Balkan Beat Box

Balkan Beat Box

Background information
Origin	New York, United States; Tel Aviv, Israel
Genres	Gypsy punk, electronica, funk, world music
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Crammed Discs, Nat Geo Music, JDub Records
Associated acts	Gogol Bordello, Firewater
Website	www.balkanbeatbox.com

Members	Ori Kaplan Tamir Muskat Tomer Yosef

Balkan Beat Box (BBB) is an American-Israeli musical group founded by Tamir Muskat, Ori Kaplan of Firewater and Big Lazy, and now including Tomer Yosef as a core member. The group plays Mediterranean-influenced music that incorporates Balkan and Middle eastern traditions, Gypsy punk, and electronica. As a musical unit they often collaborate with a host of other musicians both in the studio as well as live.

1 History
2 Band members
3 Discography
4 References
5 External links

History [edit]

Co-founders Ori Kaplan and Tamir Muskat both met in Brooklyn, New York City, New York as teenagers. Both had grown up with music; Kaplan had been a klezmer clarinetist, while Muskat was a drummer in a punk rock band.^{[citation needed]} They began playing together but had trouble finding a style that they felt represented themselves, so they decided to create one. They established their own unique sound by fusing the musical styles of Mediterranean and Balkan traditions with hip hop and dancehall beats.^[1]

Balkan Beat Box’s goal was to take ancient and traditional musical traditions and fuse those with hip hop in order to create a new mix of musical styles out of the traditional world music context that would appeal to listeners in a club or a dancehall.^[2] As children, they had felt that traditional music was outdated and felt as though it did not adequately reflect their experiences of the growing world culture, so hoped to bring new relevance to these old traditional musical forms.^[3] They cite Boban Marković, Rachid Taha, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Manu Chao, and Charlie Parker amongst their musical influences.^{[citation needed]} The group was also heavily influenced by Jamaican dub. They also hoped to encourage and foster peace between citizens around the world by combining traditional music from various areas in the world, hoping that by doing this they can create peace, and believe in the elimination of political borders.^{[citation needed]}

Balkan Beat Box’s self-titled first album (released in 2005) and their 2007 follow-up album Nu Med both received global acclaim.^{[citation needed]} While their first album focused more on Mediterranean sounds, their new album included Arabic and Spanish influences. The song "Bulgarian Chicks" from their first album became popular in clubs and dancehalls by 2008.^[4]

As of December 2006, Tomer Yosef was considered a core member of the group and is now represented this way in the Balkan Beat Box logo and press photos.

Band members [edit]

Balkan Beat Box in concert

Official members

Tomer Yosef - lead vocals, percussion, samples
Ori Kaplan - saxophone
Tamir Muskat - drums, percussion, programming

Live members

Itamar Ziegler - guitar, bass guitar
Ben Hendler - bass guitar
Uri Kinrot - guitar, saxophone
Jeremiah Lockwood - guitar, backing vocals
Ron Bunker - guitar
Peter Hess - saxophone
Eyal Talmudi - saxophone
Dana Leong - trumpet, trombone

Discography [edit]

Balkan Beat Box (2005) - released on JDub Records
Nu Med (2007) - released on Crammed Discs, JDub Records
Nu Made (Remixes) (2008) - released on Crammed Discs
Blue Eyed Black Boy (2010) - released on Nat Geo Music and Crammed Discs
Give (2012) - released on Nat Geo Music and Crammed Discs

References [edit]

^ Host, Vivian. "The New World: Raw Earth". Retrieved 2008-04-13.
^ Porter, Christopher. "Zion Lions: Balkan Beat Box". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
^ Nathan-Kazis, Josh. "The Balkan Beat Box". Retrieved 2008-04-15. ^{[dead link]}
^ Cartwright, Garth. "Balkan Beat Box". Archived from the original on 15 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-15.