Imbarca

Barcelona is famous as a music city largely for the rumba flamenco (or rumba catalana) sound of Peret and the city's Gitano neighbourhoods – and of course for being home to Manu Chao. So to hear a Barcelona band who play klezmer and Balkan music with serious intensity is novel. This very international band – two Serbs, an Italian, a Greek, a Frenchman and Catalonian native Sandra Sangiao – bring together a love of Balkan, East European and Latin flavours. They play strongly as a unit and effortlessly blend in darbuka (goblet drum) and other non-standard instruments to add flavour to certain songs. The well-recorded Barcelona Gipsy Klezmer Orchestra correctly note that while klezmer and Gypsy music are different, they share many melodies. London band She’Koyokh have investigated similar territory over recent years. Yet where She’Koyokh have been pushing the envelope of the folk musics they interpret, the Orchestra remain in the shallows, doing straightforward interpretations of ‘Djelem, Djelem’ and ‘Ederlezi’ – two anthems that have been so over-performed as to become clichés. The Orchestra's original songs and covers of Cuban and Israeli tunes suggest an eclectic nature, but these Catalans need to develop a more focused vision before they make a serious impression.