Karandila is a wedding band which lasts out extremely long. And they play more lively, agile and more jazzlike than traditional bands. This brass orchestra mainly plays its own compositions. With its drum metres reminding of the „second line" rhythms of the New Orleans Jazz Karandila is celebrating a Balkan music which makes you believe jazz was not invented in America but on the weddings of the Balkan.
SSASSA has given more than 700 concerts since 1995, mainly in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and France, amongst them big festivals like "Rock gegen Hass" in Zürich and St. Chartier in France. For three months of the year the virtuoso Macedonian saxophonist Marem Aliev joins the Swiss quintet. SSASSA appeals to a wide variety of audiences, including people from the countries of origin of the music.
Kal are the hottest Gypsy band from the suburbs of Belgrade, rock’n’roll in attitude, fueled on urban beats and rooted in the Balkan blues. In their wit, imagination and ability to throw disparate sounds together they mark themselves as both part of Balkan Gypsy tradition and 21 st century lifestyle. Kal – the word in Romani for “black” – were formed by the Ristic brothers, Dusan and Dragan, to confront the prejudices and cliches the Roma face. Dragan, a theatre producer who has set up Romani theatre groups in Budapest and Belgrade, and Dusan, a painter, aimed to use Kal to blend influences from traditional Balkan Gypsy Music with the contemporary music thay heard whilst living in Belgrade and Budapest.
