GIPSYJUNGLE: Balkano Gypsy Happening at Club Tzigana, London

In the last two weeks there has been quite a lot of balkano gypsy happening around here. The one place in particular hosting the concerts has been 32 Old Bailey, which is a Romanian restaurant and music venue.

On Thursday, June 11th, Serbian Rock'n'Roma KAL took over the place, and even though they have visited Slovenia for many times, some of us weren't so lucky to see them around there. That's why we were so excited to have a chance to catch them over here in London.

It was said the night would start off as a tribute to Šaban Bajramović with »Shaban« (2007, Dir. Milos Stojanovic) film screening prior to the concert which was, due to technical problems, unfortunately cancelled. Hearing this we were a bit disappointed, yet, DJ Sacha Dieu took care of a good warming up. After that it was KAL time! They started with their best. They made us all dance and sweat from the very beginning! We heard Komedija, Dvojka, Gubertski tango… However, we must say we were most impressed by the violinist with his electric violin! And just from a quick glance at the grooving dance floor it was obvious that the band succeeded in making a great atmosphere!

Last Thursday, exactly one week after KAL, at the same place and at the same time there was another concert. This time Club Zigana hosted Radio Zastava from Italy. The band which is Italy based, but of mixed origins - Austrian, Friulian, Serbian/Bosnian, Slovene, was playing Gypsy, Balkan, Marching Band street music with a pinch of swing. This time the rock guitar and a violin were replaced with an accordion, a tuba bass, a trombone, a trumpet, an alto sax, a tapan, a darbouka and a doumbek. They were placed under the stage mixed with the crowd! We shouldn’t forget to mention a gypsy beats DJ set from Croatian Londoner DJ Shefitza who surprised us with Magnifico’s Hir Aj Kam Hir Aj Go!

It was another fabulous night!