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The Guardian gave it  ****/5

‘The Serbian band, the 10-piece Boban & Marko Markovic Orkestar, was led by a father and son who are both inspired trumpeters and sturdy vocalists. While the Mexicans concentrated on energy and songs, switching from rapid-fire ballads to the Latin pop of Mambo Tequila, the Serbs provided more stylish and varied instrumental work, veering at times towards jazz but throwing in a rousing Hava Nagila and a burst of James Brown.’

Read the full live review here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/apr/15/banda-estrellas-boban-marko-review

“An album for anybody who likes rock music to sound angry about something.” **** Mojo

“An urgent mix of African blues and funk, seething with anger and sadness, and with Kouyate’s electrified ngoni cranked up to the max.” 9/10 Uncut

“You can take this on whatever level you like, even just as one of the world’s greatest live bands rocking out on virtuoso music that can hardly fail to burn your socks off, full of variety from the deep blues of Mali Kooro or the Taj-featured Poye 2 to the Latin hints on Sinaly and the pulsating Segu Jajiri which gives some of those golden age Guinéan or Congolese guitar bands a run for their money. It’s Bassekou’s best yet.” fRoots

“A thrilling, urgent mix of African blues, rock and funk, with Bassekou’s electrified banjo-like ngoni cranked to the max … Mali’s desperate plight has created Bassekou Kouyate’s finest hour.” ***** Songlines

“Ngoni virtuoso Bassekou Kouyate can make notes bend like light rays in the desert heat.” Time Out

“A heady mix of stirring melodies and powerful harmonies … Jama Ko is a triumphant union of the spiritual and the sensual.” **** Metro

“Defiant, angry new music from Mali, by the world’s greatest exponent of the ngoni, the ancient West African lute … Magnificent. ” **** The Guardian

“A tense, powerful and emotive piece of work.” **** The Independent on Sunday

” … Kouyate’s electrification of his ngoni lute is just as effective a sign of resistance: fed through a wah-wah pedal, his serpentine, fleet-fingered lead lines gain a fresh, assertive power on songs like the title-track and “Ne Me Fatigue Pas”, where his band Ngoni Ba’s muscular bassline and double-time percussion charges along like the most bullish of rock’n'roll grooves.” ***** The Independent

“A brilliant and important album.” ***** Evening Standard

“Jama Ko, recorded amid the continuing crisis in Mali, is electric and urgently contemporary.” ***** Financial Times

“Kouyate has updated the dry-gut plucking of the traditional ngoni, adding electric pick-ups, distortion and effects pedals, creating an extraordinary array of sounds from a spindl metallic plinking to a grinding bluesy roar.” The Daily Telegraph

“The ngoni may look quite unprepossessing – like a flattened child’s guitar. In Bassekou’s hands, however, plugged-in and pedalled-up, it becomes a guitar-hero masterclass, notes twisting and bending thrillingly over fast chattering rhythms.” Irish Times

“Jama Ko could be his most defiant work.” **** Record Collector

“Beautifully produced, full of light and shade, Jama Ko references the past, and offers hope for the future.” **** Jazzwise

“Deftly balanced against the beautiful acoustic tones of his band Ngoni Ba, Kouyate creates a striking future-ancient sound.” The List

“Kouyate’s solos are surrounded by a phased, burning aura, as his bent-note elaborations head further towards the desert rock of Tinariwen. He manages to explore this freshly electrified path without losing his acoustically sensitive properties, combining the crucial aspects of both loud and soft amplification levels. The small resonating box becomes a ringing chamber o contained power … The n’gonis are always upfront, but this is also an album of stunning vocals. Khaira Arby guests on Kel Magni, delivering her expectedly transcendent invocation fo peace, the tune tripping towards a clapping, lurching escalation.” BBC Music

“Exciting and brilliant music.” Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2

“The best thing he has done and in terms of a musical statement it has power and depth as well as beauty and a deep sense of anger.” Music-News

“Bassekou’s latest album is his most musically progressive.” Musika

“Bassekou Kouyate reaffirms his status as a bona fide Malian music star … Just a week into 2012, this could be one of the African music records of the.” **** Culture Capital

“On his latest offering Kouyaté retains the warm, immediate sound of old, but this time round expands it with some other subtle stylistic innovations, best of which is the glorious ‘Ne m fatigue pas (Don’t tire me out)’ that has an intoxicating Afro-beat rhythm, complete with talking drum and shuffling beat.” UK Vibe

“On Jama Ko—as with his performances as part of the travelling package show Africa Express—Kouyate [is] ramping up the universality of his music. Winningly, he has done so without diminishing its singularity.” All About Jazz

“The added production has given the Mali sound an extra ‘oomph’ and charismatic, sonorous resonance, without stripping away the ethnicity or original sound palette.” God is in the TV

