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"Trio
Balkan
Strings dedication
to the music of
the Balkans and
central Europe
is inspiring.
The guitar
interpretations
of this music
are
wonderful. Really
good" John McLaughlin
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''Proud to have Trio Balkan Strings as
endorsee's of La Bella Strings. Their
Musical Talent is absolutely
Outstanding''
Bob Archigian (La
Bella Strings) |
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''Once you've
hitched this
magic carpet
ride and left
your mind and
shoes on the
floor where they
belong, you
enter a lyrical,
playful yet very
smart world of
advanced
instrumentalists.
But until those
impossible days,
the Starcevic
Trio holds the
keys. This is a
truly unique
slice of guitar
craft that any
lovers of the
instrument would
do well to
acquire. Very
highly
recommended''.
Srajan Ebaen (6 moons World Music
June 2004) |
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Trio Balkan Strings is the guitar formation of Yugoslavian guitar
legend and composer/producer Zoran Starcevic and sons Nikola -
composer and classical guitar teacher -- and junior Zeljko who also
studies classical guitar. With 400-some songs under his belt, 10 solo
guitar albums on which he explored numerous playing styles and of
which he has sold hundreds of thousands in his native Serbia alone,
Zoran's present release features all-original tunes and was
self-produced and recorded in his digital studio in Belgrade.
There's never been anything quite like Guitares des Balkans
before. Borrowing trills, mordents and appoggiaturas from
Transylvanian violin and saxophone styles, interjecting those with
odd-metered tunes from Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria,
Macedonia, Turkey and Gypsies culture and occasionally augmenting them
with very subtle background hand percussion, your internal aural
compass needle goes haywire trying to lock to true North. That's how
uniquely evasive the origin of this music turns out to be. The 7/8 and
11/8 rhythms suggest Macedonian rutchenitsa-derivatives but the
guitar-only instrumentation plays mean tricks on you. Certain
high-speed fret work suggests French Manouche music but the overall
setting doesn't match. You hear Greek bouzouq elements but things
don't exactly sound Greek either. "Rumunsko nebo" could be a musette
waltz if it wasn't on four - but it swings and whirls as though it
were on three. And so it goes until you give up any pathetic efforts
of pigeon-holing and just board this magic carpet ride for the sheer
hell of it. Which, naturally, is the point of all music making unless you're an
ethnomusicologist. Once you've hitched this ride and left your mind
and shoes on the floor where they belong, you enter a lyrical, playful
yet very smart world of advanced instrumentalists. If Ivo
Papasov or Yuri Yunakov became guitarists and abandoned their popular
focus on high-speed power riffing, this would be the general turf of
their music. If Romane went East and got marked by a sexy vampire,
that's what he might do on his Selmer. But until those impossible
days, the Starcevic Trio holds the keys. How they manage bass
accompaniment on regular acoustic guitars -- none of which in the
cover image really look much larger than standard -- is beyond me.
Naturally, that doesn't prevent them at all. It's this disregard for
convention or easy explanations that's the biggest attraction here.
This is a truly unique slice of guitar craft that any lovers of the
instrument would do well to acquire. Call it Strunz & Farah do
Eastern Europe. Very highly recommended. |
Srajan Ebaen
6 moons
World Music
June 2004
Label:
Playasound;
PS 65277; 2004;
Spielzeit: 45.52 min |
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Gitarowa family from Belgrade (Serbia), performs its
original instrumental music, which is a mixture of many
elements of the Balkans: Serbian Macedonian, Romanian,
Bulgarian, Greek, combining improvisation with elements of
jazz and classical. The result of a combination of mergers
of many cultures is rich and unconventional at the same
time, fresh a and spontaneous, bringing with it a lot of
energy music. Artists took part in numerous festivals and
concerts both in Europe and the United States. They won the
first World Music Awards 2004 and 2005 USA Song Writing
Competition. Trio Balkan Strings is a family (father and
sons) Guitar team composed of Zoran Starcevic, Nikola and
Zeljko Starcevic Starcevic. This is in terms of stylistic
one of the most original teams in the "guitar world."
