[FA Worldmusic] Ismail Lumanovski & Ny Gypsy Allstars

[Bill Bragin]

Wanted to pass along this article from the new issue of Time Out NY about a really exciting young artist on the NY scene.  He played with the group, plus Turkish clarinetist Husnu Selendirici and Bulgarian saxophonist Yuri Yanakov at the NY Gypsy Festival and really blew the crowd away.  Worth checking out for those of you in NYC this week for IAJE.
 

Time Out New York / Issue 589: January 11-17, 2007

Top live show

Ismail Lumanovski and the New York Gypsy All-Stars

Joe's Pub; Sat 13

 <http://www.timeout.com/newyork/export_images/589/589.x231.mr.previews.jpg> 
Photograph courtesy Joe's Pub


Heirs to the Balkan Gypsy tradition either have the greatest advantage or the heaviest burden among the world's musicians. The region's tumultuous history has spawned some of the most exciting music in existence. The flip side is that these cultural complexities translate into toilsome rhythms and fiercely competitive spirit. Gypsy instrumentalists are generally breakneck improvisers who view any performance as a grand display of one-upmanship. These factors make clarinet prodigy Ismail Lumanovski a natural fit for his native idiom. 

Born in Bitola, Macedonia, the cocky 22-year-old Juilliard student gorgeously captures the passion of his mixed heritage (his father is Turkish) while surmounting technical challenges with grace. Already considered among the world's greatest reedsmen, Lumanovski is a member of the Clarinet All-Stars, a band of mostly veteran players that formed during the 2005 New York Gypsy Festival. Tonight he fronts his own band of U.S.-based notables, including Greek bassist Panagiotis Andreou and Philadelphia drummer Jordan Pearlson. A showboat of a performer, Lumanovski is an adventurous, modern-minded frontman who leads his band through a varied terrain of Balkan, Turkish and Romany selections, spiked with jazz and Western styles. Russian belly dancer Julia Kulakova will also perform, and audience members are certain to get up and move as Lumanovski & Co. whip the room into a cross-cultural frenzy. - Cristina Black