Boban & Marko Markovic Orchestra - Devla - Blown Away To Dancefloor Heaven

DISCOGRAPHY

"Devla - Blown Away To Dancefloor Heaven" - Boban & Marko Markovic Orchestra

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Clad in a suave white suit, it’s not impossible to imagine why urban legends credit gypsy trumpet king Boban Markovic with getting his homeland out of a recent jam: Markovic's spit-fire precision is rumored to have so seduced Bill Clinton that the saxophone playing president called off the further NATO bombing of Serbia.

True or not, one thing is clear: Markovic and his son and prized protégé Marko are the bomb in Balkan brass dance music, harnessing the absolute flexibility of Miles Davis and the cool funk of Herb Alpert in the ultimate expression of their Southern Serbian Rroma roots. Their latest album as the Boban and Marko Markovic Orkestar, Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven, flies effortlessly between echoes of the Ottoman Empire and down-and-dirty grooves that would make P-Funk’s jaws drop.

Boban's decades of experience are now fired by Marko's youthful vibe—an energy sustained by marathon practice sessions and a lifetime spent with dad on stage. As a kid, Marko put in ten hours a day at home with his horn, a practice that drove Boban so crazy he finally insisted his son stand and deliver with the Orkestar. The determined, then fourteen-year-old Marko played so perfectly, he soon became a fixture in the group.

But Marko has done more than merely play along. Together, Boban and Marko Markovic are expanding the idioms of gypsy brass, as Marko scats (“Devla”), raps in Serbian and English (“Benim Gecem”), and even flirts with flamenco (“Kazi Baba”). All while keeping true to tradition: the lightning-fast melodies, driving rhythms, and exuberant transcendence of the greatest Balkan brass bands.

Of course, to get to dancefloor heaven, you need some help from the Balkans’ gypsy saints, the singers who have made and remade the centuries-old traditions now wildly popular worldwide. There are veteran singers like Rade Krstic (“Udre Mila”) who Markovic lured out of his decades-long retirement, or Ljubiša Stojanovic (“Kum Boemcina”) dubbed “Louis” for his Balkan-flavored renditions of Louis Armstrong tunes and his love of jazz. There are rising stars like Bulgaria’s Sofi Marinova (“Soske Sul Na avea”) and hidden gems like Mustafa Šabanovic (“Maruska”), a little-known idol of the Serbian gypsy scene. Devla showcases the melismatic and dramatic vocal stylings of these singers, adored at home but little known in the West; the best the Balkans have to offer.
(text by Tristra Newyear/ Dmitri Vietze)

Worldwide digital release: 02 October 2009

CD release:
G/A/S: 16 October 2009
Croatia, Scandinavia: 23 October 2009
USA: 10 November 2009
UK: 16 November 2009

Quotes

"Vater und Sohn Boban und Marko Markovic, die beiden Speed-Trompeter aus Serbien, bringen das Balkanbeat-Feeling mit ihrem neuen Album auf den Punkt: 'Blown Away To Dancefloor Heaven' heisst ihr neues Album, und genau so klingt es: schnell, witzig, abgedreht."

sistyle-blog.ch, 14 December 09

"it sets to be a dancer floor winner, and probably will win a few other arenas actually"

-DJ Ritu, BBC London

"Fearsome twin-trumpet attack...the lead men are phenomenal musicians.."

David Hutcheon, Mojo, April 2010

"The 11-piece Markovic Orkestar zigzags between Turkish delights, ballistic Balkan rhythms and funk that would draw a smile from George Clinton's countenance, with the lead trumpets blowing like bumblebees on speed. For all the fun, frivolity and manic music an offer, there's a genius at work here [...]"

Tony Hillier, The Weekend Australian, March 13-14, 2010

"Der Claim des Albums - 'Blown Away To Danceflorr Heaven' - ist [...] durchaus kein leeres Versprechen. Boban i Marko Markovic dürfte mit diesem Album der Schritt in die allererste Riege der Weltmusikstars endgültig geglückt sein."

notes, Nov 09

"Some pieces on Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven are downright funky, with a powerful rhythm section composed of drums, bass and bass brass instrumentation. The album includes unexpected elements in a brass band such as, rapping, flamenco, darbuka percussion, and even a bagpipe solo [...]. With Devla: Blown Away to Dancefloor Heaven, the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar shows us an impressive range of brass talent and a joyous mix of Balkan and Gypsy sounds."

World Music Central, 11 November 09

"The mighty father-and-son-led band fuse south Serbian Gypsy brass genius with the kind of solo trumpet runs that astonished Miles Davis when he heard Boban play in Belgrade in the Eighties. The Markovic Orkestar are in a league of their own, and in this season of party music, it doesn't come much funkier and fitter"

Tim Cumming, The Independent (UK) 5 Dec 2009

"[Miss Platnum's] 'The Sweetest Hangover' (Four Music/ Sony) is loud, sassy and bold and might find friends even in R&B - it's contemporary, hot soul melted together with the Markovic's furious Balkan brass. Lady P also borrowed the acrobatic drummer Cold Steel from collaborator Peter Fox […]"

Jazzthing, 80, Sep 09

"Trumpeter Boban Markovic, the true giant of Balkan brass music, has a new album [...]. With son Marko having been the co-leader of the band for a few albums now, the Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar's 'Devla' continues in a long line of standard-setting for the Serbian clan [...]. [It] celebrates the richness of the history - and the modernity."

spinner.com, Oct 20th 09

"One of the best bands in the business is back"

Lemez Lovas, Songlines, March 2010

"Boban Markovic und sein Sohn Marko halten schon seit Jahren den Schlüssel zur Schatzkammer der osteuropäischen Blasmusik fest in Händen."

Society Magazin, Winter 09

"Die Markovics verordnen chronische Lebensfreude ohne Rezept. Hier gibt es keine Lounge-Cocktails sondern immer noch Sliwowitz bis der letzte arme Teufel im Saal tanzt."

-1beat.de, Jan 09

"if you've ever read an ecstatic account of a great polka band who proved too cutesy by half on record, this is what you hoped they'd sound like." Grade: A minus"

Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide, March 2010, http://music.msn.com

"Devla is a Top 10 for December and a Top 100 for the entire year 2009 in the World Music Charts Europe"

The Independent's (UK) Album of the Week (5 Dec 2009)

"This stuff is funky as hell"

Norman Darwen, R2 (Rock'n'Reel), Jan/Feb 2010

"Mit 8 von 14 Vokal-Tracks und frischen Arrangements markiert Devla einen Neubeginn in der Gypsy-Brass-Orchesterlaufbahn des Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestars."

concerto, 6/09

"Serbian brass legends Boban i Marko Markovic’s new album is a party in a box"

Lucid Culture, 13 January 2010

"If Beirut and A Hawk And A Hacksaw are the primary reference points for Balkan brass sounds for most Exclaim readers, this Orkestar brings something else again. They come correct like a proper Serbian brass band but amp up the energy considerably."

exclaim.ca, Oct 22nd 09

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