Necking: Shri featuring Hammonds Saltaire Brass Band with "Neck to Neck"

Shrikanth Sriram (who performs under the name Shri), with his guests the Hammonds Saltaire Brass Band, brings us today's random tune, called Neck to Neck. A British-Indian acoustic, electric and computer-based musician, Shri delivers eclectic live performances that also features traditional Indian instrumentation. Shri grew up learning classical Indian music on tabla in Mumbai, but tired of its rigid structure and taught himself how to play bass, guitar and flute. Today his trademark instrument is a self-designed fretless bass guitar that he plays with a bow. After working with rock bands in India, he moved to London in the 1990s where he worked with such musicians and producers as Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh and DJ Badmarsh. After touring five years with Sawhney, he released his own debut album in 1997. Since then he has released 15 albums, both solo and as part of the electronic trip-hop duo Badmarsh and Shri. You can find Neck to Neck on his 2015 album Just a Vibration. The song includes the Yorkshire-based and award-winning Hammonds Saltaire Brass Band.

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.

Gypsy Brass: Mahala Raï Banda and "Colindat"

Romanian group Mahala Raï Banda brings us the random tune for today. Mahala Raï Banda is a gypsy band based in Bucharest, Romania. Formed by violinist and composer Aurel Ionita, the band plays in several styles and genres. They are often cited for their innovative and inventive arrangements that position them at the intersection between traditional popular music and club oriented music. They have played over 200 concerts in 26 countries and they have released at least two albums. Their music was featured in the movie Borat. This song, Colindat, can be found on their debut album Mahala Raï Banda, released in 2005.

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.

Why I Do Sit Ups: Peter Pozorek and "Belly Off"

Some Balkan brass in a nice swinging beat for the random tune today. While I assume that Pozorek is a DJ, I can't find any information about him online...I can't even find what country he is from. Anyway, enjoy this tune, Belly Off, from the 2011 compilation The Balkan Club Night Vol 2.

Romani Dreaming: Kočani Orkestar and "Sahara Dreams"

Today's song, Sahara Dreams, is by the Kočani Orkestar, a Macedonian Romani brass band. The band takes Balkan brass band styles that are descended from Ottoman army brass bands, along with gypsy tunes, Turkish rhythms, and a little bit of Latin styles, and really funks it up. You may recognize their music from the movie Borat - a song was used without their authorization and they are currently suing for compensation. Sahara Dreams can be heard on their 2008 CD The Ravished Bride.

I Dub Thee Balkan: La Cherga and "Rembetiko (Shazalakazoo Remix)"

La Cherga, a group of Yugoslavian ex-pats based in Graz, Austria bring's us the random tune for today called Rembetiko. The song is remixed by Shazalakazoo, a two member electronic act from Belgrade, Serbia. La Cherga is a live sound system that fuses traditional Balkan brass and accordion seamlessly with dub. Rembetiko (Shazalakazoo Remix) can be found on La Cherga's 2010 album Fake No More Remixes. It can also be found on the Balkan Club Night #2 compilation CD (2011).

Shake Ya Brass: Kočani Orkestar and "But Katili"

Shake ya brass! Today's song, But Katili, is by the Kočani Orkestar, a Macedonian Romani brass band. The band takes Balkan brass band styles that are descended from Ottoman army brass bands, along with gypsy tunes, Turkish rhythms, and a little bit of Latin styles, and really funks it up. You may recognize their music from the movie Borat - a song was used without their authorization and they are currently suing for compensation. But Katili can be heard on their 2008 CD The Ravished Bride.

Six Feet Under: Orkestar Zirkonium and "Bury Your Dead"

Today's song is by Orkestar Zirkonium, an American mobile brass band based in Seattle inspired by the music of the Balkans, particularly that of the Eastern European Romani. Inspired by some of the greats, including Fanfare Ciocarlia, Kočani Orkestar, Goran Bregović, Boban Marković and others, they play music from Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and India as well as their own original dance tunes. This song, Bury Your Dead, can be found on their debut, self-titled release (2008).

