Oh Those Balkan Ladies: Balkan Beat Box and "Bulgarian Chicks"

Today's random song is by Balkan Beat Box, founded in 2003 by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in New York City. An Israeli band, their goal is to take ancient and traditional music and combine it with hip hop to create a more modern sound that would appeal to people in dancehalls and clubs. They cite as influences Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker. This song, Bulgarian Chicks, is from Balkan Beat Box's 2005 eponymous debut release.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_Beat_Box

Just a Little Libation: Balkan Beat Box and "Sunday Arak"

Our random tune for today is by Balkan Beat Box, founded in 2003 by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in New York City. An Israeli band, their goal is to take ancient and traditional music and combine it with hip hop to create a more modern sound that would appeal to people in dancehalls and clubs. They cite as influences Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker. This song, Sunday Arak, is from Balkan Beat Box's 2005 eponymous debut release. The song refers to an anise-flavored liquor popular in Israel and Lebanon.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_Beat_Box

Hassan's Got Chops: Balkan Beat Box featuring Hassan ben Jaffar and Har'el Shachal with "Hassan's Mimuna"

Our random tune for today is by Balkan Beat Box, founded in 2003 by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in New York City. An Israeli band, their goal is to take ancient and traditional music and combine it with hip hop to create a more modern sound that would appeal to people in dancehalls and clubs. They cite as influences Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker. This song, Hassan's Mimuna, features Hassan Ben Jaffar and Har'el Shachal. Hassan ben Jaffar is a Moroccan master of Gnawa music, while Har'el Shachal is an Israeli performer on Middle Eastern G clarinet and saxophone. Hassan's Mimuna is from Balkan Beat Box's 2005 eponymous debut release.

If you'd like to see a video of a live performance of the song, here you go:



Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Tradition You Can Dance To: Balkan Beat Box and "Shushan"

Today's random tune is by Balkan Beat Box, founded in 2003 by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in New York City. An Israeli band, their goal is to take ancient and traditional music and combine it with hip hop to create a more modern sound that would appeal to people in dancehalls and clubs. They cite as influences Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker. This song, Shushan featuring Shushan, is from their 2005 eponymous debut release.

Nu Made Remix: Balkan Beat Box and "Joro Boro (BBB Remix)"

Today's random tune is by Balkan Beat Box, founded in 2003 by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in New York City. An Israeli band, their goal is to take ancient and traditional music and combine it with hip hop to create a more modern sound that would appeal to people in dancehalls and clubs. They cite as influences Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker. This song, Joro Boro, was recorded on their 2007 album Nu Med, but this version is a remix featured on their remix album Nu Made (2009) and on the compilation Balkan Club Night, Vol. 2 (2011).

Anciently Modern: Balkan Beat Box and "Adir Adirim"

Happy Christmas Eve! Today's random tune is by Balkan Beat Box, founded in 2003 by Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan in New York City. An Israeli band, their goal is to take ancient and traditional music and combine it with hip hop to create a more modern sound that would appeal to people in dancehalls and clubs. They cite as influences Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker. This song, Adir Adirim featuring experimental Israeli vocalist Victoria Hanna, is from their 2005 eponymous debut release. Listen for the "alleluia's" in the song!

Making the Traditional Really Dance: Balkan Beat Box and "Cha Cha"

This is the second song by Balkan Beat Box that gets randomly highlighted in this blog, and it's a fun one!

Balkan Beat Box, despite their name, is an Israeli band that is influenced by traditional Jewish, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Gypsy punk and electronic music. They were formed in Brooklyn, New York by Ori Kaplan and Tamir Muskat, who felt that ancient and traditional songs needed an upgrade through an infusion of hip hop in order to make them popular in dance halls and clubs. They really wanted the traditional music that they loved to better reflect their world and the movement toward a global culture. Their artistic influences ranged from Manu Chao and Rachid Taha to Jamaican dub and Boban Marković. Their first album, Balkan Beat Box, focused on Mediterranean sounds but after the addition of Tel Aviv musician Tomer Yosef to the band in 2006 they expanded to include Arabic and Spanish influences in their second album. This song is called Cha Cha and is off of their 2005 album of the same name.

Born to Pun: Balkan Beat Box and "9/4 the Ladies"

I am not very good at punning, which is why I like them, bad ones and all. One of my favorite newspaper comics right now is Stephan Pastis' Pearls Before Swine. On Sundays, he often puts together a very elaborate pun which culminates in the next to last panel, and the last panel of the comic usually consists of his cartoon characters heaping verbal or physical on him for the pun (he is often a character in his own strip). He has punned on "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts," "Patience is a virtue," "Don't cry for me, Argentina," and I think my favorite, "O say can you see by the dawn's early light."

Today's song is a small pun. 9/4 the Ladies is by Balkan Beat Box, and this pun refers to the time signature for the piece of music. For those of us who didn't study music, the general rhythm consists of nine beats per bar. The rhythm would go 1-2-3 2-2-3 3-2-3, or something like that. But of course the pun uses the 4 (the indicator that the main length of the note is a quarter note or crotchet) so that it sounds like "Nine For the Ladies." I don't know if there are any other hidden meanings, such as if the song was written on September 4th (9/4). But I appreciate the pun, and putting some lighthearted fun into a song title.

Balkan Beat Box is an Israeli band that is influenced by traditional Jewish, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Gypsy punk and electronic music. They were formed in Brooklyn, New York by Ori Kaplan and Tamir Muskat, who felt that ancient and traditional songs needed an upgrade through an infusion of hip hop in order to make them popular in dance halls and clubs. They really wanted the music that they loved to better reflect their world and the movement toward a global culture. Their artistic influences ranged from Manu Chao and Rachid Taha to Jamaican dub and Boban Marković. Their first album, Balkan Beat Box, focused on Mediterranean sounds but after the addition of Tel Aviv musician Tomer Yosef to the band in 2006 they expanded to include Arabic and Spanish influences in their second album. 9/4 the Ladies can be found on their eponymous first CD, released in 2005.