Gogol Bordello (redux)

(I originally wrote this on 2/20/05, a few hours after having seen the band here in DC. But I never published it except to a listserv.)

Got back in the wee hours this morning from a DC show by Gogol Bordello, and all I can say is {pant, pant} WOW!

Most of the band are from eastern Europe -- the band leader & singer is Ukie, from Kyiv -- they use some traditional instruments like violin and accordion, and their style is a very modern E-Euro Slav & Gypsy-style folk /rock something ("Ukrainian punk cabaret" has been used to describe it)... but whatever it is, it really works.


In the crowd were a lot of the local immigrant eastern Europeans from DC (I knew or recognized some of them) but a lot of Americans too. It was very reminiscent in lots of ways of a Slavic folk dance party, but crank up the energy a few notches (if that's possible!), add moshing and some crowd-surfing, and again I say WOW. Almost two hours of jumping, slamming, and I am really tired. (Yeah, and I shouldn't be dancing like that during velykyj pist, but whatcha gonna do.)

This is maybe the first time I've seen where "our" [E. European / Slavic] traditional music is sortof reinvented and made seriously appealing to youth in general and not just Rusyn or Ukrainian or Slovak or Polish youth. (Actually, some of the native-born Slavs in the crowd seemed to lean more traditional at times -- doing small-group circle dances and even some hopak/polka-ish couple swinging. Very cool!) The lead singer actually sang in Russian or Ukrainian a few times (it was hard to tell, my ears were already ringing well before that).

I'm a little worse for wear, having gotten my glasses bent and my nose & mouth whacked a few times, but it was a blast, I'll never forget it, and I will totally go see them again.

The band's website: http://www.gogolbordello.com/
(Music downloads at http://gogolbordello.com/muzon/download.html )

Some other good info: http://www.rubricrecords.com/bands/gogolbordello.html

(Oh, and MAD PROPS to Vitya for turning me on to this great band!)