The Kocani Orkestar is a brass band from Macedonia with a formidable rhythm section of four tuba players and a lone percussionist. Their songs are alternately led by male or female singers, a clarinet, several trumpets or a banjo that's played like an oud. On their new album, "Alone at My Wedding," the Orkestar focuses on Gypsy wedding tunes while incorporating influences from across Europe and the Middle East. At times one can also hear the Orkestar indulging their tastes for mariachi music and the thrilling excesses of Bollywood soundtracks as their peculiar blend careens around the globe.
According to the album's liner notes, Gypsy weddings require the services of a couple of different bands. Preceremony festivities involve a brass band that marches through the village picking up the wedding party and guests, and then leading them to the celebration itself. The guests delivered, a smaller ensemble performs while everyone eats, drinks and gets rowdy. On "Alone," the Kocani Orkestar performs the duties of both bands.
The music on this album, like weddings, has its melancholic moments. "Bayram Sekeri" is a slow and dignified number, the tubas blatting time while the trumpets and clarinet wend their way up and down a melody tinged with sadness. Such moments aside, though, most tunes on "Alone" are lively and at times work themselves into a feverish sweat. "Cudna Zena" lopes along like a basset hound, feeling both spunky and goofy at the same time. On "Stamena," not only do the percussion, banjo and clarinet tear through space, but the tubas -- playing now in a high register -- render their sound lithe and shiny. And at the end of "Romansko," someone deep in the mix shouts "Ya-hoo!" testifying that this band can whip people into a drunken, dancing frenzy.