Friday Night Music! – Back to the Future, Part I.

In my first post I started in a natural place, my rock and roll roots. I’d like to jump ahead 55 years to my two newest favorite bands. !Deladap has been on a quest since its beginnings in 2004 to mix roots Roma music and the contemporary electronic dance/club sound. They are ever evolving and the band had had many identities over its relatively short lifespan. The members range for a variety of central and eastern European countries. They are based in Vienna. Most of their songs are presented in Slovak, a language that seems to be meant to be sung. However, I have selected one of their few English ventures, Crazy Swing. Right from the outset you can detect the Roma influence wrapping around the American swing intention. The song was performed before a group of judges on a small stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 for the Austrian nomination. Ultimately it was disqualified when it was found to have been published in advance of the contest date parameters.

Speaking of swing, the rage in many European cities for the past year and a half or so is the phenomena of electro-swing. As its proponents describe, it is a marriage of the best music of the first great depression with the best mixer technology of the second. This mix of swing and urban dance/trance enlivens the style so that today’s young audience can rock to live performances. Paris based, Django influenced Caravan Palace probably represents the best of a growing genre of fantastic musicians and performers of electro-swing. Hugely popular in Europe, they recently ventured to North America last year with stops in S.F and L.A.

Purists probably hate it. I love it. Let’s (Electro) Swing!