Patchwork is the word that’s often used to describe this transcontinental ensemble’s heady mix of pop, jazz, funk, hip-hop and rock. Fronted by Bosnian singer and MC Adisa Zvekic, the group has members from everywhere from Macedonia to Jamaica, a geographical diversity that, much as it does with the band Gogol Bordello, accounts for the exuberant Balkan, dub and Middle Eastern modalities that course through their music. And as with their Gypsy-punk counterparts, La Cherga’s music packs not just a sonic but a moral wallop.
In “One,” rhyming over a chugging metal guitar riff, Zvekic affirms the unity of struggling people everywhere. “Sing on, sing on / There is something true beyond all that’s fake / Look on, look on / There is something within you nobody can break,” she exhorts. In “Resolve & Evolve,” spurred on by Eastern European brass and staccato funk guitar, she urges listeners to “never stop questioning why.”