MAY 26, 2009
Goran Bregovic Announces New Album, North American Tour
Legendary Balkan Composer To Release Alkohol, Followed By June 2009 Tour
by Tom PryorBalkan composer and bandleader Goran Bregović recently announced the release of his North American recording debut, Alkohol and an upcoming North American tour set for June.
Alkohol will be a two-part CD project, released on seperate albums titled Sljivovica (released this month) and Champagne (to be released later this year). Both albums will be released on the Wrasse label and will be Bregović's first-ever releases in North America.
In addition, Bregović will embark on an eight-city, 10-date, North American tour with his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra in June. The tour will kick off during New York's Celebrate Brooklyn festival and wind up at Seattle's Moore Theatre (details and tour dates below).
"Alkohol was recorded live in Guča in the summer of 2007," Bregović said in a recent press release. "Guča is a small town in Serbia of maybe 20,000 inhabitants that holds an annual, world renowned, contest of brass bands in August. The town swells to 150,000 people who, under tents, drink, eat grilled meat and sour-kraut the Serbian way and drink and listen to the music and drink again, for three days... which explains the title."
"Alkohol is divided in two chapters," he continues. "The first, Sljivovica, is named after our national drink, plum brandy. These songs are meant to be listened and danced to and accompanied by strong drinks... the second chapter, Champagne , will have a more complex structure, and will be a concerto for violin, a Balkan brass band, six male voices and a small chamber orchestra. In each part the violin will play in a different mode, from a different tradition: the classic way it is played in European Christian tradition, the way it is played in Jewish tradition - klezmer, and the oriental way. To be enjoyed with softer alcohol... and dimmed lights in the hope that whoever listens to this album will enjoy it as much as I did recording it."
A celebrated composer best-known for his scores for the films of Emir Kusturica—including 1988's In The Time of Gypsies and 1995's Underground—Bregović's has composed for such adventurous international pop stars as punk godfather Iggy Pop and Cape Verdean diva Cesaria Evora. Something of a cult figure in Europe, Bregović's music has been heard in dozens of film—including the soundtrack for much of 2006's Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
Goran Bregović Tour Dates:
6/11/2009: Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, Prospect Park Bandshell, Brooklyn, NY
06/12/2009: Luminato Festival, Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto, ON
06/13/2009: Luminato Festival, Kool Haus, Toronto, ON
06/14/2009: Ravinia Festival, Pavillion, Chicago, IL
06/15/2009: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
06/17/2009: Bass Concert Hall; Austin, TX
06/19/2009: Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA
06/20/2009: Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA
06/21/2009: Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium, San Fracisco, CA
06/23/2009: Moore Theater, Seattle, WA