"The Homeland of our Wanderings" - Szapora

• artist:Szapora
• featured artist:Mirella Hodzic, Tea Hodzic, Dave Kelbie, Paul Moyl
• release year:2005
• style(s):Balkan, Gypsy
• country:Bosnia and Herzegovina
• formats:CD (Compact Disc)
• record posted by:Lejazzetal
• label:lejazzetal
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'...we put the CD on, listening with half an
ear while we were doing something else.
Yet there were a couple of songs that
immediately caught our ear, such as the
moving Ne Kuni Me Majko, where Kelbie
with a remarkable rhythm on his guitar
delivers an impressive performance, while
the violinists play a languid melody on top.
Truly magnificent! A few numbers convinced
us to put on the CD again just to hear it with
more attention. Then some more jewels
came up. After a third and fourth hearing a
wonderful thing happened that happens
only with really great music - the music
became better and better, and continues to
grow over the days.
Only really great bands dare to play slow
tunes and pull it off. Such is the case with
this group. Lofty, melancholic, and yet at
times pure party music, in which the
melancholy is always present beneath the
surface. A world-class record of over 75
minutes...'
MOORS MAGAZINE Holland

'...Szapora, already known as one of the
best European bands performing music of
the Balkan peninsula, with a line-up hailing
from at least three countries, play to their
strengths on this, their third CD. The
recording sounds live in the studio, with
perhaps a tidying-up here and there, and it
retains the energy and warmth of a good
show.
New members, guitarist Mirza Halilovic and
accordionist Vanja Krawczyk, are very
useful additions to an already fine band,
who have a good deal of knowledge of and
dedication to their chosen music. Luke
Goss’s accordion and Oli Wilson-Dickson’s
violin are idiomatically fluent and not over
emotional, and the whole band backs up
singers Mirela and Tea Hodzic beautifully (
for instance on the lovely ‘Kazi, Kazi Libe
Stano’) and do a good job of negotiating the
sometimes tricky irregular rhythms of this
music.
For my taste there is too much Gypsy here,
ostensibly passionate but often a little
hollow at it’s heart. But there can be no
quarrel about the excitement in the music,
and the gentler songs – ‘Belo Lice Ljubam
Jas’ is an outstanding example – are very
effective, with a true emotional charge.
Szapora are at their best on stage, but this
CD captures the thrill of their live shows very
successfully, and not only will it work as
either a souvenir or a curtain-raiser, it’s also
a very attractive piece of work on it’s own
terms...'
KIM BURTON - Songlines