DERE
GELIYOR DERE
BARCELONA
GIPSY
BALKAN
ORCHESTRA & FUAT GÜNER
Songwriter:
Country: spain
Álbum: Barcelona gipsy klezmer orchestra
Label: self-production
Genre: Diggers Music
Year: 2012
Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra (BGKO) is a
band created in 2012 in Barcelona,
Spain. The
band draws on many musical influences, including Klezmer music,
Jazz Manouche,
and Roma music. BGKO also explores the sounds of some Eastern European regions
and draws inspiration from music in the regions of South America, Spain, and
the Middle East.
In 2015 the band changed its name in Barcelona
Gipsy balKan Orchestra, keeping BGKO as acronym.
The permanent members of BGKO are vocalist
Margherita Abita (Italy),
clarinetist Daniel Carbonell (Spain),
accordionist Mattia Schirosa (Italy),
double bassist Ivan Kovačević (Serbia),
guitarist Julien Chanal (France) and
percussionist Stelios Togias (Greece).
BGKO also includes
rotating nomad musicians, and the band reflects the style of the various
artists that have been a part of it.
The group originated in the spring of 2012,
when eleven musicians gathered in Barcelona to celebrate International Romani Day. Some of
them had already met at various jam sessions, including at El Arco de la Virgen,
and at other musical venues in Barcelona.
In 2013, Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra
self-published its first album, Imbarca, which was re-released one year later
with the vinyl EP Satélite K. The re-release included three new songs: "Hasta Siempre, Comandante", "Cigani
Ljubiat Pesnji", and "La dama d'Aragó". After
releasing Satélite K in 2014, BGKO played on tours around Italy, Greece, Malta,
Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, and France, in concerts and festivals in Spain, and
at the Auditorium of Barcelona.
BGKO hosted the Balkan Reunion in March 2015,
which brought together numerous notable Balkan musicians from around Europe,
including the Macedonian saxophonist King Ferus Mustafov (referent from the East Gipsy music), Vlado Kreslin (known for his collaborations with R.E.M.), and
the Turkish singer Nihan Devecioglu.
Around 1,300 people
attended the concert, which took place at Sala Apolo. BGKO's second disc, which
germinated from this Balkan encounter, was released in September 2015.
Throughout 2015, the band played in Granada, Málaga, Palau de la Música
Catalana, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Switzerland, Serbia,
Germany, and Istanbul.
Its version of "Djelem Djelem",
the international Romani hymn, has received more than 10,000,000 views on
YouTube.
During
spring 2015, BGKO began a management and booking collaboration with Diggers
Music.