- country:USA
- region:New York City
- style(s):World, Contemporary
- label:Kapustnik Records
- type:Band, Composer/Songwriter, Small Ensemble, Quintet
- gender:male, female
- instrumentation:instrumental, vocal, string, unplugged
- artist posted by:Ljova
Line up
- Inna Barmash (vocals)
- Jordan Morton (bass)
- Lev 'Ljova' Zhurbin (viola, fadolin)
- Mathias Kunzli (percussion)
- Patrick Farrell (accordion)
Links
WOMEX 13 Official Showcase Selection
If genre-defying music was a genre, Ljova and the Kontraband would probably defy that too.
For if bringing together influences from classical, klezmer, tango, jazz and Gypsy music has been done before, nobody does it quite like this. Moscow-born, New York-based film composer, arranger and violist Lev 'Ljova' Zhurbin writes and plays music that evokes forgotten memories of things you think you've heard before but haven't, while dreaming of Bartok and Piazzolla trundling through an early-morning Hungarian mist in a three-legged race to the village dance at the end of time. High-quality musicianship this entertaining is a joy to experience and when singer Inna Barmash emotes the full weight of a klezmer ballad with her silkily crystalline voice all available heart-strings will be tugged. Here today, going somewhere else tomorrow. Catch them while you can.