(Vlax)
It's a familiar story: two crazy Brits locate the lost musical legacy of a distant country – except here it's not Ghana or Thailand but former Yugoslavia that provided the quest for forgotten vinyl. The results capture the diversity of Roma music in Tito's socialist state between 1964 and 1980. Big fat wedding songs are here, along with serpentine clarinets and Balkan brass, alongside less expected influences such as Bollywood choruses and jazzy instrumentals. At the heart of things are soaring, melodramatic vocals by stars like Esma Redzepova and Saban Bajramovic, and Roma history – a 1974 paean to "the beauty of Sarajevo" makes poignant listening.
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