Repertoire group are only compositions of its own members,
inspired by the rich in his variety of Balkan folklore.
Commonly known that the Balkans are multi-region, where the
mixing of different cultures, including cultures music lasts
for centuries. The creation Trio Balkan Strings This is the
multicolor clearly felt. Their compositions combine elements
of folklore among others. Serbian, Gypsy, Bulgarian,
Moldovan, Macedonian, this musical mosaic enrich the
oriental influences. Sami artists assimilated, as e picture,
which is for them the source of inspiration Balkan folk
music, to manually tkanego carpet, wykwintnych full of
ornaments and subtle shades, which as a whole zniewala its
beauty and riches, but only become higher and considered
view allows niejszy see extract and recognize the richness
of its various themes. Trio Balkan Strings is unparalleled
guide to the music world, guide, however, not passive, but
active and full of invention, which own language not only
describes but these. interprets, and even create your own,
completely new story. Such a guide would lose job in a
museum, but on the stage is a real treasure. |
Cycle: Guitar 2008 -
Wroclaw
Guitar Festival Date: 19:00 Sunday 30 November 2008
TRIO BALKAN STRINGS
& FRIENDS |
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Vater Zoran Starcevic und seine beiden Söhne
Nikola und Zeljko aus der Bundesrepublik Jugoslawien lassen ihre flotten
Finger über die Griffbretter ihrer akustischen Gitarren flitzen. Alle Stücke
sind Kompositionen Zorans, ein Mix aus serbischer, rumänischer und
bulgarischer Folklore, Zigeunermusik und orientalischen Einwürfen.
Ein Stück mit dem Titel "Seven Grains" ist natürlich im 7/8-Takt, "Eleven
Pearls", wie sollte es auch anders sein, in 11/8. Einige Verzierungen und
Techniken wurden dabei von Spieltechniken von Instrumenten so verschieden
wie Geige und Saxophon geraubt und sind möglicherweise so noch nie
vorher auf Gitarren erklungen. |
Playasound; deutscher
Vertrieb:
Sunny Moon
Walkin'
T:-)M Ausgabe 28
04/2004 FolkWorld CD-Besprechungen |
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Zoran Starcevic et ses deux fils réalisent une fusion des musiques
traditionnelles des pays balkans (Serbie, Bulgarie, Macédoine,
Roumanie...) sous une forme jaz e soit vendue par centaines de milliers de CDs dans sa
Yougoslavie natale. |
CD Guitare des Balkans -
PlayaSound-France |
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TRIO BALKAN STRINGS
This Belgrade-based family act operates under an ambitious code of
simplicity: Zoran Starcevic and his two sons, Nikola and
Zeljko, seem to have made it their project to condense the
entire Balkan musical tradition into a repertoire that can
be played by six hands on three guitars. All classically
trained and all exuding an audible affection for rock,
blues, pop, and jazz--particularly the hot jazz of Reinhardt
and Grappelli--the Starcevic boys take a microcosmic
approach to their original compositions as well. Each track
on their two self-released albums (the latest is Water-Mill)
is airtight, with a lush and dazzling orchestral quality
that belies its instrumentation. If you think you hear a
scrap of Greekish melody or a Transylvanianesque trill,
you're probably right--countless such ideas get developed
like patterns in a silk weave, followed to a satisfying
resolution, and then left behind for the next odd rhythm or
jaunty whirl. |
By
Monica Kendrick
CHICAGO READER 2007 |
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review in
Rumanian |
Interview in Rumanian |
Ethno Jazz Festival
2008 Chisinau-Moldova |
Wroclaw Guitar Festival
2008 |
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Interview
in Polish with Zoran Starcevic-Trio Balkan Strings
made by Tomasz M. Jośko on
World Top Up and
Wiadomości24.pl |
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