So we’ve all been talking subway music and such. As I was walking to the L train, I heard something that sounded better than the usual homeless man playing a recorder. I discovered a band of about 7 people playing a wide variety of horn and wind instruments. Instead of being the usual ragtag street performers, this was a real band called Vevertise. When I say real band, I mean they have a CD, a record label, and a Myspace page. You can click here to check out said myspace page.
As to why they choose to play in subways, its part of their mission statement. According to their website they have the “desire to bring a feeling of musical celebration to the places commonly deemed unsutiable, to rekindle the spirit of street theater and spontaneous celebration.” Now I think that’s pretty gosh darn cool. This is also inline with their musical style. The music is inspired by the Gypsy music of the Balkans. The spirit of “spontaneous celebration” is inherent in Gypsy culture. It’s also great to have music of celebration played primarily in minor mode, which to the Western ear is primarily thought of as sad.
I personally love Balkan/Gypsy inspired music. Other bands that incorporate these sounds are Balkan Beat Box and Gogol Bordello.
Interesting to hear this kind of mid-20th century Eastern European brass music coming from Brooklyn. The Canadian Brass they are NOT, but there is a freshness and energy to their sound. I prefer a bit more polish (and I don’t mean Polish), but this is an interesting band to know about.
The gold standard for how a brass ensemble should sound: