Sanja Ilic & Balkanika - BALKAN 2000 (2000)

Sanja Ilic is a Serbian pop musician and song-writer with a strong interest in enthnomusicology; in the items performed in this hour-and-a-half long presentation, he has ranged the length of the Balkans, taking ethnic material and fusing it with pop means. The result is enormously appealing: the strong bass line you expect of pop, though here with far more rhythmic variety, the pungent harmonies of Balkan folk-singing and a startling variety of instrumental sonorities. Indeed, I started making notes every time one of his six musicians picked up a new instrument: flute, violin, cowhorn, mandolin, clarinet, lute, oud, electric guitar, bagpipes (in several sizes), bouzouki, piccolo and a percussion section that included tambourine and every manner of drums and small bell and gong; Ilic himself presided at piano and electric organ. The players were joined by five female singers, often intoning, over the instrumental tapestry, in the parallel fifths that seem to be a staple of virtually every folk culture

0 1 2 - post by: ivan - @