Thurday, 22nd August, 20:00, Mariahilferplatz/h4>
21st century gipsy funk from Bukarest.
The story of Mahal Rai Banda starts towards the end of the nineties in Bukarest, where violin player Aurel Ionita started with a band called Rom Bengale. But after their first successes and drug excesses Rom Bengale split up. Not long after Aurel formed Mahala Rai Banda in its initial form. The Belgian label Crammed Discs released their widely acclaimed debut. In 2009, five years later, they finally returned with their mind-blowing mixture of oriental pop, traditional Romanian music, rumba Catalan, reggae and funk. The amazingly swinging instrumental track “Balkan Reggae” shows very well how Eastern European cimbaloms, violins, accordions and trumpets are able to convey a full blown Caribbean feeling.
Free entry!