Balkan #3 mixtape by mnsr zér0
This 3rd compilation of selected balkan music is a sequence of full tracks, often edited, but deliberately only occasionally mixed in order to preserve the original sound of the songs, preparing you for the Balkan Sessions Festival on 7 December 2019.
The compilation series are therefore more meant as a preview of the music collection used in live mixes. Although not representing the atmosphere of party dj-sets, cutting and mixing tracks more agressively and pushing people into wildness, they still are great stuff to enjoy dancing in your living room - or providing some thrill whilst working.
More balkan mixtapes on this page!
binair01's resident dj mnsr zér0
Mnsr zér0 combines an expanded music collection from all quarters of our planet with traditional clubmix techniques. The sum of classical beatmatching and unconventional dancetunes results in a unique sound.
His sets are surprising blends of greasy balkan with a crazy gipsy wink, super tight electric cumbiabeats on eclectic afrolatinoriffs, hot Spanish nuevo flamenco melting on übercooled Scandinavian swinghip-hop, rumba Catalána versus African clubzouk, contagious ska infecting French jazz manouche, solid reggaetón devouring fragile tango, Arabian raps clashing with uptempo klezmer. His mixes always feature an exciting variety of rhythms and are a real relief for people addicted to dancing and searching for challenges beyond the simple beats of shallow radio hit music.
Partyzani Gentse Feesten ● playlist (Deezer)
The music we collect is carefully selected on its dance pedigree and complexity of influences and variety of rhythms. Dancing is the very core of our events. It is not wobbling on endless repeating beats. It’s not waiting till the dj drops a radio hit with a recognizable tune to suddenly go wild. It isn’t shining in front of a photographer’s lens with your whitest teeth either.
This playlist is dedicated to all the latest evolutions of contemporary, innovative and extremely catchy party music from the East, including balkan with a gipsy wink, Middle-Eastern rap, uptempo klezmer, dabke from the pulsing nightclubs of Beirut, electroswing with Scandinavian hiphopbeats or any other crazy kitsch Bollywoodbeat, preparing for the Partyzani dancefloor on 27 July. There's also a Spotify version and a Youtube version. Some mixtapes are shared on mixcloud.
What you should (not) see at Gentse Feesten 2019
With our own two Sonar tropical bass nights behind us and the balkan bass of Partyzani still to go, let’s look for some relaxations in between. Below is a list of bands you should see, and some more ample explications where needed. The band name is a link to music, the location links to the bands actual concert page on the Gentse Feesten website. The header of this article is a youtube link to a super handy playllist of all the bands below.
MON 22 JULY
Monday is Latin tradition day at Polé Polé, and in this exceptional case it might even get interesting. If you like milking out the Buena Vista cow and go wild on salchachachá rhythms: sure, go to headliner Afro Cuban All Stars, but the real heroes of tonight come from Iquitos, Peru: a bunch of old men actually created their very own kind of cumbia amazónica, and trust us on this one: it’s dangerously contagious. Los Wemblers deserve our first ‘must see’ mark ♛. So what were they thinking at Polé Polé? Yeah, let’s wake up at 7 and fall asleep at 9?
Another promising concert is Proyecto Secreto, already rather on the creative jazzyside of the skasound by itself, but we especially look forward to the contribution of Paola Marquez, Colombian singer and former front lady of what was about to be the nicest cumbia band in Belgium: Maguaré.
♛ 19:00 Los Wembler’s de Iquitos at Polé Polé ♛
20:30 Proyecto Secreto ft. Lien De Greef & Paola Marquez at Trefpuntfestival mainstage
21:00 Afro-Cuban All Stars at Polé Polé
TUES 23 JULY
If you’re a ‘balkan’ lover, there’s a pretty high chance you’ll grab this one and unique chance for getting some gipsyflair with balls at the second Gentse Feesten passage of Dubioza Kolektiv on the so-called (what's in a name-shame) 'balkan night' at Polé Polé. Unfortunately and absolutely to our big deception, this band is nothing more than a shallow stack of clichés on one deadly predictable repetitive hophophop beat without any variation – we’ve heard this same boring shit for about two decades now. It still works though, if you shut down your brain. If at least they’d bring along some really good musicians we'd almost be ready to forgive these guys, but alas, they’re not. So, not much to care about on Tuesday? Well, instead go watch some charming Gentish projects if you’re a real wereldburger. The most promising concert of tonight is Compro Oro. Not only because they’re already talented (jazz) musicians, but in the first place because of their remarkable guest. Murat Ertel from Baba Zula is the first (but not the last) Turkish icon on this stage.
