Help me identify this amazing sound?

June 14, 2007 11:04 AM

I was in Amsterdam this Monday and Tuesday. Early tuesday morning I walked past a group of buskers who were playing music which changed my life. I've never heard anything like it. They looked to me to be maybe Turkish, somewhere eurasian. Two guys were keeping up a simple 2 - chord rhythm on accordions, whilst the lead guy was blasting his soul into a clarinet, playing a kind of desperate, breathy, technical jazz / polka kind of sound. It was awesome. Anyone seen these guys? Anyone know what kind of music I might have heard? Thanks in advance...
posted by sann1657 to media & arts (18 comments total)

Klesmer?
posted by PercussivePaul at 11:10 AM on June 14, 2007

er, make that klezmer. But I'm still just guessing.
posted by PercussivePaul at 11:11 AM on June 14, 2007

It sounds to me like it might have been Klezmer. And yeah, it really is awesome when it's done well.

I saw a Klezmer band in Boston one time whose star clarinetist was black. He was amazing.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 11:16 AM on June 14, 2007

I can't speak about the music you heard specifically, but an excellent documentary about Turkish and Eurasian music is Crossing the Bridge: The Sounds of Istanbul. That documentary changed a lot of my ideas about music.
posted by hazyjane at 11:35 AM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

Another vote for Klezmer.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 11:51 AM on June 14, 2007

Giora Feidman is well known for using a overblown distorted klarinet sound.
posted by jouke at 12:05 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

Most likely Klezmer music. Listen...
posted by JJ86 at 12:07 PM on June 14, 2007

I live in Amsterdam. Where these guys at the central station? If so, it's eastern european/ gipsy stuff, I think. I've seen them a couple of times there.
posted by dhoe at 12:07 PM on June 14, 2007

The effect of over-blowing is more pronounced in this song that is among his better known.
posted by jouke at 12:07 PM on June 14, 2007

Heh, try this link instead....
posted by JJ86 at 12:09 PM on June 14, 2007

Like dhoe, I'm thinking you mean the guys at the central station. If it's them I can ask them for you next time I see them, if you want.
posted by Skyanth at 12:46 PM on June 14, 2007

Yes, that's right, the guys at the central station - I'd love to know, if anyone was happy to pop by and ask them... I love metafilter!
posted by sann1657 at 2:36 PM on June 14, 2007

I think I know who you're talking about. I was in Amsterdam a few weeks ago and happened to shoot a little video of a band outside of Centraal station, which sounds exactly like what you're describing. And now I uploaded it to YouTube.

Is this them?
posted by jeffxl at 3:01 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

jeffxl: spooky amazing.
posted by cior at 6:33 PM on June 14, 2007

i don't know those guys, but check out a group called slavic soul party, which sound like what you describe.
posted by thinkingwoman at 6:37 PM on June 14, 2007

Awesome, jeffxl! And that was definitely Hava Nagila they broke into at the end, so yeah, klezmer.
posted by maudlin at 6:39 PM on June 14, 2007

Eastern European gypsy groove music. Not necessarily klezmer, though there are similar tonalities.

I'll second the Slavic Soul Party, and raise you Ivo Papasov.
posted by omnidrew at 7:15 PM on June 14, 2007

Incredible! Thanks jeffxl. When I saw them, it was even better - the guy on the clarinet was up out of his seat and really blasting away, just amazing. Thanks for all the fantastic replies.
posted by sann1657 at 5:11 AM on June 17, 2007