Ro music: BalanesQ, Modern Times, Shantel

Following Strelnikov’s suggestion and Max’ confirmation, I started listening to Balanescu Quartet. I liked it and thought that it’s worth an article. Which I started a few months ago and am completing today, especially since I have a few new/s (times).

 Modern Times (Timpuri Noi) will actually make it to America. They’ll be playing in New Youk, in the Rebel Waltz Underground Music Festival. The festival will take place at le poisson rouge (158 Bleeker Street), with a lineup consisting of Psi Vojaci (Czech Republic), Kontroll Csoport (Hungary), Pankrti (Slovenia), BLaS (Slovakia) and Dezerter (Poland), while our heroes are scheduled on November 6, 2009 at 6 pm. Here’s more irredentist propaganda from the Romanian Cultural Institute in NY website :

Rebel Waltz is organized by The Hungarian Cultural Center in collaboration with the Czech Center New York, Polish Cultural Institute, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, the Consulate General of the Slovak Republic and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. This event is part of Extremely Hungary, a yearlong festival in New York City and Washington DC celebrating Hungarian art and culture. Rebel Waltz also marks the beginning of the Performing Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe Festival, a performing arts festival marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe, presented by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in partnership with key New York City cultural organizations and academic institutions, November 2009 - March 2010. Additional support for Rebel Waltz is provided by Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture.

Timpuri Noi (Modern Times) initial line up, Razvan Moldovan, Adrian Plesca, Dan Iliescu, and Sorin Petroianu, set out to do, in the summer of 1982, the most modern Romanian music, powered by the most dangerous rock and roll. The first tunes, such as "Nepotul" (The Nephew), "Acesta e ritmul" (This is the Beat) or "Mistretul" (The Wild Boar), were somehow playful, not powerful enough in their political involvement. By the time "Perfect" and "Drumul spre lumina" (The Road to Light) reached the public, the band's materials become much too dangerous for the Romanian Communist Party's officials, getting them banned from public radio or TV stations and under the surveillance of the Romanian Secret Services.

With a band member, Razvan Moldovan, having fled to Western Europe five months before the 1989 overthrow of the communist regime in Romania, and within the murky context of the December revolution, the song “Perfect” became the most popular Romanian hit in decades. Suddenly, Timpuri Noi transformed itself from Romania’s most underground act into the country’s top mainstream band. The band continued its political engaged songwriting, releasing in the early ‘90s more songs depicting the social and economic changes in post-revolutionary Romania: "Victoria" (Victory), “N-ATO” (a word pun for NATO), and "Emigrant USA". Being in the spotlight for more than 25 years, one can safely say the band has boldly voiced out two, even three, generations of Romanian fans.

Extremely Hungary has even gone to the trouble of translating the bands’ songs with dual lyrics. You can find these clips in their YouTube channel or in my original article on Timpuri Noi.

Back then, I was hoping that they’ll make it to Toronto as well. Unfortunately, too few people expressed interest by emailing Luiza (whose email I did not even publish) and, as a result, they’re not coming. Understandably, the organizers were concerned that they might (again) be losing money, with ticket sales not covering the expenses.

There is very little I can do to help. I could, for instance, give away tickets here, but I tried that at the Romanian Film Festival in Toronto and it did not work out too well – my friends were embarrassed to receive them when they realized I actually paid and one of them was actually upset by the movie. I could also offer to host them during their stay. Then again, since I let my driver's license expire, it'd be hard to drive them around and wouldn't want to keep them prisoners..

A gig may still be possible in Toronto, but we’ll only find out on Monday.

shantel

I only listened to him recently though he’s been around for a while (playlist).

Cf. wikipedia,

Shantel, real name Stefan Hantel (born in Frankfurt January 1, 1968), is a German producer and DJ, known for his work with gypsy brass orchestras, DJing and remixing traditional Balkan music with electronic beats. He is a descendant of refugee Bukovina Germans.

Shantel began his DJ.. career in Frankfurt, Germany, and was inspired by the audience reaction to gypsy brass bands such as Fanfare Ciocarlia and trumpeter Boban Markovic to infuse electronically-tweaked Balkan gypsy music into his DJ set. Shantel released two compilations of his popular DJ night, Bucovina Club, on his own Essay label, which won the Club Global award in the 2006 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. He was one of several DJs to remix recordings of Taraf de Haïdouks and Kocani Orkestar on the Electric Gypsyland compilations from Belgium's Crammed Discs label, and released his next album on that label. He gained popularity in Turkey after recorded clip of 'Disko Partizani' in Istanbul. Shantel's 2007 album Disko Partizani departed somewhat from the techno sound of Bucovina Club, concentrating more on the music's Balkan roots. On August 28th 2009 he released his new album with the name "Planet Paprika".