16:30 De Gentse Karavaan at Trefpuntfestival mainstage
20:15 Compro Oro + Murat Ertel at Trefpuntfestival mainstage
WED 24 JULY
“My (lover) honey tongue, my (lover who has) gazelle eyes. My heart is seeking you, where are you?” The second Turkish icon on this stage is an even bigger one – although less known in Europe: Selda Bağcan. She receives our second ‘must see’ mark. Amadou & Mariam has let us massively down last years – they’ve become victims of their ‘Sabali’ success and only produce trivial music with all true African rhythms and valuable heritage drained out on the slaughter table of white festival approval and golden bucks. But hey, you can still go and enjoy some of their classics, since there’s still one advantage left here: with these kind of tour budgets, they can afford good musicians. Speaking of good musicians: we can also find them on our own territory. If you want to see Amadou & Mariam, make sure to come in time for Kosmo Sound, a wayward blend of jazzy dub and cosmic sax prodigy.
19:00 Kosmo Sound at Polé Polé
20:30 Amadou & Mariam at Trefpuntfestival mainstage
♛ 22:30 Selda Bağcan at Trefpuntfestival mainstage ♛
00:30 T.K. Russell at Trefpuntfestival mainstage
THURS 25 JULY
Two years ago we hesitated for one month about bringing Mokoomba from Zimbabwe to Gent. In the end we didn’t – we considered it a bit too early for this young band, and their music was just not innovative and thrilling enough. Their latest sound has matured in the meantime, so we’re glad to see tonight if we missed a golden scoop there in 2017. Are they really the self-proclaimed ‘future Afro sound’?
20:30 Anavantou! at Baudelohof
22:30 Azmari at Baudelohof
FR 26 JULY
Not much to experience for a Friday night. So just take your day off and go for a walk in Bourgoyen. Or give Orchestre National de Barbès a try, although we’re not so sure the already rich gnaoua rhythms really had to be extended with this potpourri of rock, reggae, jazz, funk and, well, practically anything. Who knows it does work live?
22:00 Orchestre National de Barbès at Trefpuntfestival mainstage
SAT 27 JULY
We will be very honest with you: Trefpunt goes indierock tonight so that’s out, but Polé Polé is giving you a hard choice between our own Partyzani balkan bass night and a possibly interesting Brussels based chicha project called Nikanor and the adventurous sounds of Orkesta Mendoza. Our suggestion: go watch Nikanor in a bar sometime ‘cause they’ll probably drown a bit on the large Polé stage, if you want to have a party, go Partyzani, if you want to see a concert between Vagabundos and our dj-set party, take a trip to Polé Polé and come back for some solid grooving afterwards because! We host the king of the Spanish Balkan scene: mister Gypsy Box himself deserves our third ‘must see’ mark.
18:00 Vagabundos at Partyzani balkan bass night
20:30 mnsr zér0 at Partyzani balkan bass night
21:00 Orkesta Mendoza at Polé Polé
♛ 22:00 Gypsy Box at Partyzani balkan bass night ♛
23:00 b2b dj-set party w/ Gypsy Box + mnsr zér0 at Partyzani balkan bass night
SUN 28 JULY
The final ‘must-see’ mark goes to Frente Cumbiero. This is actually one of the most interesting projects from South-America of the last decade. They’re part of (or even induced) the current wave of innovative and contemporary tropical music keeping this engine of constant music evolution rolling and thumping. One of the boiling scenes of these evolutions is Bogotá, Colombia, as it’s home to Sidestepper, Ondatrópica, Choc Quib Town, Bomba Estéreo, (our own staged) Ghetto Kumbé, etc. Frente Cumbiero might be the most ‘experimental’ of this exquisite list and thus not for everyone’s ears, but after a Sunday afternoon of only bird tchirping we’re sure you’ll be able to cope with some complex rhythms based on one of the greatest Colombian traditional rhythms: cumbia! Something else to see? Well, Amparanoia last year was an unforgivable dull concert but we’re ready to give her a second chance if she’s bringing some more inspiring musicians with her, and Magnifico could end up as a horrible plastic balkanpop honeydoll, a big laugh out, or a splendid Balkan party. We hope for the latter, because we really want the Balkan honours to be safe after the Dubioza puppets on Tuesday. Finally we can highly recommend Kolonel Djafaar with fundamental arguments, since they opened our Sonar XL in May 2018. A good way to end Gentse Feesten 2019.
21:00 Amparanoia at Polé Polé
23:30 Magnifico at Trefpuntfestival mainstage
♛ 01:30 Frente Cumbiero at Trefpuntfestival mainstage ♛
5:00 Kolonel Djafaar Trefpuntfestival mainstage