East Meets East

Goran Bregovic (Composer), Harry Kandel (Composer), Nigel / Bawol, Jerzy / Kukurba, Tomasz / Lato, T Kennedy (Composer), Traditional (Composer), Unspecified (Composer), Kroke (Performer), Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Natasha Atlas (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Kroke, Natasha Atlas
• Orchestra: Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra
• Composer: Goran Bregovic, Harry Kandel, Nigel / Bawol, Jerzy / Kukurba, Tomasz / Lato, T Kennedy, Traditional, Unspecified
• Audio CD (July 22, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00009KPH0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,667 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eden for ears and dancing feet, August 17, 2003

By 

Devi Kem (Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: East Meets East (Audio CD)

East meet Easts is a 14 pieces filled album that is overwhelming about 65 minutes at all.
Eastern Folkmusic meets an incredible strings section and sometimes vocals that I like and that I don't (!!!!) like.
Kroke, the incredible Trio from Krakow, Poland is working together with Kennedy in the whole Eeast European music history and they give their chosen music a modern touch with sometimes jazzy influences I like and a really cool picked in e-violin. The album is almost very danceable and that is quite lovely. I like those tunes.
1.) Ajde Jano ... is the first track it has a really danceable lovely rhythm. I remember that tune cuz I heard it as opening track at Krokes solo tour this year in February in Germany. I absolutely don't know the vocals. I dunno why. I think after listening to it for even more times I will got to love it. I see small kids dancing at bloomy fields when I am listening to that tunes.
2.) Lullaby for Kamila ... is a melancholy tune. I really love it. I love all tragical melancholy sounds. They make me smile and the simple *mmmh mmmmmh* backup vocals are breathtaking for me.
3.) T 4.2 (hint:Tea for two) is just cool ... I heard it for the first time at the Berlin Museumsinsel Gig last year in Berlin. ... And well I was dancing on my chair ... ... (the rough mix of that piece is at "Ten pieces to save the world" without Kennedys e-violin ---> he goes crazy ... *yummy*)
4.) Eden ... is a track that is on "Ten Pieces to save the world" by Kroke as well without Kennedys e-violin and that was my favourite one of their album. It is a good way straight to Eden. That is honey for ears ( ... with feet ) FOLKY ROCK'N'ROLL, Yeah!)
5.) Dafino ... mmmmh ... that is "stolen" at one Slawish wedding party ... maybe ... ... It sounds really lovely ... I see the happy people taking each other by their hands ...
6.) Jovano Jovanke ... that is music for taking a trip on a long lonesome bad road with a even more bad car and someone in the back is telling you stories of the region where you are right now. It can be that you are on the road with horses as well but it is definitely a traditional Roadmovie soundtrack ... ... or it is the last song at one very long party ... you know when the sun is almost coming again in the morning. Everyone seems to be tired but none will stop. Just lovely. And when the sun is up. The band at the party will find new energy and kicks all their energy in the last tunes.
7.) Ederlezi ... that is originally by Goran Bregovic ... I love this interpretation ...
8.) Kasimierz ... He is Jewish and he is telling us a story ... it isn't a sad story ... it is one with happy end ... it is maybe a story about a love ... .. who cares. It is lovely.
9.) One voice ... someone is telling a sad story ... definitely ... it is without happy end. That was my first impression. That's it. I love Kennedys violinpart.
10.) Tribute to Maria Tanase ... was a Romanian singer ... she was known as East European Edith Piaf. I got some tunes of her at one Vinyl LP. She is incredible.
... well and she is dead and these tunes are for her. A better tribute cannot exist.
11.) Time 4 Time ... that is a joke with time ... and with rhythm and with folky tunes. I really love it.
12.) Vino ... means Wine ... so it is clear it can be just a drunken song ... ... it shows me how my brain looks like in delirium. ... everything isn't that clear I want to see.
13.) Lost in Time ... is just and simply wonderful.
14.) Kukush ... is my favourite track ... that is Hardcore Party. I love those tracks I love those music. I know such similar tracks from my trips I have done already to Romania. And I want to dance of course. It is my favourite, definitely before Eden!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explosive E. Euro Gypsy, Balkan, Macedonian & Klezmer Music, August 12, 2003

By 

Erika Borsos "pepper flower" (Gulf Coast of FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: East Meets East (Audio CD)

Sublime, intriguing music ... the seductive & sultry voice of Natacha Atlas singing "Ajde Jano" grabbed my attention when I heard this CD for the first time. Add to this, the unique improvisations and "voice" of the violin played by Nigel Kennedy - this CD is dynamite. The whole CD is filled with traditional music, captivating, soulful, haunting, emotional melodies & tunes from the past. Updated & electrified, the musical phrases and harmonics are explored and improvised by the Kroke Band & Nigel Kennedy. They create feelings of ecstasy and joy in the listener. Nigel Kennedy and the Kroke Band are classically trained musicians who have *fully* awakened to the "village sound" with *all* the expansive possibilites for interpretaion and freedom that this implies. These musicians make the most of their classically trained precision and contrasting dsicovery of freedom - the harmonics & stylizations resemble that of Hungary, Romania, Moldavia, & even Transylvania, along with the occsaional mournful or ecsatatic klezmer. My other favorites besides, "Ajde Jano", are "T 4.2" which has melodies I find myself humming throughout the day after listening to the CD. "Eden", "Dafino", and "Ederlezi" are tunes I have heard before, played by this group they take on a whole new explosive dimension. Their rendition of the famous folk tune, "Jovano, Jovanke", from Macedonia, has me up on my feet and dancing each and every time I hear it ...

The trance inducing violin playing, the free-form klez and E. Euro gypsy style plus classical precision to control the listener's emotions is an unbeatable combination. These guys create spiralling musical pathways, taking the listener to the here-to-fore unexplored universe of traditional Balkan & East European village music which they redesign for modern ears ...
Erika Borsos (erikab93)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely mesmerizing!, August 12, 2003

By 

Sonja Knezevic-kong "smile at the rain" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: East Meets East (Audio CD)

As someone who was born into an ethnically diverse family and spent the first part of her life in the former Yugoslavia, it was mesmerizing for me to listen to this CD. I have heard melodies like "Ajde Jano," "Dafino," "Jovano, Jovanke," and "Ederlezi," throughout my childhood and hearing them again brings back so much emotion and so many memories. This is wonderful music and I never tire of hearing it performed in new arrangements and by new performers. Enjoy!