Gadji

Norig is French and became fixated upon Balkan Gypsy music after seeing the 1989 feature film Time of the Gypsies. This led her to be discovered by the French film director Tony Gatlif (director of many Gypsy-themed films including Latcho Drom) and he has employed her to sing on the soundtrack of a couple of his films. Gadji - the Romani word for non-Roma – is her 2006 debut album and since then she appears to have only released one more album (in 2013). Yet Gadji was a success when first released, selling more than 10,000 copies in France. As an album, it's extremely professionally sung, played and produced; a polished effort with a young singer often over-emoting.

The six musicians obviously have classical training and a lush, melodramatic approach holds forth. Standards such as ‘Ederlezi’ and ‘Tutti Frutti’ are tackled along with original material. This is Balkan music as filtered through a conservatory with an eye on the cabaret, thus everything is slick - too slick. Still, the performances on this reissued release are engaging and recall a time when Balkan Gypsy music was a big deal.