Willie Willie and the Gypsies

My girlfriends’ dad (Mark Orr) is an artist and gets to travel around the country staying with eccentric people who all seem to have the craziest taste in art and music. This time it was an outsider artist who makes so real crazy stuff, his name is Willie Willie, and apparently he has dope taste in music. He got a CD and brought it back and I asked to give it a listen, and oh boy was I impressed and very happy to find a gem like this. A CD full of obscure gypsy dance music with artist info and bios on each artist, RAAADDD!!! The first track is Jewish klezmer violin lead Roma music. It was then handed over to Shantel who put a real cool club kick to it, really fun track.

Sadagora Hot Dub (Shantel Remix) - Amsterdam Klezmer Band

My favorite part of this track is the sexy female vocals coupled with the dope accordion hitting every 16th beat. When the actual vocals drop it really pulls you in an you can imagine a small eastern European nightclub with a gypsy band getting trashed into the late hours of the night. I think that is why I love gypsy funk so much, perfect drinking and party music. I love the sheer amount of instruments used in this kind of music too, every time you listen through you pick up on another subtle little noise.

Although Eastern Europe is the hotbed for this type of music, some groups in New York have also been helping spread the popularity of Gypsy music here in the US. The most influential is Balkan Beat Box; all four members of were born in different eastern European or Middle Eastern countries giving them a very unique sound.

Sunday Arak - Balkan Beat Box

This track is meant for the club and I find it to be the perfect tempo to start up a night of dancing. The heavy groovtacular baseline with the spunky horn line and "Woo Woo" vocals give this slow tempo a lot of energy. The breakdowns in this track hit you with a nice mellowed out saxophone and fat lazy trombone that get your groove in a perfect easy sway.

Get the rest of the CD's music here and feel free to check out all of the other sample CD's they have released on the same label Putumayo Presents.