The stage is small at the Kaffee Burger club in the centre of Berlin.
A band dressed in punky, predominantly red outfits, is playing a
Balkan-sounding variation on the Jewish hora, a traditional circle
dance. The crowded dancefloor is a formation of German, Russian, Jewish,
Spanish concert-going circles. They embrace in exhilaration, dancing
faster and faster, creating an ecstatic mixture of unadulterated joy.
Rotfront, the resident Berliner band who make Emir Kusturica’s No Smoking Orchestra look like a tired stereotype, was founded in 2003 by the Ukrainian-Jewish Yuriy Gurzhy and Hungarian Simon Wahorn.
Describing the German-Russian-English-Hungarian mix of Kleyzmer,
Balkan, punk, reggae, hip hop and electro they play is a challenging
task indeed. No wonder they felt their sound required a whole new term,
hence: Emigrantski Raggamuffin. ‘I hate the word ‘crossover’, it’s so overused,’ says Yuriy, whom I meet for dinner in Cologne a few hours before he is due to DJ
for an international party. ‘We basically juggle with elements of
musics of different nations, with different musical styles, with certain
cultural layers. The most important thing is that it works. It’s like a
cocktail: you can mix something no-one has ever mixed before, but if it
doesn’t taste good no-one will drink it. Perhaps the initial reaction
would be ‘Wow, that’s interesting’, but it won’t last. Really, it’s all
just pop music.’
On top of playing guitar for Rotfront, Yuriy is the second half of the famous Russendisko events (which he co-created with Russian author Wladimir Kaminer), and a successful DJ
in his own right. ‘Achtung! The party tonight is Russian-rock-free,’ he
warns me jokingly, making it clear that the Russendisko (‘Russian
disco’) line of Russian/Ukrainian-speaking underground/ criminal/pop
folk remains the same even when it leaves its usual residence at
Torstraße 60, Berlin.
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| Russendisko compilation UKRAINE do AMERIKA |
The small traditional restaurant in the centre of
Cologne is a little piece of German countryside across from a shopping
mall, whose neon lights can be seen through the large glass windows.
Wood panelling, large wooden tables and long benches are decorated with
red and white chequered pillows and faded pictures in dark wooden frames.
In the background Germany’s pride and joy, Lena, is singing the 2010 eurovision song contest-winning hit Satellite. Yuriy orders the meal of the day, pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce, and a cup of green tea. It’s not quite the vodka-garlic combination
he celebrates in one of Rotfront’s biggest live hits. ‘Not drinking?’ I
ask, ignoring my own choice of a coke light. Yuriy retorts with a
popular Russian joke. ‘Little Vovochka comes to his parents and says
‘Mom, Dad, can you imagine? Lenochka doesn’t drink and doesn’t smoke!’
‘Really, Lenochka?’, the parents ask the ten-year-old girl. ‘You don’t
drink and don’t smoke? Why?’ ‘I GOT SICK OF IT!’’ he finishes off, imitating a deep hoarse voice and laughing.
Yuriy followed his parents from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s
second largest city, to Berlin fifteen years ago. ‘They came up with the
decision. I just came with them, like on a big adventure. Missing a
chance to go to Germany would have been stupid. In my heart I decided
that if I didn’t like it I’d come back – those were not after all, the
sixties, when leaving meant burning all bridges.’ Evidently, he liked it
enough to stay. Visiting Kharkiv on a regular basis, Yuriy has made
Berlin his home, making an unexpected career in music. Aside from
Rotfront, Russendisko and general DJ gigs,
Yuriy is part of a long line of various musical projects. The most
recent of those is Mama Diaspora, along with Serbian Igor Sakach
(Ingvo), Ukrainian Ivan Moskalenko (DerBastler) and Moldavian Eugeniu
Didic (former member of Zdob şi Zdub). The more electronically-inclined
Mama Diaspora, established at a festival in Belarus in 2009, is just
recent adding to a myriad of bands showcasing endless variations on the
Balkan sound. It suffices to mention the New-York based Balkan Beat Box –
born, of all places, in Israel - to give a shining example of the
musical invasion of the new millennia – the Balkan invasion.
Nor is Berlin falling behind. The city which prides
itself on being the world’s electro capital is now bringing a different
style to the front. With the Balkantronika wandering party line, DJ
Robert Soko’s regular BalkanBeats night at club Lido in Kreuzberg, and
live concerts by various bands, it is safe to say that the genre is in
Berlin to stay. During Music Week in September 2010, Berlin announced
its goal is mixing different forms of music, so it is indeed a small
wonder that for Rotfront playing at Kaffee Burger feel like home. By
nine o’clock Yuriy and I are the only two customers left sitting in the
tiny restaurant. On the way to the S-Bahn station he scouts the people
around us. ‘You know Valenki are in style now?’ he says, referring to
this winter’s popular trend of UGGs and their likes, which resemble the
traditional Russian felt boots. ‘Hipsters in Valenki,’ he laughs.
Café Babel, 18.02.2011
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