Sandanski's Chicken

Personnel: Matt Bacon (guitar); Megan Hamilton (violin); Oliver Baldwin (double bass).
Liner Note Author: Megan Hamilton.
Recording information: Eastcote Studios (11/2005).
Translators: Jeannine Blanpain; Ute Entwistle.
For their debut album, London-based klezmer buskers She'koyokh deliver a fair spread of klezmer offerings from around the Balkans and a bit beyond. The album starts out in the Ukraine, but moves quickly to a teetering, fast-paced Bulgarian dance and a Greek loop of sound. A Turkish dance brings out a new set of sonic possibilities for the band, another Bulgarian piece brings the group back to its faster dance style, and a haunting Ukrainian melody lets violinist Meg Hamilton show off her chops quite well. Heading to American shores, an old Dave Tarras number gives clarinetist Susi Evans a chance to break out with a singsong of sorts. A couple of loping pieces move from dance to pastoral, and a bit of improvisation (that morphs into "What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor") shows off the ensemble's real ability to put together a romp. The trombone is transformed into a trumpet in the playful "Europeyishe Kolomeyke," and the album ends on a pair of wedding songs, one old and one new (and vocalized). The group doesn't have the force and power of some of the front guard of klezmer (like Frank London's various associations), but is more forward-looking than most of the classic ensembles. A nice balance shows up between tradition and modernism -- though it never quite reaches the point that it seems to promise, it's a fine sound and a good collection from a fairly new band. ~ Adam Greenberg