lejazzetal.com: tour productions

Kal (2006)

Kal's second album but 1st signed to Asphalt Tango. Released in February it's currnetly at No2 n the world music charts. We're bringing Kal over for their 2nd UK tour in February 2007.

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Track Listing

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01		Duj Duj

02		Dvojka

03		Lili

04		Komedija

05		Djelem Djelem

06		Papusha

07		Boro Boro

08		Mozzarella

09		Gurbetski Tango

10		Obrenovac Boogie

11		Tu Barosa

12		Midnight Walk

Reviews

Songlines
31.05.2006 - Serviceable serving from Serbian string-band siblings.

Kal, formed by brothers Dragan and Dusan Ristic, guitarist and violinist respectively, are currently one of the hottest Roma bands on the widely diverse Serbian scene. Fundamentally a string band with the addition of accordion, they have a somewhat altered line-up on this CD, recorded over a two year period and remixed by Mike Nielson. Dusan, for example, seems to be missing, and there are a number of guest musicians.

The playing is clean (even when playing highly ornamented melodic lines) and occasionally impassioned – driving forward remorselessly on the faster numbers, dripping with sentiment on the slower. There seems to be more of a central European and Russian Gypsy spirit on display here than a Balkan one, save for a couple of numbers such as the danceable ‘Obrenovac Boogie’. Ristic is not afraid to experiment, however, and loping reggae grooves successfully bear up the patchwork ‘Komedija’, which also boasts a characteristically morose vocal by counterculture hero Rambo Amadeus. High points are a splendid version of the Romani anthem ‘Djelem Djelem”, notably enriched by marvellous solo accordion, and the closing mood piece, ‘Midnight Walk’ where the instrumental honours are equally divided.

There is, perhaps, a sense in which this is a whole of rather disparate parts rather than an album that truly hangs together, and it’s rather long gestation period may be to blame for this. It’s still a splendid offering, however, and yet another example of the musical imagination which is such a feature of contemporary Serbia
KIM BURTON

Playmusicmagazine.com
01.02.2006 - Sound of the Suburbs

This is the Sound of the Suburbs. The Belgrade suburbs, to be precise, and the international debut of Serbian gypsy seven-piece Kal. It's big Balkan rock'n'roma, but listen hard and you'll see there's relatively little trickery going here, just gypsy instruments playing traditional melodies with a heavy dose of bouncing bass and manic energy. Despite the powerpunch production of Jamiroquai's chart-savvy mixer Mike Nielsen, the recording still has plenty of rough edged life: Rambo Amadeus guests as a wry roma rapper on Komedija while the epic Boro Boro sees the band pull out an almost orchestral backing to a fabulous female vocal that spars with Shaban Shabani's hypnotic clarinet. Back home this sound is unfashionably rootsy but for the world music market it hits the spot, a modern gypsy sound put together by the new generation of Roma, perfect for a post-rave, post-Manu Chao, post-flipping-modern, post-pub shindig.
SARA TAVARES