Asphalt Tango Records
| Asphalt Tango Records | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 2002 |
| Seat | Berlin |
| Branch | World music |
| Website | Official website |
Asphalt Tango Records is an independent label based in Berlin that specializes in the music of Roma from the Balkans as well as rock , psychedelic folk and electronica from Eastern Europe .
History of origin
Asphalt Tango Production was founded by Henry Ernst and Helmut Neumann in 1997. The men became friends in Leipzig in the 1980s , where both of them had different jobs (Ernst worked as a waiter and geriatric nurse, Neumann as an orthopedic shoemaker and night watchman). In 1989 Ernst and Neumann took part in the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany , they both moved to Berlin.
In 1996 Ernst traveled to the Moldova region in northeast Romania . During a stay in the small Roma village of Zece Prăjini , Ernst came into direct contact with the local, lived tradition of brass bands . The music and the artists impressed him so much that after his return to Germany he immediately set about booking his first tour.
Fanfare Ciocărlia's first tour and the founding of Asphalt Tango
Ernst managed to book twenty concerts in Germany and France for the musicians from Zece Prăjini, who now called themselves Fanfare Ciocărlia . The band's first tour took place in March / April 1997. The preparation and implementation involved a lot of work, so Ernst asked his friend Neumann for help. Initially, Asphalt Tango Production existed exclusively as a management and booking agency for Fanfare Ciocărlia.
The expansion of Asphalt Tango into an independent label and publisher
The first three albums by Fanfare Ciocărlia were all released by the Berlin label Piranha and achieved very good sales. Ernst and Neumann were therefore convinced that Asphalt Tango would also work as an independent label . In November 2002 Asphalt Tango Records' first release came on the market, the debut album Ma Maren Ma by the Bulgarian singer Jony Iliev (produced by Ernst and Neumann).
Asphalt Tango Records licensed the next two CD releases, on the one hand the album Can't make me! the Hungarian band Besh o droM and the album Waltz Rromano by the Serbian Roma band Earth Wheel Sky Band . In April 2004 the DVD Fanfare Ciocărlia - The Story of the Band was released, which includes a concert recording of the film Iag Bari - Brass on Fire by Ralf Marschalleck.
The international debut of the Polish accordion trio Motion Trio Pictures from the Street was released in May 2004, and one year later the label released the fourth album by Fanfare Ciocărlia "Gili Garabdi" on the global market.
Sounds From A Bygone Age CD series
In November 2005 Asphalt Tango Records released the first album of the historical CD series Sounds From A Bygone Age , which presents old recordings by Roma musicians from Ceausescu's time. Volume 1 of the series is dedicated to the violinist Ion Petre Stoican and other Lăutari (professional Roma musicians) from Bucharest and contains recordings from the 1970s. To date, the label has released five albums by Romica Puceanu , Dona Dumitru Siminică, Toni Iordache and Gabi Lunca in the “Sounds From A Bygone Age” series on the global music market.
Project “The Gypsy Queens & Kings”
In 2002 Fanfare Ciocărlia took part in the “Gypsy Caravan Tour” (captured in Jasmine Dellal's documentary “When the road bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan” from 2007) through North America. This project inspired Ernst and Neumann to initiate something similar for Europe. In 2007 they produced the album Queens & Kings by Fanfare Ciocărlia, on which well-known guest singers from various Roma communities in Europe can be heard.
The band presented their fifth album in December 2006 with a concert at Sala Palatului in Bucharest , Romania . Fanfare Ciocărlia were on stage with Esma Redžepova , Jony Iliev, Kaloomé, Mitsou and Florentina Sandu. With this line-up, the project now known as “The Gypsy Queens & Kings” toured through Europe and Australia .
In 2009 Asphalt Tango rebuilt the cast of the project The Gypsy Queens & Kings , the Romanian Mahala Rai Banda has since replaced the musicians of the Fanfare Ciocărlia. The album Ghetto Blasters by the Mahala Rai Banda (produced by Ernst and Neumann) was released by the label at the end of 2009 to mark the start of another European tour of the newly launched project The Gypsy Queens & Kings .
More Eastern European Gypsy, Psych-Folk, Electronica releases from Asphalt Tango Records
Asphalt Tango Records has worked with music from Eastern Europe since it was founded . In February 2006, the debut album Kal by the Serbian gypsy rock band Kal was released. In October 2007 the CD Voice Letter by the Russian band ErsatzMusika , which has lived in Berlin since the 1980s , was released . It features a mix of Russian folk and rock to poetic lyrics based on the conceptual art of band leader Irina Doubrovskaja. In October 2008, La Cherga, a band of ex-Yugoslavs from Graz , made their debut with Fake no more , an album influenced by Ska , Dub and Electronica . Bucharest Tango by Oana Catalina Chitu was published almost at the same time . The Romanian singer Chitu, who has lived in Berlin for some time, deals with the Romanian tango of the 1930s. In April 2009, the label released Kal's second album Radio Romanista and ErsatzMusika's CD Songs Unrecantable . In November 2009, Kottarashky's album Grandpa Hey! on the international market. On the first CD by the Bulgarian producer Nikola Gruev, you can hear electronic music interwoven with samples from well-known Roma musicians and field recordings from Bulgaria.
