Brasses for the Masses

The future of Balkan brass seems secure in the fast fingers of Macedonian trumpeter Džambo Aguševi and his orchestra who together represent the new generation of gifted wind musicians out of the Balkans. The potent urgency and extraordinary skill of classic Romani brass band culture is writ large throughout the album, but so are the new sounds that emerge from the off with the opening title-track, incorporating a rap from Aguševi himself.

The inventive Aguševi is magpie-like in his incorporation of styles and influences ranging from Delta blues to ska, notably too fellow Gypsy music experimenter Adrian Raso gets a writing credit on the final track ‘Once You Catch the Devil’. The album even contains an instrumental version of ‘Sikidim’ the Motown-influenced smash hit by Turkish pop sensation Tarkan. There's a playfully unselfconscious freshness throughout. Some will ask whether this release represents the best traditions of its heritage and the key to answering that is probably found in the name: this was always party music, music of the people and so it remains. On Brasses for the Masses the band sound as though they are (literally) having a blast, and that's ultimately what this is all about.