Catalogue: Gypsy and Balkan: "Boban i Marko" - Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar

Top 100 European Records 2003 of the World Music Charts Europe

Undoubtedly the greatest Gypsy Brass Band of the Balkans and probably beyond and to prove it they come festooned with awards. They've won so many at the most important brass band festival in the world, the Guca, that they don't bother to compete any more. And they have won hearts further afield with their contributions to films of Emir Kusturica. "Boban I Marko" celebrates the arrival in the ranks of bandleader Boban's son, Marko. Only 15 years old at the time of recording but already blasting forth a formidable reputation. Blow, Marko, Blow!

Press Quotes

"You want an 'Underground'-style party to oblivion? Riffs so fat they need a health warning? Slow, soulful numbers to make the hairs on your ams stand up? 'Boban I Marko' has got it all."
Songlines 02/2004

"The Boban Markovic Orkestar is undoubtedly the best Balkan gypsy brass band, famed for their contribution to the soundtrack of Emir Kusturica's "Underground". If they easily enrapture a live audience, they display equal ingenuity and exactitude when it comes to studio work."
Worldmusicnet 04/2004

"It's like being injected intravenously with a life-giving drug. Markovic's music might sound wild and improvised, but actually it's meticulously worked out and rehearsed."
Simon Broughton, Songlines

"Tracks on "Boban I Marko" range from frantic flashy brass blasts and rapid rhythm changes to calmer, more reflective pieces. The brass players even make their instruments cry as do the best klezmer musicians."
Sing Out! 06/2004

"Boban's boys sling some heady yet highly festive stuff - it's full of captivating minor-key Gypsy/Rom melodies (sometimes evoking klezmer, mariachi, and Middle Eastern folk and classical), abrupt changes that would give Frank Zappa or XTC the willies, knotty unison horn-harmonies, breathtaking trumpet playing (pun intended), joyously manic tempos, and big brass beats."
Primetime 08/2004