Weep Not: The Kočani Orkestar and "La Llorona"

A new country we haven't represented before serves up our random tune for today. The Kočani Orkestar is a Macedonian Romani gypsy brass band who play a funked up version of Balkan brass band music directly descended from the music of Turkish army bands. This song, La Llorona (the video spells it wrong), refers to the weeping female who drowned herself in despair after a jilted love, and was turned away from the gates of heaven and not allowed to return until she finds her children. This legend is found in Latin myth throughout Hispanic America , and I can only assume that The Kočani Orkestar reference the legend from Romani/gypsy populations in Spain. La Llorona can be found on The Kočani Orkestar's 2008 CD The Ravished Bride.

Gypsy Hop: Boban & Marko Marković Orchestra with "Sljivovica"

I have waxed poetic in the past on my surprise and delight at the emergence of Balkan brass band music, especially in dance-able club music. Today's song is another example of this, but with a twist. Hip hop, until I started listening to it in a world music wrapper, was not a really big attraction for me. Hip hop lost my interest when it seemed to become, at least in the popular songs, hedonistic and glorifying violence instead of highlighting up front the social and economic issues of the communities from whence it sprung. Thankfully, hip hop seems to have gone through that adolescence and, while it now has pop success there is also a new focus on issues of substance.

With hip hop in foreign languages, I could listen to the beat and the rhymes without understanding the language and I found that I actually liked that. There is a great quality to hip hop, to me at least, in that you don't need to understand the language to appreciate the artistry. Hip hop in French sounds great. Hip hop in German has a fun quality to it. Today's song gives us hip hop in Serbian - and while I might seem like a hypocrite because the song is about a plum brandy and it appears, from the video, that it is promoting some of that hedonistic qualities that drove me away in the first place, I love the use of it with the brass band sound. So yeah, if I close my eyes and listen to the song, and I don't understand the language, I like the new sound it brings.

Boban Marković is a Serbian Romani trumpet player and brass ensemble leader frequently recognized as the greatest trumpet player to emerge from the Balkans. The Boban Marković Orchestra has been one of the leading Balkan brass bands in Serbia over the last 17 years. They have won several of the most important prizes ("Golden Trumpet", "First Trumpet" and "The Best Orchestra") at the Guča trumpet festival, called "Dragačevski Sabor" which has been held every August in Central Serbia's town of Guča since 1961. Boban Marković's son, Marko, has played with the band since 2002. Marko was said to practice ten hours a day before joining with the band. During the two years he spent touring with the band, Marko became the main soloist and arranger of the renamed Boban & Marko Marković Orchestra at age 17. Sljivovica can be found on the Boban & Marko Markovic Orchestra's 2013 album Gipsy Manifesto.

A Nice Vintage: Ian Oliver feat. Eastenders and "Vino Vino (Lukas Lehrmann remix)"

I love wine...but I can't drink much of it. Well, let me restate that. It's not that I can't, it's that I shouldn't.

That's tough for a native Northern Californian who grew up just north of wine country and who therefore has had ample reason to enjoy a few vintages in his lifetime. But there it is. The problem is not the wine. The problem is that my body has more than two glasses of wine, and then decides it's time to go to sleep. A third glass, especially on a warm afternoon, will put me to complete sleep. This is a problem if I'm at a party. I can ameliorate the effect by sipping the wine but even that works its toll sooner or later.

But here's the thing about wine for me that doesn't work with any other libation: wine (especially red wine) is the only alcoholic drink where at some point I go from completely sober to that delicate balance of feeling completely at peace and good with the world for a few minutes to a half hour. The problem is that either I don't drink anymore and the feeling goes away, or I drink another one and tip the balance into sleepy time. That being written, it's that peaceful feeling I crave. A good glass of wine with friends in a relaxed atmosphere is the perfect tonic for pretty much everything. A glass of wine on my front porch as the late afternoon sun provides its gentle warmth is an experience I can have over and over again. It's a good thing that I can always revisit that feeling for the rest of the time I'm on this earth. And occasionally, I know that I will end up sleeping away the rest of the evening on a bed because of one glass beyond that perfect balance.

