Kal in Belgrade
Kal, a young Romani (Gypsy) band whose self-titled album topped the European world music charts in April 2006, playing music from Bosnia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and their home base in Serbia. The 7-piece band features a “dynamic blend of traditional instruments, rock’n'roll in attitude, fuelled on dance beats and rooted in the Balkan blues. In their wit, imagination, ability to throw disparate sounds together and refusal to play by “folkloric” rules, Kal mark themselves as both part of Balkan Gypsy tradition and 21st Century Roma cultural activists.” (Garth Cartwright, author of Princes Among Men: Journeys with Gypsy Musicians)
The disparate sounds of Kal’s music describe a new, post-modern Roma identity that confronts romantic Gypsy clichés. Dragan Ristic, who founded the band with his brother Dushan, says, “We are not living in the past… I’m an urban person; belong to the modern world, [and] go to rave parties… so mixing traditional and urban elements is the best way of presenting our culture.”
Ristic’s family were beneficiaries of Yugoslavia’s President Tito’s desire to involve the Roma in Yugoslav, and their father encouraged Dragan and Dusan to take pride in their heritage while getting an education. Now, they are among the fortunate few able to cross between Rom (Gypsy) and Gadje (non-Rom) society. “No one believed in the ideal of Yugoslavia more than the Roma,” Ristic says. “We so wanted to belong. The resulting collapse of the nation and all the nationalism has made us focus on what we are; not Yugoslavs, but Roma. Ironic that it takes war for us to push ourselves forward, huh? I ran Roma theatre companies in Belgrade and Budapest, achieved a lot, but realized that music remains a more powerful vehicle to articulate our culture.”
In 2006 Kal published a CD for the world-music label, Asphalt Tango, and instantly became a musical band with a worldwide reputation. In 2006 alone Kal performed approximately 100 concerts around the world in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Iceland, the UK, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia and the USA. Kal performed at the famous World Music Expo, “WOMEX” and in April 2006 this band captured first position on the “World Music Charts Europe” (www.wmce.de) and third position on the 2006 annual “World Music Charts Europe”. Since the establishment of this music chart, no Romani band or any band from the Balkans has captured any of the first five positions.
The members of Kal are Dragan Ristic (guitar & lead vocal), Dragan Mitrovic (accordion), Jovica Maric (accordion & vocals), Djordje Belkic (violin), Aleksandar Cvejic (electric bass), Goran Savic (Drum) and Aleksandar Radojicic (percussion).
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