Untouched Folk Songs from the Balkans

Anyone who is into Balkan music – tricksy rhythms, wild sax and accordion playing – is going to enjoy this. And those who are interested to go deeper into the repertoire will enjoy it even more. Most of these were tunes collected in Eastern Europe where Turkish minorities were persecuted or the legacy of Ottoman rule was resented. But as with the food in the region, these influences are strong and are, for the most part, very enriching. The wedding song from Macedonia ‘Kaladan Kalaya’ (From Fortress to Fortress) is a perfect example: ‘Mother, father, don't make me the wife of an infidel’ go some of the lyrics in Turkish, making it an awkward one for both Macedonians and Turks. But it's superb music with catchy rhythms and strong vocals, collected by Adem Şengöz in former Yugoslavia.

The instigator of this record is the admirable accordionist and singer Muammer Ketencoğlu. He's blind, but it hasn't stopped him doing valuable work in researching minority music in Turkey and the Balkans and recording several albums for Kalan. This one includes 22 songs from Bulgaria (the majority of them), Romania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Gagauzia, the Turkish-speaking autonomous region of Moldova – although the track from the latter region sounds like a piece of Soviet kitsch. Nonetheless, this is investigative musicology at its best.