Stumbled upon this extraordinary version of my favourite Irish song, Star of the County Down, from the Orthodox Celts. They are a hugely successful Belgrade band obsessed with all things Irish, a kind of singing theme pub, but with Eastern European accents. The musicianship is impressive - Serbians have their own version of the pipes. And they added the tin whistle to their line up of accordions, fiddles and bodhrans.
It's not all merry ploughboy stuff either. Look at this version of Drinking Song. Surely that's the Gallowgate on a Saturday afternoon? Who needs The Pogues...
Cannot ascertain where they stand politically. They have been around since before the Balkan wars began in the early 1990s. Are they also big in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo? Even google isn't that informative on this admittedly rather specialised strand of popular culture. Something called turbo-folk, was apparently a vibrant part of the Serbian music scene in the 1990s. Some bands protested against the aggressive Milosovec government, but others supported extreme Serbian nationalism. Celtic Rock, seems to be different from Turbo-folk. These guys look and sound like they are just out for a laugh. Let's hope so. They have an album track called Lock Lommond (sic). Maybe we could get them to play in Scotland for St Andrew's Day, then go for a jam session in Baird's Bar.
Skipping the rest and straight to the booze.. I've found that Gin & Tonics go down much more easily with a slab of cucumber to balance out the acidity of the tonic.
Posted by: teerter hang ups | April 20, 2010 at 10:33 PM
Ummm - I'd be cautious about getting over-enthusiastic about this one, Serbia attachment to 'Scottish' kultur may turn out to resemble southern US whites attachment to the myths of Braveheart.
Posted by: Edwin Moore | March 21, 2010 at 10:40 PM
No definitely not part of Turbo Folk but not big in Kosovo either, for sure.
Posted by: Gordon Purvis | March 19, 2010 at 11:23 AM
Van the Man takes some beating, Irish Hearthbeat is one of my favourite ever albums. Raglan Road - awesome!There's also a lovely traditional version of Star of the County Down by John McCormack on YouTube. His diction is so good you can learn all the words!
Posted by: joan mcalpine | March 18, 2010 at 10:21 AM
These guys are excellent! Always did like Van the Man's version with the Chieftains backing him up.
Posted by: Scunnert | March 18, 2010 at 12:29 AM