Customer Reviews

Tales & Songs From Wedding and Funerals

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
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Goran Bregovic and his unique ensemble will have you jumping out of your seat, smiling and dancing around the room, just as the audience did at Avery Fisher Hall this summer (2006) when Bregovic made his U.S. debut. "Tales And Songs From Weddings and Funerals" has a beat you'll want to keep playing.

I've only heard the soundtracks of Emir Kusturicas movies... but I got to say when I hear the song ''Aven Ivenda'' I feel like crying a river... it's just beatiful... how do they feel the songs... just beatiful.. amazing... all the cd is amazing.... great... unexplicable....

Goran Bregovic's score for the Kusturica film UNDERGROUND made for one of the best movie soundtracks of all time. I was thrilled by Bregovic's mix of brass ensemble, Roma and Shopski Bulgarian singers, and complex Balkan rhythms. Desiring to hear more of his work, I got his 2002 album TALES AND SONGS FROM WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS. Unfortunately, this proved a disappointment. Many of the songs feature the same elements as in UNDERGROUND. The opening track "Hop Hop Hop", for example, has some old geezer singing in Romani against a backdrop of brass. "Sex" and "Cocktail Molotov" are similar. But somehow all the passion is gone, and instead of being energizing these are just ho-hum at best and grating at worst. In between the vocals, we find instrumentals that rarely rise above the most vacuous of film music.

I'm now unsure if I want to seek out more of Goran Bregovic's music. Is it all like this besides that brilliant Kusturica soundtrack of 1995?

I used to like the music of Goran Bregovic, but I can't say that I really enjoyed this CD. The recording is OK, from the quality of sound point of view, but the music was definitely not interesting enough for me.
That doesn't mean somebody else would not enjoy it. If you love Goran you can give it a try...

This is the best work of Goran Bregovic in the last ten years. There are so many things to talk and explain about Balkan culture, but many cannot ever understand it, although they still live over there. Of course that is even harder for people who do not know and never lived there. One needs to know history of Balkan, its culture, tradition, folklores, people diversity, tradition etc. to be able to understand everything that Bregovic is trying to tell us. Bravo, Goran! This time you really did it. You've told us a story without ending, a story about love, life and death. You incorporated everything together: new sound and old sound, new songs and old songs, and that all is very beautiful. You proved once again what a great artist you are.

Buy this one if you prefer Music to music.