Book & CD “Princes Amongst Men: Journeys With Gypsy Musicians”
Princes Amongst Men: Journeys With Gypsy Musicians (English original version published in 2005 by Serpents Tail) is a book by the music journalist Garth Cartwright. The author tells of his travels through Serbia , Macedonia , Romania and Bulgaria and encounters with famous Roma musicians from these countries. In 2008 the German translation was published by Hannibal Verlag under the title “Balkan blues and brass bands - On the way with Roma musicians in Serbia, Macedonia, Romania and Bulgaria”. Asphalt Tango Records simultaneously released the compilation "Princes Amongst Men", on which most of the musicians featured in the book can be heard.
Asphalt Tango discography
| Type | Surname | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| CD-ATR 0102 | Jony Iliev "Ma maren ma" | November 15, 2002 |
| CD-ATR 0203 | Besh O Drom "Can't make me!" | January 24, 2003 |
| CD-ATR 0303 | Earth Wheel Sky Band "Waltz Rromano" | October 3, 2003 |
| DVD-ATR 0404 | Fanfare Ciocărlia "Gypsy brass legends - the Story of the band" | October 25, 2004 |
| CD-ATR 0504 | Motion Trio "Pictures from the street" | October 25, 2004 |
| CD-ATR 0605 | Fanfare Ciocărlia "Gili Garabdi" | March 7, 2005 |
| CD-ATR 0705 | Motion Trio "Play Station" | October 10, 2005 |
| CD-ATR 0805 | Sounds from a bygone age Vol.1 "Ion Petre Stoican" | November 1, 2005 |
| CD-ATR 0906 | Kal "Kal" | February 10, 2006 / debut |
| CD-ATR 1006 | Sounds from a bygone age Vol.2 " Romica Puceanu " | February 24, 2006 |
| CD-ATR 1106 | Sounds from a bygone age Vol.3 "Dona Dumitru Siminică" | September 29, 2006 |
| CD-ATR 1207 | Fanfare Ciocărlia "Queens and Kings" | February 23, 2007 |
| CD-ATR 1307 | Sounds from a bygone age Vol.4 "Toni Iordache" | April 27, 2007 |
| CD-ATR 1407 | Replacement music "Voice letter" | September 21, 2007 / debut |
| CD-ATR 1508 | Sounds from a bygone age Vol.5 "Gabi Lunca" | April 4, 2008 |
| CD-ATR 1608 | Various "Princes amongst men" | June 6, 2008 |
| CD-ATR 1708 | La Cherga "Fake no more" | September 26, 2008 / debut |
| CD-ATR 1808 | Oana Catalina Chitu "Bucharest Tango" | September 26, 2008 / debut |
| LP-ATR 1908 | La Cherga "Fake no more" | September 26, 2008 |
| CD-ATR 2009 | Kal "Radio Romanista" | January 30, 2009 |
| LP-ATR 2109 | Kal "Radio Romanista" | January 30th, 2009 / limited edition, vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 2209 | Replacement music "Songs Unrecantable" | April 10, 2009 |
| CD-ATR 2309 | Fanfare Ciocărlia "Live" | September 25, 2009 |
| LP-ATR 2409 | Fanfare Ciocărlia "Best of Gypsy Brass" | September 25, 2009 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 2509 | Mahala Rai Banda / "Ghetto Blasters" | October 16, 2009 |
| CD-ATR 2609 | Kottarashky / "Grandpa Hey!" | November 13, 2009 / debut |
| CD-ATR 2711 | La Cherga / "Revolve" | April 15, 2011 |
| LP-ATR 2811 | La Cherga / "Revolve" | April 15, 2011 / vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 2911 | Fanfare Ciocărlia vs. Boban & Marko Markovic Orchestra / "Balkan Brass Battle" | May 20, 2011 |
| LP-ATR 3011 | Fanfare Ciocărlia vs. Boban & Marko Markovic Orchestra / "Balkan Brass Battle" | May 20, 2011 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 3112 | Zdob și Zdub / "Basta Mafia!" | January 27, 2012 |
| LP-ATR 3212 | Zdob și Zdub / "Basta Mafia!" | January 27, 2012 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 3312 | Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs / "Demoni" | May 4, 2012 |
| LP-ATR 3412 | Kottarashky & The Rain Dogs / "Demoni" | May 4, 2012 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 3513 | Koby Israelite / "blues from elsewhere" | 15 March 2013 |
| LP-ATR 3613 | Koby Israelite / "blues from elsewhere" | March 15, 2013 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 3713 | Mahala Rai Banda / Various Artists / "Balkan Reggae remixed" | 22th of March 2013 |
| LP-ATR 3813 | Mahala Rai Banda / Various Artists / "Balkan Reggae remixed" | March 22, 2013 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 3913 | Oana Catalina Chitu / "Divine" | May 31, 2013 |
| LP-ATR 4013 | Oana Catalina Chitu / "Divine" | May 31, 2013 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 4113 | Stand Up, People / Various Artists | May 31, 2013 |
| LP-ATR 4213 | Stand Up, People / Various Artists | May 31, 2013 / Vinyl 180g |
| CD-ATR 4313 | Çiğdem Aslan / "Mortissa" | September 27, 2013 |
literature
- Deutschlandfunk / broadcast Sunday walk: the fanfare after. Through Romania with Roma music . By Franz Lerchenmüller, June 6, 2010.
- Asphalt Tango Records: Asphalt Tango Records . By Garth Cartwright on May 4, 2010.
- Folker: Music plays in the east . By Luigi Lauer, 3/2009.
- Zitty: The big AZ label . By Katrin Meinke, 1/2007.
- Melody & rhythm: Go East. A love story . By Sebastian Frindte, Lars-Peter Schmid and Karin Paul, 12/2006.