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If you ask the members of Balkan Beat Box to describe their sound you'll get a different answer from each individual; you'll also likely get a different answer from the individuals if you ask them the same question multiple times. This is partially because BBB's contemporary cross-cultural musical polyglotism cavorts with many styles, but this is also because the band doesn't want to be tied to any one answer. They revel in the fact that their influences are worldwide and given equal value, but this is no mere mash-up, this is music made by citizens of a world culture.
Hailing from New York and Tel Aviv, Balkan Beat Box (aka BBB) blend Balkan brass, earth shattering bass, hip-hop and dub electronics to exhilarating effect. Their live shows are explosive affairs, with singer Tomer Yosef delivering his sometimes politicised lyrics with passionate performances always sending audiences into a frenzy. The result is an intoxicating and intense sonic assault which takes no prisoners and makes no apologies for its outspokenness.
Ori Kaplan, Tamir Muskat, and Tomer Yosef burst out of New York City's underground in the mid- 2000s introducing the world to their distinctive brand of music and setting BBB's reputation as a formidable live act. They became a favorite of audiences and critics alike the world over.
Over four albums the band have constantly explored new musical territory. They've visited the Balkan and Mediterranean diaspora of their namesake in 2005's Balkan Beat Box, 2007's Nu Med, the Far East with Blue Eyed Black Boy 2010, and produced an exhilarating hybrid of electronic raga on Give 2012. The Independent has called them "deftly programmed global fusion" adding "a band I can't wait to see live." Give was widely celebrated in the press, with Songlines saying: 'BBB are as outspoken and uncompromising as ever. It's hard to resist the album's intensity'.
Recently, the band had an intense period of collaborating with other artists such as the Yemenite urban-electro-folk group A-Wa who are currently hitting the festival circuit, the turnt up rock group Loco Hot, and writing with producers and songwriters around the world. And their horns have been making marks in samples in the pop music world. 2016 sees Balkan Beat Box evolving once again and releasing new music with their first video out on February 25, 2016 for the song I Trusted U. It promises to be their best year yet!
Links:
Balkan Beat Box - Official Website
Twitter - Balkan Beat Box
Facebook - Balkan Beat Box
YouTube - Balkan Beat Box
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