News from the Music Industry

Some records you just know will be good, and this is definitely one of them. The fact that it’s on Arhoolie, pretty much a guarantee of quality, doesn’t hurt matters, but it’s the contents that count, and this doesn’t disappoint. Balkan string band music might never have a mass audience, but going back it had a strong following, both at home, then among the immigrant populations in America. The 78s lovingly collected here are the cream of the crop. The tamburitza orchestras were a definite form that cut across national boundaries (although primarily from Bosnia and Croatia), with the instrument tuned in fourths, with the Sremski instruments the most popular from the 1920s, for their versatility. Regardless of era, the virtuosity displayed on these recordings, especially the truly vintage ones, is remarkable, making the first of the two discs here an absolute joy. At this stage there was little difference to hear between the European and American ensembles, with a strong continuity of style and tradition. The variances become far more evident on the second disc, which comprises later recordings from America. As time passes, the assimilation becomes more evident. It perhaps reaches its zenith with the Dave Zupovich Orchestra. Their “Tamburaska Potpura,” which pays homage to different tamburitza groups around the U.S., offers snippets of their styles, but it’s most American on “Hey Tambu-Re-Bop,” a kind of jump blues/ proto rock’n'roll in a string band style, perhaps the most perfect, but extremely strange, blending of two cultures in one package. This might be a labor of love, but it serves a much larger purpose. Whether deliberately or not, it opens a window into Immigrant life, before leaving home, in the New World, and assimilation. That makes it especially valuable. In the way the music changes and develops, we come to understand the changes in communities, how a growing generation views its home and its music.