Looking for an excuse to get away to Lviv for a weekend? Here is a perfect one: the "Stare Misto" (Old City) Lviv rock festival taking place on May 22.
The lineup includes these headliners: Goran Bregovic with his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra, Okean Elzy, IAMX, The Dreadnoughts, The Urban Voodoo Machine and DJ Scratchy.
This fourth edition of “Stare Misto” lasts for one evening and features only six bands, but it already has a following and boasts great headliners. Last year’s main attraction was Gogol Bordello, which, grouped with Russians Splin and Ukrainian rock icons VV, provided great entertainment. The Hr 40 entrance fee is also attractive, compared to Kyiv’s usual rates of several hundred hryvnias.
Of this year’s acts, Bregovic is one of the best-known musicians and composers in the Balkans. His music is based on classical European melodies and Balkan rhythms. Born in Sarajevo, Bregovic played folk music in taverns to make a living before he was invited to play bass guitar in Kodeksi, a band influenced by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. After the band broke up, Bregovic started another one, Bijelo Dugme (White Button), with former band member Zoran Redzic. With Bregovic composing most of its music, the band was among the most popular acts in Yugoslavia until White Button broke up in 1989. That’s also when Bregovic started writing film music.
Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and Funeral Orchestra to headline ‘Stare Misto.’ (Stephanie Berger, www.pomegranatearts.com)
After hir score for Kusturica’s “Time of Gypsies” proved a success, the Bregovic and Kusturica continued collaborating on “Arizona Dream,” in which Bregovic’s music was performed by American punk legend Iggy Pop. He then wrote music for Patrice Chereau’s “Queen Margot,” which won two awards at Cannes in 1994. The next year’s Cannes Golden Palm winner was “Underground” – likewise supplied with a score by Bregovic. Sasha Baron Cohen’s scandalous comedy “Borat” (2006) features many samples of Bregovic’s music.
In 1997, Bregovic recorded an album with Turkish singer Sezen Aksu and continued making recordings with musicians of different countries, composing the music, while his collaborators provided lyrics. Since 1998, Bregovic has been performing in concerts all around the world with his Weddings and Funerals Orchestra. It consists of 10 people in its small lineup, and up to 40 in its biggest, though numbers can vary.
The band is made up of brass band, bagpipes, a string ensemble, traditional Bulgarian and Roma singers, and, on special occasions also features an all-male choir from Belgrade and local performers from the country the band is playing in.
The headliner closing the festival is Okean Elzy, the only Ukrainian band in the Stare Misto lineup. Now touring in support of their latest album “Dolce Vita,” Okean Elzy members are no longer the hit-makers they once were. However, they remain one of the few Ukrainian bands enjoyed by expatriates for their Ukrainian lyrics and melodies in modern-rock packaging. Okean’s two most recent albums, “Dolce Vita” and “Mira,” fail to impress, so hopefully at Stare Misto the band will fall back on classical hits such as “Bez Boyu,” “Vyshche Neba,” “Dlya Tebe” and “Tam De Nas Nema.”
IAMX is the project of British musician Chris Corner, a founding member of Sneaker Pimps band. He lives in Berlin where he set up a studio to work on music and visuals. The IAMX debut album, “Kiss+Swallow” (2004), consisted of dark, erotic and 1980s-influenced electro. Many of its tracks were originally recorded for the unreleased Sneaker Pimps’ album. The second record, “The Alternative,” came out in 2006 and was generally viewed as an underground classic of its genre.
IAMX also recorded a live album during a concert in Warsaw, while the third studio album, “Kingdom of Welcome Addiction,” released in 2009, presented a more emotional sound. While all the albums were performed, produced and mastered by Corner, the live lineup of IAMX includes several musicians and vocalists.
The Urban Voodoo Machine is a band started in London in 2003 by Norwegian-born Paul-Ronney Angel. During live shows, the band features from seven to 12 musicians playing guitars, drums, fiddle, trumpet, banjo, bass, gong, mandolin and accordion, as well as harmonicas, saxophone and even empty bottles.
Defining their music as “Bourbon Soaked Gypsy Blues Bop’n’Stroll,” also the name of their debut album, they have played headline shows across the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Europe and Scandinavia, making appearances at Glastonbury, Latitude, Electric Picnic and Edinburgh festivals, among others. The Urban Voodoo Machine’s songs range from ballads and tangos to gypsy stomps. They are spectacular stage performers reminiscent of Tom Waits and Nick Cave, as well as The Clash and John Lee Hooker all at once.
The Dreadnoughts are Canadians playing music similar to Gogol Bordello, mixing Celtic punk, violin and songs of Vancouver sailors. British DJ Scratchy has worked as a tour deejay with The Clash, Gogol Bordello, The Pogues and others. He calls his style “musical shamanism” and at Stare Misto will pay in between concerts and at the afterparty.
Stare Misto
Lviv, Ukraina Stadium, (032) 235-7788
May 22, 7 p.m. Tickets Hr 40 to Hr 250.
http://stare-misto.ua
Kyiv Post lifestyle editor Alexandra Matoshko can be reached at [email protected].
