Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra - Time Of The Gypsies flac album

There is something quite strange in the cultural syncretism from the Balkans, the mystery that has always puzzled, repulsed or scared many western europeans since perhaps the middle ages. The culture from these vast lands is as rich as their counterpart and link them both in more than one thing, religious, but above all profane. Even though since the WW2 this region has been divided by racialisms and genocidal uproars, they all also share a common cultural heritage, the same one i am alluding and that is quite mysterious and hard to understand, the miscegenation between slavs, europeans and ottomans along with the clash from muslim and christianism has created this strangeness that is quite unique and also extremely borderline. Gypsies, more than any other minority in that region represent an ever important aspect in the cultural landscape from the Balkans, that odd and strange people from everywhere and nowhere, with their own myths, their syncretic cult of christianism and paganism, their wilderness. Emir Kusturica along with Goran Bregoric has made a great work representing this world so full of traditions and cultural heritage and showing us their legacy, a vivid contrast to our own civilization which in return becomes more liquid by the day, liquid in the sense that nothing is stable or profound any more in our own culture, our values and memories eroded and enfeebled, everything engulfed by alienation, propaganda and consumerism. For granted, Balkan people have a past and this past may be frightening for some, especially for christians. The gypsies to this day continue to be the sterotype of the evil, the conman and the swindler along with some "evil" pagan roots. their fame always precedes our vocation to understand. Yet with this movie and soundtrack we approach to this issue beyond the preconceptions and see a world so rich and vast and authentic in where people reside with strong identity and values behind the stereotypical farse we are accustumed to perceive in them.There is something so solemn, deep and pure in this music. Listening the amazing ritual song Hederlezi especially (A ritual extended in the Balkans during St Georges day, typical pagan syncretism for the spring) made me feel this has a strong spiritual content that we could only link with liturgical music, this is clearly a sacred hymn (some even dare to say this should be the hymn from the Balkans, some furiously disagree as they link this entirely with the gypsies and thus with their own misconceptions) but Goran Bregovic truly captured something here, something touching, it really shakes your soul in a very deep way. This song is the centre from this soundtrack and perhaps the most memorable scene from that movie and it quites deserve it. The sweet melancholy from the childlike female voice contrasts strongly with the somber low tones from trombones and trumpets, the rythm reminds of a christian like procession march (typical from the Easter celebrations to the virgin) and the profoundity as result just touches the listener till the point of a heartly grace. Just watch the movie and focus on the particular scene i am alluding and you will see this is truly special that both Kusturica and Bregoric played in perfect consonance with the syncretic mystery that lies in here.Most of the soundtrack plays with a very festive tone, except for the aforementioned track, but maintains a very lively and vitalistic direction, a particular kind of music that sounds familiar yet strange, combining part of punk, folklore, and even religious accents, once again displaying the syncretic quality that defines the mystery that is the Balkan region. Such a beauty.