The Balkan Hotstep Sound System | DJ Typsy Gypsy

I've been playing a lot of The Balkan Hotstep Soundsystem and DJ Typsy Gypsy over the Christmas break. I've been amazed by the feed back. These lovable mashups are pretty catchy and I've had lots of people call in asking who they are and where they are from. What's great about this music is it samples some of the best Balkan musicians, mostly Roma, and mashes them up with hip-hop that we are all comfortable with. For the most part, everyone loves the Balkan sound but a lot of people either don't know how to dance to it or aren't used to the sound. The Hip-Hop takes away for foreignness and lets people just enjoy the wonderful Balkan music. Definitely fun and clever, be sure to download some of the mixes (bottom of page).

BIO:

Balkan Hotstep Soundsystem, or sometimes referred to as the Balkan Hotsteppers are based out of Leuven, Belgium that formed in 2006. They gained a lot of buzz from their online mixtapes put together in 2007 and released online to masses via Myspace. Balkan Hotsteppers is comprised of DJ Sam Raban and DJ Typsy Gypsy. DJ Sam Raban can be found at the girafe Cafe Leuven, Belgium on Thursdays.

Extended PDF Press Release

Myspace Links:

Typsy Gypsy
Great Hip-Hop Mashups, check it out on Myspace!

Balkan HotSteppers

Bookings and Gigs:

B-Side Bookings does there booking.








Downloadable Mashups (Straight from Myspace):

download demomix
download BalkanBangers
download Let The Vodka Roll (Shantelmix)
download Balkan Club Night @ Rio Loco Toulouse

12/21/2008 WRFL (trial run

Download Link

Guest Hosting World Beats at WRFL 88.1; Cambodian Rock Music from the 60s - 70s

UPDATE:

Here are the links to the WRFL show from last Sunday. Please feel free to download and share.

FREE and Downloadable (But Please Support the Artists):

Sunday, December 21st, 4pm - 5pm

Sunday, December 21st, 5pm - 6pm

Check'em out.

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On Sunday, I will be filling in at WRFL 88.1 for Marc Heft who currently shares a World Beats show with William Cheeves. Since I'm going to be filling in for an already existing World music show, I originally was going to just play some more Balkan Music. However, I happened upon some old Cambodian Rock from a friend and after about 6 non-stop hours (honestly) of research on the internet, I'm addicted.

So, since I'm filling a slot for another fellow DJ of world music, I figured I would just get my Khmer Rock and Roll fix out of the way in one sitting. I thought I would just pepper my usual accompiment of Balkan music with some Khmer stuff, but I've found hours of fascinating music online.

Why?

The Khmer or Cambodian music is fascinating to me because of a combination of two unlikely but equally poignant aspects; great music and contextual sadness. First, if you listen the the Khmer music of the 1960s and 1970s, you can defintely hear the Western and American influences in the form of Garage Rock, Psychedelic Pop and other popular genres of the time. Combine this with the amazingly innovative talent of the musicians and the beauty of the Khmer language and it just rocks; plain and simple. Additionally, there is a more serious historical background to what was an explosion of musical innovation in the 1960s and 1970s--The overbearing knowledge of the Khmer Rouge that started in earnest in the mid 1970s. Almost all of these musicians were targeted and killed during the Reign of Pol Pot. This is another sad and less fortunate example of how music shapes and affects culture insomuch as political leaders see the musicians as threats and actually exterminate them.

While the music is great, its a shame that there isn't a lot of master tracks for fellow listeners to work with. Most of the copies of the music (both masteres and commerical copies) were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge because of its percieved threat. Aside for the cassette and vinyl recordings that were found in Cambodia by westerners searching for more Cambodian Rock, there really isn't a lot of source material in the western world. The online community, however, is changing that. Myspace is filled with "profiles" of long since passed away Cambodian musicians almost as if to create awareness the almost forgotten greats of their time. And currently there are two documentaries working to create a historical imprint of the time for years to come as well.

Cambodian Rock Documentaries:

Don't Think I've Forgotten - http://cambodianrock.com/

The Golden Voice - http://www.thegoldenvoicemovie.com

In 1996, Parallel World released one of the first western market CDs of this Khmer Rock music. Paul Wheeler made the CD based off of material he had found on vacation in Cambodia. After interest gained, another companies started releasing compliations of the Cambodian music. Probably one of the bigger breakouts for the Cambodian Rock'n'Roll pre-Khmer Rouge was on the City of Ghosts soundtrack where many (I unknowingly) heard this music for the first time. The City of Ghosts soundtrack is selling for about $100 on Amazon.com if that's any indication of popular demand of an out of print album.

Album List of Cambodian Rock Music:

Cambodian Cassette Archive Not Recommend Alternative

Cambodian Rocks (MUST DOWNLOAD, free .mp3s):

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/12/cambodian-rocks.html (Full CD)

Khmer Rock Music from the Cole Ranch (Free Downloads):

http://khmermusic.thecoleranch.com/

Cambodian Swing Machine ( Compilation )

Cambodian Rocks Volume 1 On Amazon

Cambodian Rocks Volume 2 On Amazon

You Tube Video Archives:

Old Songs with Stills: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=872D9A48223F5F9A

Old Movie Songs: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=D7494F417654C522

There more floating around but that just a start. Of course, you could always travel to Cambodia and buy up old rock records.

