New Colors in Bulgarian Wedding Music

Amazon.com
This was the first album by New York-based Bulgarian saxophonist Yuri Yunakov and it hums. Its stripped-down sound is driving, its musicianship super, and the resulting music is as vibrant as anything in or from the Balkans. Bulgarian "wedding music" is a style, not a place it gets played. It mixes a local Bulgarian sensibility with rock, funk, and, in Yunakov's case, some pretty edgy jazz. He rolls it out with a band of fat bass, accordion, clarinet, kit drums, and percussion in a groove that is incessant. Melodic surprises abound, the soloing by all the musicians is deft, and the overall sound is a musical party just looking for dancers. --Louis Gibson

Tracks:

Belmont
Radomirska Kopanica
Kana Me Uvonigjum
Cocek Manhattan
Mominsko Horo
Proviknal Se Deli Dimo
Devojko Mari Hubava/Rajcevska Rucenica
Makedonska Gajda
Zulta Kitka
Kasapsko

Amazon.com

This was the first album by New York-based Bulgarian saxophonist Yuri Yunakov and it hums. Its stripped-down sound is driving, its musicianship super, and the resulting music is as vibrant as anything in or from the Balkans. Bulgarian "wedding music" is a style, not a place it gets played. It mixes a local Bulgarian sensibility with rock, funk, and, in Yunakov's case, some pretty edgy jazz. He rolls it out with a band of fat bass, accordion, clarinet, kit drums, and percussion in a groove that is incessant. Melodic surprises abound, the soloing by all the musicians is deft, and the overall sound is a musical party just looking for dancers. --Louis Gibson

Customer Reviews:

the best Yunakov.......2003-10-19

Of the three Yunakov albums, this is my favorite. They're all beautiful to me! They're very Balkan; fast and racy. His is a perfect modern music with enough of the old Anatolian sound to be satisfying.

And now for something completely different . . ........2002-01-20

This record was my introduction to Bulgarian wedding music, and wow - what an introduction. For the uninitiated, Bulgarian wedding music isn't just for weddings. It was traditionally played for weddings as well as other ritual occasions, but is just as likely now to be heard in a New York nightclub.

Yunakov is an alto saxophonist who leads a band which includes accordian, clarinet, bass and drums. His playing is edgy and very obviously jazz influenced. And the tunes groove HARD - some of them in meters I haven't figured out yet. Yunakov's improvisations are pretty brilliant and the heads are like Eastern European bebop. The sound in not unlike Klezmer, except for the meters.

My favorite tune on the album is "Cocek Manhattan," but there isn't a weak track on the whole thing. Most world music lovers would dig this recording, as will new jazz fans.

Rock Music:

Rock Music

rock music

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