He’s not the only one working imaginatively withinthose traditions. Serbian Gypsy trumpeter Boban Markovic stayed home during theYugoslavian civil war and, according to legend, persuaded fellow musician BillClinton to halt the NATO bombing of Belgrade.His brass band has long been one of the best traditional outfits of its kind,melding giddiness with melancholy, drunken abandon and drumbeat precision.Joined by his son Marko on his latest album, Boban unleashes a set of rollickingrhythms and hot solos suggesting an affinity between the music of the Balkansand New Orleans.
Brass bands have been found across Eastern Europe for ages, swapping licks in an organic process that crossedborders of politics and ethnicity. The Romanian Gypsies of Mahala Rai Bandashare many affinities with their neighbors in the former Yugoslavia,starting with those madcap, rollicking rhythms. Occasionally on their latestdisc, Ghetto Blasters, the horns evensound Latin or suggest early Dixieland, and vocals are pitched somewherebetween ’60s soul and the cry of the Middle East. A matter of sonic DNA spreadacross continents or a postmodern world where influences travel at the click ofa mouse? Banda’s sponge-like absorption of world music even results in a trackcalled “Balkan Reggae,” anchoring the Jamaican beat to a tuba.
