a r t i s t : Lelo
t i t l e : Beyond Virtuosity
d a t e : 2000
l a b e l : dB Productions
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : May/2006
t r a c k s : 13
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 55,2 MB
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Accordion phenomenon Lelo Nika's second CD featuring ethnic
Romanian music with great temperament.
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"Lelo Nika is the greatest accordion player I have ever heard
- by far!!!!" (Joe Zawinul)
---
Lelo Nika is way beyond technical challenges and virtuosity.
He is one hundred percent expression. But it is not only
about: expressing feelings; sudden changes from sorrow into
joy, from dispair into victory, from melancholy into euphoria,
are also conveyed by other musicians from various genres. Lelo
Nika gives you something more. Through his instrument he gives
birth to stories that fire your imagination even if you should
happen to be quite unimaginative. Glimpses of the past, Balkan
places, people on the run, jealousy, happiness, misery and
celebration. Brilliantly colourful, pictures are succeeded by
sober haze, dream and reality become one.
Lelo Nikas background is as varied as his musical palette. He
is by origin a Serbian gypsy but has adopted Romanian
traditions through his roots in the polyethnic village of
Nikolinci, eighty kilometers northeast of Belgrade, where the
majority is Romanian. In 1970, the oneyearold Lelo moved with
his parents to Denmark and settled in Helsing°r. Today, he
lives in Malm≤, in the south of Sweden.
At the age of five Lelo Nika got his first accordion from his
father, who is also an accordionist and whose family is well
known for its gypsy music traditions passed down, through
generations. Lelo was brought up with music as a natural
everyday element; muI sic was a way of life, a way of
communicating, irrespective of situation, place or hour.
Technical qualities were never ends in themselves, simply
means to attain total expression. His father was Nikas first
accordion teacher and brought his son to Yugoslavia when he
was ten years old. Lelo stayed there for three years, studying
under the Serbian accordionist Branimir Dokic and going deeply
into Slavic and Romanian culture. There is no doubt that this
stay in Yugoslavia played a crucial part in Lelo Nikas
progress, both, as a musician and a human being. But a single
person that has been very important for Lelo Nika is his
father's teacher who was very demanding and taught Lelo once
and for all the meaning of discipline.
Lelo Nika plays music from the whole of the Balkans, but in
his very own way, based on a particular groove that is typical
of modern Romanian gypsy music. He has also performed with
several American jazz celebrities:
"Lelo gives new meaning to the word 'virtuoso'. His sound and
technique are simply staggering. Add to that a healthy dose of
SerbianGypsy Soul, and you might begin to imagine what his
music is like. Every night on the bandstand, the audience was
left in tatters after his solo piece." (Randy Brecker)
"Lelo's playing transcends the instrument. A real natural. He
is a true artist." (Adam Nussbaum)
He has competed twice in the Accordion World Championship and
won both times, but for the time being Nika pursues higher
studies at The Malm÷ Academy of Music in order to, as he says
with an almost irritating humility, "learn a little more".
Being an ordinary mortal, one might wonder if it is possible
to play even better, but why ponder too much over this? Just
make yourself comfortable if you can sit still and let
yourself be seduced by one of the greatest accordion
phenomenons of our times.
Erik Nilsson
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Jazztrumpetaren Randy Brecker har sagt om dragspelaren Lelo:
Han ger ordet virtuos en ny betydelse. Och det Σr definitivt
inte svσrt att hσlla med.
Lelo Nika Σr serbisk zigenare, numera bosatt i Malm÷. Hans
musik har stor anknytning till den rumΣnsk/zigenska
traditionen, men han spelar musik frσn hela Balkanomrσdet. Pσ
skivan kompas han av strσkorkester plus cymbalom, och det
svΣnger nσt alldeles grymt.
Kanske skulle jag ÷nskat nσgra fler lσtar i lσngsammare tempo,
som Σnnu mer belyste hans musikaliska uttryck. F÷r det Σr inta
bara teknik som denne dragspelare frambringar, hΣr finns
massor med kΣnsla.
Jan Westerlund
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http://www.db-productions.se/
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01-Hora martisorului [03:22]
02-Cεntec de ascultare [03:24]
03-Hora lautareasca [02:37]
04-Hora de concert [02:51]
05-Hora tiganeasca [03:37]
06-Breaza si hora romΓneasca [03:22]
07-Sεrba de concert [02:11]
08-Hora lui andrei [02:07]
09-Sεrba holteneasca [02:43]
10-Hora lui ionica [03:08]
11-Roots [02:40]
12-Hora lautarilor [03:28]
13-Urban future [05:25]
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40:55 min