Who: Canada’s only Balkan-klezmer-Gypsy-punk super-band, Lemon Bucket Orkestra
What: release of their first full-length album, Lume Lume, after the success of this viral video.
When: streaming of Lume Lume commences now.
Where: CBC Music (a.k.a. right here. Just scroll down).
Why: 1. Because it’s music to shake you by the scruff, in the best possible way. 2. Because they’ve played with bands like Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia. 3. Because CNN, Fox News, CBC News and The New York Times all featured their great viral video. (You can also scroll to the end of the post to watch it.)
PLAYListen to Lemon Bucket Orkestra’s upcoming release, Lume Lume.
A Lemon Bucket Orkestra track-by-track guide to Lume Lume, by leader Mark Marczyk.
1. “Odessa Bulgarish”: traditional Odessan tune set to Bulgarish rhythm (surprise surprise), though we party-punk it up. We probably should have called it "Odessa Party-Punk-ish," but we're not as creative with our titles as the klezmorim who named the thing!
2. “Banu-perenita”: a medley of Hungarian/Romanian sirbas with our own little breakdown near the end. Traditionally a circle dance with a pillow, choosing multiple mates and kissing. What’s not to like?
3. “Nese Halya Vodu”: Halya is carrying water/ The yolk is bending/ And behind her Ivan/ like periwinkle is creeping.
4. “Sina Nari”: an instrumental version of a traditional Turkish song with a funky sax solo: The bad and the ugly have taken the world and drive it/ let the good and the beautiful not tire themselves uselessly.
5. “Arkan-Huculka”: Hucul (Carpathian highlander; etymology "outlaw") medley; the first part danced arm-in-arm by men around a bonfire.
6. “Kucheri”: O Marichka, sweetheart/ let your locks down for me/ I would comb them for you/ but only if your mother doesn't find out.
7. “Borisova”: our 13-piece take on a traditional Bulgarian Racenitsa (7/8 dance) we learned from a solo accordion recording (Boris Karlov) passed on to us by Judith Cohen.
*“Fanfare”: a really well known, super-fast Romanian tune (e.g. when our friends from St. Petersburg Dobranotch came to Toronto we jammed it, even though neither of our bands have any Romanian roots).
8. “Seminar”: a Jewish wedding song featuring the viora cu goarna or hidede, a type of violin amplified with a horn. Think the love child of a fiddle and a trumpet. This was played on the video that, yup, you guessed it, went viral.
*“Mukav Tu”: an instrumental take on "I Will Leave You," a song about a drunk coming home after a binge. We bring a bit of New Orleans into it, though; folks like to indulge all over the world, not just in Macedonia!
9. “Calushari (Oskar, Oskar)”: a fraternal secret society who practised a ritual acrobatic dance, known for their ability to create the impression of flying. From three weeks after Easter until Pentecost, they would travel to all the local communities where they would dance, accompanied by a few fiddlers, in order to cure the victims of fairies. In our version, we call on our savage drummer Oskar to do his black magic!
10. “7:40”: Seven-forty arrived/ discouraged, we waited/ but the train didn't come/ nothing, nada, zilch, that's that./ We will still wait/ we will still wait, even if it's late/ even if we have to wait the whole year / He looks out along the platform/ on his head a luxury bowler/ in his big green eyes, gazing east/ Odessa lit a spark.
11. “Lume, Lume”: World, sister world/ when will I have enough of you?/ When they drive nails into my coffin./ Such is the world:/ one is born, one dies;/ he who is born is in pain/ he who dies rots. This traditional Romanian song was made popular by Maria Tanase.
*"Fanfare" and "Mukav Tu" are under copyright and not part of the above stream.
Related:
The fastest brass: Fanfare Ciocarlia, Boban Markovic and more show their chops