“If you’re becoming bored with your usual fix of music then I strongly recommend you listen to this. An early contender for inclusion in any Best of 2013 listings.” Louder Than War

“On the roots-based but outward looking Jama Ko, Kouyate—playing an electric ngoni with the amp frequently turned up to eleven—sounds deliciously like guitarist Muddy Waters on his psychedelicised 1968 album, Electric Mud (Chess/Cadet).” All About Jazz (from the gig review)

“Jama Ko is an album that establishes the ngoni on the international stage and Kouyate as its master. The fact that his music should resonate so easily in Western ears is the icing on the cake.” ***** emusic

“Wow, what an absolute sensation.” Musicosis

“Jama Ko appears more urgent and impassioned [than the previous two albums]. Kouyate’s ngoni is newly amplified, but it’s the defiant quality of the songs that really shine though.” The National

Bassekou Kouyate new video  ”Jama Ko”

www.womad.org

U-Roy is the latest artist to join Junction 2 Music roster – and we LOVE him!

www.mamarosin.com

Despite the weather Fanfare Ciocarlia’s plane landed and dedicated Balkan Brass fans made it out in their hundreds to dance the night away to the titans of Gypsy Brass.

The wonderful Sacha Dieu warmed up the crowd getting us all in the mood, and after Fanfare’s brass extravaganza had finished Xfm’s DJ John Kennedy spun us a rare set of Balkan beats.

 “If it’s a fireball of brass you’re after, these are the men to call.”
***** Remote Goat 

“They were faster and more frantic than any other brass ensemble I can think of, but never lost control, and constantly varied the repertoire.”
**** The Independent

“Their spirit was infectious and the packed crowd were swept along, eagerly joining in with vocal riffs while dancing, clapping and kneeling down to the floor on command.”
**** Guardian

‘Our new album will be launched in October followed by a UK tour in November – and possibly the most exciting news to come through BHHQ recently was the confirmation that the absolutely brilliant Cajun punk trio Mama Rosin from Switzerland will be our special guests on the whole tour. Our paths crossed at a couple of festivals last year and the whole band absolutely loved them. We know they’ll make a fantastic warm-up act.’ Jon Boden – Bellowhead

Check Bellowhead November UK tour dates 2012 here:

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=ccf32536331afda9fed2bb869&id=9fee735819&e=e402ec4fac

Mahala Rai Banda return with their high voltage live show to their first UK tour this October

www.mahala-rai-banda.com

Hailing from Romania, Mahala Rai Banda embody the explosive energy of Gypsy music with their euphoric, brass laden sound and high energy performances. An 11-piece band that blends frenzied Balkan brass with mischievous violin & accordion melodies, they have earned a reputation for their electric live shows and infectious, raucous compositions.

Formed on the streets of Bucharest, Mahala Rai Banda’s sound is 21^st Century Gypsy music: a tradition sensibility married with the contemporary. Mahala Rai Banda’s unique Eastern groove evolved in the mahalas (Gypsy ghettos) on the outskirts of the Romania’s ruined capital city where musicians from the southern village of Clejani (home to legendary Gypsy orchestra Taraf De Haidouks) jammed with brass musicians from the Moldavian village of Zeci Prajine (home to Balkan brass blasters Fanfare Ciocarlia).

Very quickly, their reputation spread throughout Bucharest and as Romanian Gypsies traveled into Western Europe following the release of their first album, Mahala Rai Banda (Crammed Disc, 2005) the band’s legend spread. In 2007 the seminal remix by respected European producer Shantel, of their song “Mahalageasca” became a youtube hit after being featured on the Borat film and soundtrack.

In 2009 Mahala Rai Banda released Ghetto Blaster (Asphalt Tango, 2009). This record saw them soar to new heights, exploring the sonic architecture of jamaican dub and fusing it with their exceptional brass, rhythm and string workouts. They have been recently referred as ‘Bellowhead, if Bellowhead were Romanian!’.

Two songs from their performances at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2011 were included in the DVD Highlight of the Cambridge Folk Festival. Mahala Rai Banda have recently recorded a live session for BBC6Music show Cerys Matthews to be broadcast within the next few weeks.

‘…If only our Western pop were like this…’ The Scotsman

‘They give ‘ghetto-blasting’ an exhilarating new meaning’ The Independent

‘They kicked serious brass arse, making the crowd feel like they’d gate-crashed the Romanian wedding of the year’ TheArtsdesk.com

‘Mahala Rai Banda play rough-edged, cheek-puffing Balkan brass, full of larger-than-life energy. Enjoy the party!’ **** Evening Standard

‘Fast and furious dance floor work-outs with a rock-solid uptempo groove, frenetic horn riffs and punchy Roma scat singing’ ****Songlines