Discovered in France this summer with his trio, trumpeter Ben Syversen New York is a musician to follow. With Cracked Vessel , the first album under his name, had been discovered under the aggressiveness electrical, oriental fragrances a priori unrelated to this pure product of Brooklyn. This is part of what gave him a European side. After a somewhat less rapid, one might attribute this apparent inclination to taste the trio and John Zorn's Tzadik catalog ... But this overlooks the fact that Brooklyn is a large village which can sometimes turn into a steep road from the heart Serbia. A road that would lead to Guča in the heart of the old Yugoslavia, where the festival takes place that brings together all of the magazine Orkestar ...

It is no surprise that we find in Syversen Raya Brass Band offering, with the Dancing On Roses, Dancing On Ciders, [ 1 ] a second album steeped in Balkan culture and traditional pieces punctuated (the famous "Oro Piperkovo "). The Raya Brass Band has energy bands straight from the Kusturica films. The obvious glee with which he plays the music of street combines the remarkable technique of its members, from the young New York underground scene. Music for weddings, funerals and baptisms ..., Raya is the name of the child of a friend - dons ruptures fleeting and complex arrangements signed Greg Squared ("Srpski Splet"). At the head of the quintet, this multi-anchiste, a former student of George Lewis, spent several years between the Balkans and Spain to observe and collect the gypsy and Romany heritage, which has significantly altered its musical approach. Thus, as a traditional "Mélochrino" it sounds very pinch she evokes at times the duduk or the kaval.

Yet it would be simplistic to store the Raya Brass Band in the category of traditional orchestras. With "Djevadov Cocek" or the beautiful "Na Cucek Suda," the orchestra breathes through its rhythmic base (percussionist EJ Fry and tubist Don Godwin), a pest groove reminiscent funk bands most of New Orleans. Godwin, in particular, plays a lot of sousaphone, in the purest tradition of New Orleans, when quite the bass tuba in Bb found in the Serbian Orkestar. It is this in-between, this respectful dialogue between traditions, which bases this very festive and cheerful music. In recent years, this Brass Band has built an image of Brooklyn Merry blaster. It is time to make his music dancing on the ashes of Europe and roses.