Customer Reviews

Gypsy Queens: Flammes Du Coeur

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Lots of good music on this collection, with magazine-style liner notes, a few photos of each diva, and 3-6 songs from each. Includes very rare recent recordings of the legendary Esma + Ansambl Teodosievski, from Macedonia. After 40 years on top, she can still rip your heart out with a single note, and her band is terrific.

This is an excellent overview of female gypgy singers today. The recordings are of high quality and the selection of songs and performers is great. It is a great first album for someone new to the genre and a good album for anyone who doesn't mind jumping from style to style on a single disc. Being a two CD set, the artists on the first disc are the same ones heard on the second disc.

This set is a companion to/continuation of Network's superb "Road of the Gypsies." The real finds here are Romanian singers Romica Puceanu and Gabi Lunca, along with Macedonian singer Dzansever, who fronts the Turkish Ensemble Jusni Express. Puceanu and Lunca have a singularly cool fire in their voices, and the subtletly of their interpretations is a welcome relief from Esma Redzepova's over-the-top singing. (Though she certainly has her moments.)

The ringer in this collection is La Macanita, and -- unfortunately -- the flamenco cuts don't blend well with the rest of this Balkan/Turkish collection. Still and all, it's a terrific buy.