Gipsy Manifesto

Balkan brass bands still wallop their bass drums with the same switches used by Ottoman marching bands, the kind Haydn imitated 200 years ago. There’s a long history to this music, but the journey is far from over for the Markovic Orkestar, as they head towards city lights with a more global, contemporary sound.

Boban, widely recognised as the greatest trumpeter of his generation, recently passed the reins to his son, and it’s the young prodigy whose influence shines here. Clever arrangements blend the band’s trademark bombast and breakneck ornamentation with a whole host of pop styles. ‘Caje Sukarije’, Esma Redžepova’s top-of-her-lungs anthem, is given a dance floor makeover. ‘Gipsy House’ effortlessly glides into a Latin groove while New Orleans, funk, and Afro-jazz all get woven in across the album. The tenor horns in ‘Balkan Karavan’ provide stabby upstrokes straight from ska, the backbeat also of ‘Turbo Dizel’. Hopelessly melancholic types may miss the dark soulfulness of Roma music that is heard in only two tracks here. It’s unashamedly light, fun, party stuff, with vocals supplying a swig or two of Balkan sleaze.