While London and its inhabitants do adequately represent and support nearly every style of music ever thought of, sober or inebriated (check out the London Air Accordion Society in Fitzrovia for example), some styles are less well represented than others. For example, indie has a strangehold on much of Shoreditch, while metal thrives both in Camden and Islington.

Thankfully, independent promoters are popping up across the city, one-by-one, and taking an under-appreciated style under their wing to spread its benefits through the mainstream. One such is Seb Merrick of Kazum, and his style of choice is Balkan music, both traditional and more contemporary. In September 2006, Merrick initiated London’s inaugural Balkan Fever Festival, an event which has grown to become one of the most successful Balkan nights in the city. Now, four years later, the initiative has mushroomed into frequent club nights, more festivals and a compilation CD, all spearheaded and managed by Merrick through his promotion arm in East London.

“Balkan Fever Festival started in 2006 as a sister act to the massive Balkan Fever festival in Vienna during Austria’s turn at being EU president at the time,” explains Merrick. “Then, progress was being made in relations with the western Balkans. As I was already promoting various Balkan music parties in London, I took on the project and in subsequent years developed it myself. From 2008 the local London scene (bands, parties, gigs) started to really develop and the 2010 festival was a celebration of the scene, involving various promoters and acts from abroad. As a result, we staged the biggest ever single Balkan themed party in London.”

This event, a regenerated Balkan Fever Festival, took place in May and has led to a spin-off event this month, one in celebration of a new compilation CD Merrick is launching, which will feature acts including Gypsy Hill and Deathray Trebuchay. “Earlier this year, I was approached by a producer friend who runs a new Turin-based record label called Green Queen Music to put together a compilation of UK bands who have been important in or influenced by the Balkan scene here in London,” says Merrick.

“In the last couple of years bands here have started making recordings (many unreleased) that can hold their own against the Balkan scene in Europe – but have a distinctly UK feel. The tracks are less strictly Balkan (we’re that much further away and never had much ex-Yugo vinyl knocking around here) and are maybe more edgy and less ‘produced’ than what is coming out in Europe, but still reflect a vibrant scene.” And this is what will be celebrated in Hackney. This compilation is the first of its kind, a sort of full circle approach to the past festivals and a celebration of the UK’s burgeoning Balkan music community. “When it comes to the Balkan band scene in London, we were less discriminating about style or geography, though not about quality,” continues Merrick.

“The CD is full of bands who picked up a bit of influence from say Eastern European gypsy or folk music, a bit of Bregovic here, a bit of Klezmer there, and have adapted it to their own vibe. And that’s a real tribute to the music. You can’t just pick up a guitar or trumpet and start playing in this kind of style with odd time signatures or complex ornaments. You really have to be a good musician to get your head round the music. But the music is all over the place, I feel, in the best possible ways. The thing is we don’t have any other word I can think of that could cover this genre in the same way as Latin, Blues or Reggae, so we don’t think people should get hung up on the terminology. Balkan, the word, is just a mountain range across Bulgaria; we hope the CD showcases a grander scope of what’s emerging right now.”

The CD will be celebrated with a few of the artists captured on the long player performing at the Underhill Festival in Wiltshire (see below). They will have a Balkanarama stage, featuring artists Alejandro & The Magic Tombolinos (pictured) the last weekend of July. Merrick feels this show, and the CD, are only the beginning. Balkan is moving closer and closer to the mainstream, and this celebration will highlight that. “There’s definitely a wider recognition of the influence of what is essentially folk music from East Europe, and people are enjoying it,” says Merrick. “Bands like Gogol Bordello and Beirut have shown how this influence can find its way into the mainstream. And like all broad categories once you have opened the door you can decide how far to explore, whether to stay with your Gypsy Punks and Balkan Beats DJs or to check out bands like Fanfare Ciocarlia, who are the Romanians (and inspired A Hawk And A Hacksaw as well as Alejandro Toledo). The great thing is that we do now have our local bands who are giving us their own take on things, and it’s a pleasure celebrating that.”


The Underhill Festival takes place between 30 and 31 July @ Millbrook Lane, East Knoyle, Wiltshire

For more information go to: http://www.underhillfestival.co.uk/home/find.html