Links to his CDs below, if the playlist did not satisfy you.

balanescu quartet

Though I left them last, they are by no means the least. They only achieved fame after Kraftwerk covered them (or was it the other way around?). And they even played with David Byrne and Zazou. I’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of Kraftwerk or Zazou, but David Byrne, THE david byrne, is just unforgettable:

'Drugs - I couldn't handle marijuana...it made me paranoid...and quaaludes and bennies and speed and meth seemed so...you know, chemical...physical...definitely not mind-expanding. Tried Angel Dust once: Chris, Tina, and I, and Tina's brother went to a guy's apartment for dinner...an interior decorator by trade...and he gave us all a puff on this treated cig...well, I could barely walk and I sure didn't wanna eat anymore. Scary stuff...but I guess it's cheaper than dinner for six.

Cocaine...didn't do anything for me the first couple of times. Then I guess it found its brain receptor cells. Everybody was doing it then. The road crew would deal to the band...probably the only way they made a decent living. Everybody'd yak, yak, yak...to anyone at all...instant friendship for a few minutes. It made me simultaneously very talkative and secretive. Kinda like matter-meets-anti-matter. A problem waiting to happen. Too many late nights (it was usually accompanied by drinking) and spaced out days and soon I decided to stop. So other than a couple 'a wild nights, I stopped.

I saw people do funny things. Once, a Hollywood agent came over to the table in a restaurant where Jerry and I were eating...to say hi, I guess. He said hi, told us he represented some mutual friends, and then plonked his head down on the table and fell asleep...out. His girlfriend took him away, but he left a little white packet on the table.

Some friends got into heroin. It was cheaper. I tried it. Too strong. I wasn't exactly gonna get a lot of writing done on that stuff. But I guess it was a mythic drug..."be-bop...hard rock"...hip writers, etc. The French loved the stuff...musta thought it was cool.

Jerry and I got invited to visit the Hollywood producer Julia Phillips once...Jesus H. Christ!...a real Beverly Hills mansion, and she was in the back office looking like a mad scientist...the place was piled with scripts, records, Bunsen-burners, test-tubes, various highly flammable chemicals and books. A sharp cookie with real no-bullshit eyes and ears, but totally out of control. I'm glad none of us got into that stuff.

The widespread use of drugs is a symptom of a sick society. The war on drugs is bullshit. Especially since the CIA is one of the biggest dealers around. Drugs raise money and keep young black males (mostly) docile.'

Docile artists? :)

Surse / More info: Rebel-Waltz-icrny, Extremely-Hungary-Timpuri-Noi, lepoissonrouge.com, youtube-extremely-hungary, wiki-shantel, yt-shantel, wiki-Balanescu-Quartet, yt-balanesQ, Byrne, Byrne-drugs

Gavin Bryars: The Last Days by Balanescu Quartet (Performer), Alexander Balanescu, Gavin Bryars (Composer), and Mark Bucci by Argo (Audio CD - 1995) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Maria T by Balanescu Quartet (Artist) by EMI Music Canada (Audio CD - 2005) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Man Who Mistook His Wife For by Alexander Balanescu (Performer), Emile Belcourt, Jonathan Carney (Conductor), and Michael Nyman (Composer) by CBS (Audio CD - 2001) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)
Terror And Magnificance by John Harle (Performer), Balanescu Quartet, Alexander Balanescu, et al. by Universal Music Group (Audio CD - 1996) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Bartok Album by Hungarian Traditional (Composer), Romanian Traditional, Bela Bartok, and Moldavian Traditional by Hannibal (Audio CD - 2005) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Lark Ascending/Ser Str/& by Alexander Balanescu (Performer), Roger Chase, Edward Elgar (Composer), and Ralph Vaughan Williams by Virgin (Audio CD - 1994) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)
Planet Paprika by Shantel (Audio CD - 2009) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Disko Partizani by Shantel (Audio CD - 2008) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Bucovina Club [Import] (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)
Vol. 2-Bucovina Club by Shantel (Audio CD - 2008) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Club Guerilla by Shantel (Audio CD - 1998) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Auto Jumps and Remixes by Shantel (Audio CD - 1998) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)
Higher Than Funk by Shantel (Audio CD - 1998) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Inside by Shantel (Audio CD - 2005) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)	Oh So Lovely (4 Tracks) (Maxi) by Shantel (Audio CD - 1998) (.CA, .UK, .FR, .DE, .JP, .cn)

zamo, muzica, muzichie, music, balanescu, musica, timpuri noi, new times, balanescu quartet, new york, nyc, ny, us, usa, muzica buna (Tags)