Street Performers in Istanbul playing Balkan Music and Speaking English

While wondering the streets in Istanbul, I happened upon a impromptu band playing Balkan Music on the street. They spoke English and announced their songs in English. The played some decent music but most importantly it displays the growth of the Balkan Music movement. Balkan Music obviously isn't new to Istanbul and Turkey, where a good portion of Balkan music draws its roots from the Ottoman Empire. But I find it fun to find Balkan music played by English speakers (from Western Europe or America) in Istanbul. This plays into this Guerrilla Concert feel that some of the westernized Balkan Bands have been attempting recently. Both Hawk and a Hacksaw, and Beirut have been utilizing this approach - mostly in places like Paris. Here's an example from Hawk and a Hacksaw from Paris:


Hawk and a Hacksaw - Oriental Horo



Hawk and a Hacksaw - The Sparrow




Beirut - St. Apollina



Currently YouTube is banned in Turkey and I had to search for these videos using vTunnel.com which opens websites in an iframe. Its a really easy work around to counter the banning of YouTube and kind of shows how foolish the ban was in the first place. I don't really want to explain the ban here, so just click the link and research it yourself.