I just realized that I had written about planning to go to the Balkan Beat Box show in Toulouse but I never wrote how it was. I even had pictures in last Sunday’s photo dump from the show but no review. Well we have not gone to see much live music and we love to do this. So this past week with Saturday night and then Tuesday night feels like the Fête de la Musique all over again.

Balkan Beat Box were amazing. I knew what to expect because I had seen videos. They have a trumpet and sax player. A guitarist, bassist, drummer, and the singer presses some buttons on a funny box that makes even funnier noises, including the chicken noises. They were very energetic and had many calls for peace in the middle east, squarely placing the blame on each side evenly, more or less.

The night was warm and a bit humid so Prairie des Filtres was a bit umm smelly, hot day at the zoo, hot day at the meth lab, etc. Still no smell too strong or crowd too drunk could dampen my enthusiasm for seeing my new favorite band. They played a mix of songs from both Balkan Beat Box and Nu Meds. I was hoping they were going to have the female singers live but I guess that was all sampled.

The crowd sang along to all the songs. At the onset of each song, when the distinctive part began, the crowd went wild. They obviously knew each song. As much as I loved them they played a little long. I got a frantic call during the show and had to leave a bit early, after about an hour and a half. The only song I didn’t get to see that I was really wanting to see was Ramallah Tel Aviv. I’m sure it was great but I had to leave. If you like gypsy music, electronic music but with live instrumentation, world music but with an edge, experimental music, with political lyrics, Balkan Beat Box is for you.

I leave you with Ramallah Tel Aviv

Read these similar posts

• Balkan Beat Box live in Toulouse (4)
• Record Stores in Toulouse, yes records! (2)
• Joe Jackson live at the Bikini in Toulouse (2)
• La Fête de la musique, France (4)
• Au Coeur de la musique seule (0)
• Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (5)
• Le Halle au Grain (0)
• La Belle Helene, Opera du Capitole, Toulouse (0)

Balkan Beat Box will be performing live in Toulouse this evening. Today is La Fete de La Musique in France. That means all cities and towns are having music all day long and well into the night. Concerts in every public square and every musical style. I started listening to Balkan Beat Box last year and grew to love them. Rio Loco is a festival that began earlier in the week in Toulouse which features music from all over the Balkan States. It’s grand finale is tonight to coincide with La Fete de La Musique. Here is a link to Balkan Beat Box’s page on the Rio Loco site, there is a video and 3 song previews. I would describe them as Gypsy Electronica music, they sing in Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic, English, Spanish, Bulgarian, and some others I cannot recognize. I just happened to see that they were playing tonight in Toulouse. There are so many groups performing tonight that it is a miracle that I even saw it. I will have pictures tomorrow.

Read these similar posts

• Balkan Beat Box live in Toulouse (0)
• La Fête de la musique, France (4)
• Record Stores in Toulouse, yes records! (2)
• French Friday’s (3)
• English in Toulouse (2)
• July 14th, Bastille Day, in Toulouse (0)
• Tour de France videos from around Figeac (2)
• Tour de France, Figeac to Toulouse (3)
• Tour de France 2008 videos (4)
• Tour de France route in France and in Toulouse (1)