Shukar Collective

Shukar Collective
  • country:Romania
  • label:Eastblok Music
  • type:Band
  • artist posted by:Eastblok Music

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What is Shukar Collective?


A Romanian act, an electro-dance band, a world-music idea, an audio-visual project, a mix of generations of musicians, a re-arranging of traditional Romanian and Roma sounds, or an eclectic mixture of spoons, wooden barrels, violins, accordions, bass, roots vocals, samples, sequencers, loops, scratches, turntables and beats.

The collective idea was born on a very hot summer’s day in 2003, when DJ Vasile and Dan Handrabur heard the original Roma songs of the Shukar original band. Immediately after, the musicians from these different generations met and decided to try and create a new project with a new and contemporary sound.

“We wanted to bring together Roma singers and a group of musicians and DJs to form and create a unique sound, the Shukar Collective sound.” explain Dan Handrabur. The final result was the debut album ‘Urban Gypsy’, released in the spring of 2005. The ‘Urban Gypsy’ album has been praised by the press from all over the world.

And now, to prove that “Urban Gipsy” was no flash in the pan, the Collective are back with their second effort. The album’s title ‘Rromatek’ is a pun, combining the two words that define this album: Roma and technology. Having moved on from the rewarding but often awkward integration phase, when two very different cultures were making music together for the first time, the rural Ursari singers, stemming from a long line of bear-taming street performers, and the urban musician - DJs have now gone to the roots of what bear tamers do best - making people dance.