Balkan Roots

BOBAN MARKOVIC ORKESTAR
Boban I Marko Balkan Brass Fest
Piranha

Four fluegelhorns, four tenor horns, a helicon tuba and three drums -- "spinning," "snare" and "big" -- form the core of this Serbian Gypsy brass unit, which recalls both New Orleans jazz and early funk even though its tune stock is Middle Eastern and its beat not what we call swinging. Dizzy, lyrical, cacophonous, the Orkestar's best album passes singer-fluegelhornist Boban's baton to his young son Marko, a more modern-minded fluegelhorn virtuoso. Its drunken beauty epitomizes what's most lovable about the music of the Balkan Gypsies.

Rolling Stone, Jan. 25, 2007