LA CHERGA

Line up

Irina Karamarkovic (vocals)
Kiril Kuzmanov (alto & sopran saxophone)
Muamer Gazibegovic (guitar)
Nevenko Bucan (programming, electronics)
Nino Skiljic (bass, programming, keyboards)
Trajce Velkov (trumpet, flugelhorn)

country:
Bosnia-Herzegovina
region:
Balkan
style(s):
Balkan Dub
label:
Asphalt Tango Records / Asphalt Tango Production
type:
Band, Composer/Songwriter
gender:
male, female
instrumentation:
instrumental, vocal
artist submitted by:
Asphalt Tango Records / Asphalt Tango Production

Ripe, bright and tasty as stuffed peppers, LA CHERGA create 21st Century electro-roots music with a pan-Balkanic consciousness. La Cherga consist of six musicians, all from former Yugoslavia. Lead singer IRINA KARAMARKOVIC is a refugee from the Kosovo conflict while NEVENKO BUCAN, a Croat electronics wizard with a taste for dubbed out Balkan grooves, also fled the fiery nationalism that destroyed Tito's Yugoslavia. Other members come from Bosnia and Macedonia. LA CHERGA came together in Germany and Austria as these musicians began to feel out a new musical identity, sharing what Irina calls a "Post Pessimist" philosophy, working on cultural exchange projects, differentiating between war profiteers and anti-war profiteers. LA CHERGA (named after a Balkan rag rug, appropriate for these musical recyclers) began weaving a sonic collage, inventing a Balkan internationalist music & manifesto: their sound drawing on the best of both East and West (skanking rhythms and sour horns/boiling dub versus Detroit techno) while Irina sings of freeing your mind from mental slavery. Bringing together Balkan brass, jazz vocals, Jamaican grooves and electronic beats might sound like a musical recipe for disaster but LA CHERGA rip up the rule book and demonstrate how to build musical and cultural bridges. Grab some friends, something good to drink and turn up the music: LA CHERGA create radical unity party music.