Saturday, 30th August 2008

Paprika Balkanicus took the Balkan part of the Gypsy Festival from the Spiegeltent to the Mela on Saturday night. This five-piece, who come from Romania, Serbia and Slovenia and dress like overgrown schoolboys, subversively re-invent classic middle European evergreens that have been part of the universal musical psyche since the early 20th century.

Their riotous performance placed the great accordions of Milos Milivojevic and Zivorad Nikolic at each side like a musical frame, shifting with understated aplomb from sounding like brooding pianos to whirling barrel organs. Guitarist Vlad Jocic held the middle ground, strumming like mad, his pork pie hat and drainpipe trousers giving him a mischievous air. At his side, balancing the energy of the group and providing quirky chat between pieces, was electric bass player Jozef Secnik (ex Terra Folk).

Balkanicus's repertoire was contrastingly urban in comparison with that of Parno Graszt, including updates of classics like Russia's Kalinka and Moonlight. While they revelled in wringing the emotion out of bittersweet ballads, their czardas, rumbas and whooping circle dances began deceptively slowly, building up through enormous crescendos with everything played at breakneck speed. During this process their musicianship never faltered as they dealt out complex, ricocheting rhythms at a devilish pace.

The star of the show was undoubtedly Romanian Roma Bogdan Vacarescu who, while still young, is a virtuoso violinist who could turn any tune into gypsy fare. For pieces like The Skylark and Tarantella his fingers created running cascades of arpeggios full of vibrato trills, glissando slides and contrasting textures using all the tricks available to reach the highest notes possible before zipping down again.

His technical mastery of various fingering styles made it sound at times as if there were at least two fiddlers, particularly noticeable in a brilliantly dancing Czardas. At the end with the audience circling the Mela garden site, it was obvious that Paprika Balkanicus had set the night afire.

The full article contains 770 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.