complex "melange" of musical styles. We could say that they are therefore naturally open to contamination. And because of this near to our idea of cultural nomadism. Nomadism as an intellectual activity and as a search for continuous comparisons with different cultures. Nomadism as a "flight" in search of ourselves. 

We began several years ago, under the valuable guidance of Gilberto Giuntini (a maestro for us, who introduced us to the Romany culture with expertise and respect), when we produced the record of Mandino Reinhardt and Marcel Loeffler's group, Note Manouche, heirs of the ingenious intuitions of the legendary Django's gypsy-jazz. It was a beautiful and authentic experience. The record is currently not in our catalogue, but we will be reprinting it again very soon with a different sleeve.

Following this, the explosive rhythmic and melodic mixtures of the Kocani Orkestar arrived, unearthed by Michel Winter and Stéphane Karo. With the precise attention of diviners, these two gentlemen introduced us to these exceptional musicians from Macedonia and more specifically from the city of Kocani. Their forefathers gathered up the instruments (above all the wind instruments) left on the battlefields by the janissary bands of the fleeing Ottoman army. They took possession of them and invented a music made up of a thousand influences. The many musicians involved in the Kocani Orkestar are the direct heirs of a uniquely Tzigane speciality: the Balkan brass band. After the trumpet player, Naat Veliov, left the group, their orientation, under the guidance of Ismail Saliev, has become more closely tied to the original sounds of their unmistakable style. But they have never stopped comparing themselves to others. Always looking to absorb influences from a possible "guest" culture. Inquisitive and open. We have therefore included them in the new "Ulixes" project of the Harmonia Ensemble, an album and a concert: an unpredictable dialogue between a far from Orthodox chamber music group and a Macedonian gypsy brass band. A daring (but stimulating) journey.

Finally (again thanks to Winter & Karo) the "gypsy kings", the Taraf De Haidouks, arrived. From Clejani, a remote village in Valacchia, in Romania. It was from here that the Taraf began their world wide voyages, adding their name to Sally Potter's recent film, appearing at parties organized by Johnny Depp in Los Angeles, participating in concerts with the Kronos Quartet, and in fashion shows of the Japanese designer Yohij Yamamoto. Never refusing opportunities for new experiences and yet always remaining themselves. "Band of Gypsies" is their new record, recorded live at last December's concert in Bucharest (a city which since the time of Ceausescu until very recently was never open to them: the 150 000 Romanian gypsies were ghettoised for decades, like an embarrassment which must be tolerated and hidden). It is an explosive record, with the Koçani Orkestar as guests, together with the Bulgarian clarinettist, Filip Simeonov and the Turkish percussionist, Tarik Tuysuzoglu. A magnificent testimony to the great complicity that exists among the various branches of gypsy music in Eastern Europe.

In this search, largely tied to the Balkan basin and spanning into central Europe, in a continuous coming and going of traditions, with ties, once "simply" musical but increasingly human, we will continue our journey. Into the future. With the gypsies."

USD 16.99

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'Gypsies i nostri zingari'

Various Gypsy Artists

(CD90127)

This symbol  indicates an mp3 sound clip for that track. Click on the symbol and wait for the clip to start. For more information click here. Tracks

Taraf De Haidouks 1. Viens Ma Jolie, Sur Le Pas De La Porte 2. La Ballade Du Dictateur Harmonia Ensemble and the Kocani Orkestar 3. Ulixes 4. Canzone Della Festa 5. Circe Ismail Saliev 6. Djelem Djelem Koçani Orkestar 7. Kalasnjkov Note Manouche 8. Valse Adora 9. Souvenir Tchavelo Schmitt 10. Mire Tchave' Cotizo with Arturo Stalteri and Ismail Saliev 11. Fakultet Macka

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