Of Traktors, Seagulls and Swimming Tubas
Out now via Irascible Records is “Möwe auf Tuba, schwimmend” (“Seagull on Top of a Tuba, Swimming“) from Bernese post-Balkan big band Traktorkestar. It’s the sixth full-length album from trumpeter Baltasar Streit’s twelve-piece orchestra and continues a fiery, fifteen-year history of a mind-meltingly surreal melange of styles ranging from traditional Balkan brass wig-outs to dub reggae, Ellingtonesque classic jazz and madly syncopated future-funk, all the way to Swiss German rapping. Once again, Streit has harnessed the talents of several guests to his big band, including the singers Eleni Gkiouloglou and Samora, and the feminist Swiss Jodel group Echo vom Eierstock.
Inspired by an extensive trek across ex-Yugoslavia, Streit dreamed up the concept of the Orkestar in 2009. However, the original idea of bringing together Swiss folk music with the oomph of Balkan oompah music was swiftly extended to include anything that happened to capture his unpredictable imagination. Recognition was swift. In 2009 the band was feted at the legendary Guca Festival in Serbia and is regularly invited back. A brilliant album recorded in 2019 with Swiss superstar Stefan Eicher, “Hüh!”, marked a new peak of creativity and popularity. “Möwe auf Tuba, schwimmend” raucously confirms Traktorkestra’s reputation as the best party band anywhere.
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