#777
‘Gipsy Manifesto’ marks a generation change and passing of the torch from
Boban, the virtuosic father, to Marko, his
prodigious son. Marko had been given a trumpet as a toddler and started to
receive lessons from Boban’s father when
he was 9. Aged 14 he joined Boban’s Orchestra and two years later he
became lead soloist and started arranging for the
band. According to tradition, Boban then officially handed over the
Orchestra to his son and successor Marko, on his
18th birthday in 2006. Now at 25 Marko has become the principal songwriter
on the new album. An overall more
danceable sound is complemented by new instruments (bass, drums, guitar,
piano) but this doesn’t change the fact that
the Boban & Marko Marković Orchestra are the quintessential Balkan
brass band.
“Having dominated the Balkan brass world in the 20th century, Boban andgipsy-manifesto
Marko have now chosen to do no less than
redefine the genre. There isn’t a band on the planet that can touch them.”
Frank London (The Klezmatics etc.)
Ancient melodies that have worked their way down the silk road to the
beaches of the Adriatic Sea, played on the
instruments of 19th-century Czech Military Bands against the throbbing
rhythms that have driven the wild dances of
innumerable generations’ worth of Roma celebrations – this is Balkan Brass
Band music. The saturation of multicultural
elements that has created this music, though, is far from a completed
process. In the hands of Boban and Marko
Marković, the evolution continues.
These musical visionaries are active re-interpreters of this hallowed
tradition. For many years they have been taking
their frenetic and funky blend of Balkan and Gypsy roots to audiences
around the globe. Their brand of Brass Band
music is contemporary and big-city-ready, while staying well-rooted in the
rural traditions that made it. The aesthetic of
the band draws ready comparisons to horn-drenched funk music, New Orleans
brass band ensembles, and classic
Jamaican ska, but the rhythms and the melodies are distinctly Balkan.
“Covek i Truba” (meaning “Man and Trumpet”) is a snapshot of the current
moment in this evolution. The songs are
bold and bombastic, and feature the traditional slate of horns and
marching drums as well as the new addition of guitar
and drum set. The resulting sound is decidedly contemporary, and the album
is filled with potential dance-party
anthems, from the opening track “Turbo Dizel,” a fast-paced piece with a
breakneck rhythm and a driving vocal line to
the loping, melodic “Fanferica Smekerica” (“Funk Girl”). The title track
(in reverse) “Truba i Covek” is a slow, sensual,
and jazzy instrumental track, and “Balkan Caravan” has a kicked-back
Latin-esque rhythm but a decidedly Balkan hook,
and the closing track, “Bobanova Saga,” brings the album to a striding,
strutting close with hints of improvisation that
add another layer of texture to these stunning arrangements.