Radio Set Up:

Pronounciation Guide:

Sinn Sis-sa-mott - Sinn Sisamouth

Ros Sereysothea

Guest Hosting of The World Beat Hour:

Clash the Casbah DJ Ari Judah

Street Noise Dub - DJ Ari Judah

Birds Are Singing But My Lover Won't Return - Unknown


Track 4 - Meas Samon - Cambodian Cassette Archives

Track 8 - Srey No (Lady Named No) - Unknown Cambodian Cassette Archives

skhe-diev Smithsonian

Sinn Sisamouth - Porps Samnang - Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/sinsamuth

Tonsai Sdai Jun- Sin Sisamouth - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSp6IE8ruho

Nee keu karm kyom - by Ros Sereysothea - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEkrbVKiNBY

Rous Sareysothea - #4 - Bomplech oun tov - http://www.myspace.com/roussareysothea

Rous Sareysothea - #5 - Ngam Srah - http://www.myspace.com/roussareysothea

Raurm Men Cha'eat - Pen Ron - http://www.myspace.com/penronx

Mou Pei Na - Sinn Sisamouth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2fVsqQ0mg

Khnyom Jah Karake - Meas Samon & Tet Somnang http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXJoN49vw3o

Rom Ago Ago - Pan Ron - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCotIDR3k3E

Soriya Psong Snae - Sinn Sisamouth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M_H_vCwrfY

Closer:

Last Christmas Preap Sovath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8R9qmOiCiU

Beam Preash Mok Sbot | Preap Sovath | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU6xVx4cmhI

Where's the music at? Why one view can't encompass a whole region; but can try

Recently, I've received some well founded criticisms of my approach to what I define as Balkan and Bulgarian music. Here is what one reader had to say:

I strongly disagree with any presentation of Bulgaria that concentrates on chalga. Although, this is the most popular "music" right now, it is the last thing I would like people to associate my country with.

We do have a lot of world renowned musicians and singers; this is an offense to them, at the very least. You can check out The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices, Theodosii Spasov, Raina Kabaivanska...and so many more...

The Argument:

To some degree, music defines a culture. So the possibillty of my characterizations culturally offensive

---The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices; Where are they?

I always appreciate comments and suggestions; I have to agree that I have not addressed the topic of Bulgarian Folk music as much as I would have liked. And it has been rightly pointed out, I plan to talk about musicians such as The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices. I haven't wrote about them mostly because my interests have been elsewhere and there already exists a large body of work on the internet about their singing.

Chalga or Pop Folk; Is it Bulgarian or Balkan Culture? Yeck, I know . . .

I feel that Chalga (info) is a part of Bulgaria's culture just as much as American Hip-hop is to America's culture. It may not be the most positive representation in some person's eyes but it is an aspect of Bulgaria's cultural sphere. One of the reasons I write about it is that not many people in America know about Chalga nor do they understand the interesting mixes and borrowing of culture.

Why don't you talk about this artist? (Insert your preference)

Odds are, I've never heard of the artist or group. Or, I've heard of them but have been too lazy to talk about them. Regardless, if you feel that there is a form of music that is missing a voice, be sure to email me through my profile with your contributions and suggestions. Also, please remember that I'm an amateur that sees this more as a hobby than a definer of culture, music or nationality.

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That said, enjoy the blog and definitely remember that this is just one viewpoint out of many so be sure to look into other sources as well.

Kurdish Halay! Is there a common link in folk dancing in the Balkans?

I found this video about Kurdish Folk Dancing on-line. The type of Folk dancing is originally called Halay which is also claimed by the Turks (I seriously don't want to judge the origins of Halay, but I think its suffice to say its from the Middle East and Balkans). If you look at the responses to halay online all they do is argue about the origin of the folk dancing.

What really struck me about this particular video are the number of views (1.3 million) and the hip-hop style the young women bring to the traditional folk dancing. Frankly, it just looks cool and certainly looks transferable to the western hip-hop society


A male version of the Halay, still informal


Also another male example of the dancing.

Now I want to compare the first video to the video of Halay below. As you can see, this form of dancing has a more traditional. The first video was probably filmed at a wedding, festival or a private party outdoors informally whereas this video is filmed indoors and is an organized dance troupe. What is being highlighted in the informal dancing is just part of the organized structure of the halay dance. If you go to to the end of clip (about 70%) you see the same format used in the formal and informal halay dancing (women in a line, holding hands, indescribable leg movements in unison).




Here is an example of the Halay dance making inroad into the Hip-Hop and MTV world. The real halay is the women together dancing throughout the video. Its an example of Halay beginning the cross over to western dance and music.




What's interesting about Halay is the striking similarity to most other forms of Balkan and Middle Eastern folk dancing but with distinct evolutions in each country. This music, created by a drum, duval and zurna, is rather simplistic with an overpowering and danceable beat.