One doesn't necessarily associate the Balkans with fine wine, though recent reports indicate that it's star is rising in the world of appellations, but in terms of vintage brass instrumentation and accordion the Balkans are about as exciting as it gets. And one of the amazing things that has happened has been a cross of the old with the new, almost like a blending of traditional grapes with some new hybrids to create something completely new. In the past decade or so Balkan brass and accordion has become more popular, and with it experimentation in turning these tunes into danceable club music. And to my surprise (though perhaps not the surprise of people who have listened to this music for a while) it works marvelously. There is something about Balkan brass and accordion being sampled and looped, augmented by electronica, and put to a beat that never fails to get the body moving.

To that end, Vino Vino (Lukas Lehrmann remix) is a remix of a Balkan dance tune by Ian Oliver featuring Eastenders, which in itself uses a lot of sampling. Unfortunately, I can't find much information about Ian Oliver or Eastenders (please feel free to comment and provide some information), but this remix is infectious and makes you want to dance! You can find Vino Vino (Lukas Lehrmann remix) on the compilation CD The Balkan Club Night #2, Disc 2 (2011) Enjoy! I've also included the original, below, with the official video so you can compare it with the remix.

Germany Funks It Up: LaBrassBanda and "Western"

Last weekend I watched with astonishment as, in the waning moments of a tense soccer match, a German soccer player named Goetze took a perfect pass from a teammate streaking down the left side of the field, stopped it with his chest and in one fluid moment, before the ball it the ground, sent a screaming kick to his right past the Argentinian goalie and into the right side of the net. Of course, he and the German team celebrated wildly, knowing that the kick sealed their World Cup Championship. I had never really liked the German teams in past World Cups. They were efficient and ruthless, a machine-like soccer team that didn't win with flash or style but just ground their opponents into the dust. But this team was different. They had flashes of very un-Germanlike play, in which the team had more show than in the past, yet they had all the right elements from the past teams - extremely efficient passing, a coterie of players who could score yet an emphasis on teamwork, and that same wear-the-other-team-down-with-patient-play strategy. I liked them and what they showed in the World Cup.

While I have a lot of experience with Germany and Germans, and love the country and have people I consider very good friends there, I always considered Germans to be a serious people. They love to discuss weighty matters whether they are in a business meeting, a political event or a party. Even their fun seemed serious, and their music onced seemed serious me too. Yet as I have been getting more into the global music scene, it has confirmed what I have already known...Germans can get funky with the best of them. One of my favorite discoveries was the rap and hip-hop band Die Fantastichen Vier, who were one of the first groups to rap in German and who create fun, engaging pop and hip-hop music.

For one show, Megan put a call out to our Facebook friends - send us a group or song you'd like to hear and we'll try to include it in our set. A friend in Germany suggested something by LaBrassBanda, a group I'd never heard of. I looked them up and listened to some of their music. Once again, a pleasant surprise was provided. Their music was fun, full of brass, and they could easily go between Eastern European brass to some pretty funky stuff. They appear to be fantastic showmen.

LaBrassBanda is from Bavaria, and their name is a mashup of the Italian "la banda" and the English "brass band." They were formed in 2007 and became well known after their tour from their hometown to Vienna. the venue of the 2008 European Football Championships. They ended their tour on mopeds and performed a public concert from the trailer of a semi. After that they were invited to play in other places around Europe, and in Harare, Zimbabwe at the International Festival of the Arts organized by the German embassy. They also played the famous festival at Rothskilde, Denmark. They currently have released four albums. This song, Western, is from their 2013 release Europa.